I LOVED The One and The Passengers... but this one fell a little short for me. It didn't quite have that can't-put-it-down feeling that the others had. It has the same format - different characters who each get a chapter devoted to them.

The premise is interesting and builds off the other two books, but it is not necessary to read them prior (although it definitely helps). I think I just felt that I didn't connect with any of the characters or the plot. It was definitely sci-fi, but way out there. There were many times when you had to really suspend disbelief for this story to play out.

I haven't read many of John Marrs' stories but I really enjoyed this one! I love the mystery of Emilia and I found myself really wanting more of her chapters. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat as the book progressed and things came to a head more and more. I can say I was shocked at the ending! Definitely will continue to pick up his books!

Another exceptional masterpiece but the legend John marrs. Blown away is an understatement. He’s so great at keeping you guessing and keeping you on the edge of your seat. What a fantastic thrill ride he took me on!

Thanks to Netgalley, Berkeley publishing and John Marrs for this ARC..I read The One and Passengers so was excited to read this one..I read it when it first came out but reread it when I discovered I hadn’t done a review on it.. I enjoyed this one just as much as the first 2….A futuristic thriller, The minders know the government secrets, the conspiracies, lies and cover ups… This was a thrill ride that I read in 2 days…

The Minders is when the government is worried about hackers. They decided until they can make themselves unhackable they will find people that can be “Minders”. These people will hold of their government secrets in their head for 5 years. The only catch is you start your life over and can’t have any contact with your old life. We follow some of those people.

❤️Review❤️

My experience with this book was a little bit of a roller coaster. In the beginning I struggled a little. There was a lot of information and people that I had a hard time straightening it all out. Then once I had it I started to get invested and really was intrigued. Then I hit a point that I was enjoying, but was also confused. Finally by the end though there were less characters and I was really able to focus in. Once the pieces started coming together I was really connected and couldn’t wait to see the whole picture. By the last page I had a tear coming down my cheek. So even though I did struggle with it, I would also say that I liked it! It renewed my excitement for The Marriage Act that comes out in May!

4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Really intriguing concept but I found it a bit slow paced when I was expecting a fast paced thriller. Decent characters but overall the plot was just okay.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

The Minders was my 3rd John Marrs book and while I enjoyed it a lot, I didn’t love it quite as much as The Passengers and The One. Funny enough, The Minders draws on both these books, mashing together ideas (the Hacking Collective, autonomous vehicles, genetic match making, etc), and taking them one step further. The Minders is about the power of information. The Hacking Collective is after top secret government data and they want the governments to pay up or fess up. The hackers find ways to break into the most protective cyber fortresses. One after another, countries fall victim to the threat. UK comes up with an innovative plan and that is a newly developed procedure to implant genetically coded data into 5 human SD sticks. For the chosen five the procedure means new start, full bank account and access to all of government’s secrets, cover ups etc. It also means leaving behind their old lives, families and friends and putting their lives on the line for their country. 5 short years doesn’t sound so bad, until one by one they are benign hunted down and brutally murdered.

So, John Marrs, eh? If you like Black Mirror, you will likely love his books. They are sharp and unflinching criticism of modern society and technology. They’re quick and engaging reads, with straight-to-the-point chapters, multiple POVs and surprising endings. The Minders was great. Marrs explores themes of power of information and how we never really know the people around us, how everyone has secrets..

I enjoyed this book a lot and I’ll definitely be seeking out more of Marrs’ books! The big reveal at the end felt a bit convoluted and unnecessarily so, but overall this was entertaining and captivating.

What a unique thriller!

The story captivated me and left me thinking, which is the best kind of read. This was my first book by the author and I’m excited to read more by John Marrs.

*many thanks to Berkley/Netgalley for the gifted copy for review.

This scared the life out of me because what if?? Love a thriller that’s character driven and also suspenseful and this was all that and more.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

Exciting. Unique. Thrilling. Heart-pounding. Shocking. Addictive. Insane.

All the words! Whatever your favorite book adjectives are, this sucker can be described using them, and then some!

If you aren’t reading John Marrs, what are you even doing with your life? Fix it! And might I suggest starting with this one?!?!

Stroll down to the nearest bookstore and buy a copy. Nope, buy two copies. It’s just that good. Don’t read a synopsis. Just open it up and start reading.

If you can stop reading once you’ve started, you, my friend, have more willpower than I do. I was held captive by this story. I was white-knuckling the pages until I reached the very end.

Gah! It’s just so stinking good. I don’t even know if books should be allowed to be this good. It should be criminal!!

All the stars! It gets all the stars!!

This is one of those rare books that leaves you thinking about the plot and/or the characters while you're not in the story. I had a hard time putting this down as it wouldn't leave me alone.

There are a lot of characters, but you're given adequate information to be able to keep them straight as the story moves. I originally thought I would get Big Brother vibes, a la 1984, but this far extended that notion and dove into deeper topics of technology and society. This book continues on themes in previous Marrs' novels, such as Passengers and The One (both of which are excellent), but I didn't feel that this was a sequel so the other two, while I highly recommend, are not necessary to enjoy this story.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

This is my first John Marrs book, and it did not disappoint! It took me a while to get into the story because there were so many POVs to keep up with, but once I did, I flew through it. I love that this was a thriller with a hint of sci-fi in all of the technology and futuristic elements utilized throughout it; it was so unique and definitely kept me interested. Each character had such a fascinating story, and that ENDING??? Oh my goodness, I started tearing up! I enjoyed seeing how everything tied together and liked that it wasn't a happy ending for everyone.

Content warning for graphic violence, murder.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC of The Minders by John Marrs!

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Caro

The prologue opens in London with government staff working away in an office hidden in plain sight. A worker has just started his shift and is monitoring the progress of a lorry’s trajectory through British roads. Out of nowhere, the lorry is hijacked. The team in charge makes a crucial decision and the lorry is destroyed before the hijackers can get a hold of its contents. Some time later, UK officials are at a meeting discussing recent hacking events and terrorism attacks to several nations. In order to protect their nation’s secrets and other data, the government has created a plan to store all the information in human brains, selecting capable minds that can take upon the challenge.

These individuals are called Minders, chosen by a certain type of synaesthesia in their brains. The first Minder is Flick. Flick rarely goes outside, she spends most of her time watching TV or reading news articles about murder victims on the internet. She shows little interest in her work or family, only focusing on what could have been if she had met the man Match Your DNA had found for her as her soul mate. After being selected for the program, Flick moves to the coast in hopes that the countryside will help her mood, leaving behind a what-could-have-been. Flick is probably my favorite of the Minders. Her story develops throughout the book and really shows her character growth. I was content how her trials and tribulations wrapped up at the end.

Our second Minder is Charlie, who has somewhat of a mysterious past. He is introduced as someone isolated from his family and friends, he suffers from anxiety attacks, and is into conspiracy theories. When he is chosen, he takes upon the challenge as a way to escape his current life, embracing his new persona. While the other Minders keep a low profile, Charlie takes advantage of the money he is given, staying and eating at luxurious places. All the Minders are interesting, but when you learn what Charlie has been and is going through, the reader understands him more.

The third Minder is Sinéad. She lives an unhappy marriage, her husband is always criticizing or changing anything he sees wrong in her. When she realizes how controlling he is, she leaves without looking back. Once she turns into a Minder, Sinéad does her best to start a new life, but the constant reminder of her past prevents her from finding peace. I liked that Sinéad’s past was slowly presented to us through her new surroundings. Not to mention that some of the new people she meets turn out to be different from what she expected.

Bruno is a special case kind of Minder, who recently lost his wife in a car accident and after losing most of his savings in a legal battle, he decides to take the offer of becoming a Minder in order to provide for his autistic son. But Bruno begins to see something the program calls Echoes, and unlike the others, he uses his new found abilities to take revenge on those who destroyed his family. It was interesting to see Bruno’s development throughout the book. Unlike the others, he was more attached to his past which made it difficult for his mind to move forward and restart a new life.

The last Minder is Emilia, who wakes up in a room not being able to remember anything. After escaping the place she was in, she gets into a traffic accident waking up, this time, in a hospital where staff informs her that her husband is there to take her home. Emilia doesn’t trust her husband, especially when people she doesn’t recognize advise her that he is lying. Emilia’s character is very thrilling, she’s the Jason Bourne of the story, and it’s very interesting all the events she goes through. Her conclusion was well executed, which made the plot twist exciting. It was also interesting going back and noticing the easter eggs.

The Minders is a stand alone book within this futuristic universe John Marrs has created. The Hacking Collective and Match Your DNA don’t necessarily need to be explained in depth, it’s easy enough to understand the concepts, but I am interested in reading Marrs’ other books where these are the main themes. While this book shows how a global impact can affect a country and how far they would go to protect their information, it also makes us realize the sacrifice people go through in order to start anew. The minders were given simple instructions: leave your past behind. I definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this!

I was instantly intrigued by the synopsis of this book. This book instantly drew me in, I got to explore through the eyes of our main character and this is always my favorite way to discover these details of the story and, it was done very well in this book. I really enjoyed this book and the plot. This author did amazing. I loved the writing style.

4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.

Man oh man, this was one helluva mind-bending science fiction/thriller ride! From the very beginning, I was completely hooked & every time I picked it up, I could hardly put it down (which led to me reading into the late morning hours the last few nights)! It’s a wild story & it has such a unique premise. Even though a few parts were predictable, the *many* other twists and turns kept me enthralled and turning page after page. The concept of technology (and, of course, hacking) as our world’s downfall doesn’t seem so far off at times. Even just the technology Marrs invented for this book seems like it could easily be real, which is kind of terrifying. I loved the characters and how different each of their stories were & I really enjoyed the end (completely unexpected in a couple of ways)! John Marrs’ books are definitely some of my favorites. Can’t wait to read what he comes out with next!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was thrilling from start to finish. I thought the twists the plot took throughout were unpredictable and enjoyable. This book is presented the same way as The One, where each chapter follows one of five main characters, but this book takes the concept a step further and uses this mechanism to change the perspective mid-scene when these characters start to interact with each other. Truthfully, I was annoyed that the stories didn't intersect at all in The One, so when these characters not only had stories that naturally fit together but then also featured the characters meeting and then ALSO used the storytelling creatively to change the point of view mid-scene using the established framework, I just loved it. The premise was excellent and naturally kept the tension up throughout. The climax of the book was not quite as impressive and cool as that of The Passengers, but I still loved the ending and epilogue. Just a great book.

We all know developing too much of technology is going to come bit us *cough* Terminator, i-Robot and several other movies have iterated this! The same future “fact” has been used by John Marrs along with Government cover-ups, conspiracies, tech paranoia and humanity. All of these factors are spun into a tense sci-fi futuristic thriller. He has yet again written a 5/5 story. There are some technical jargon and sci-fi mumbo-jumbo written into this story, but trust me its all entertaining and might have taught me some smart things!

Thank you Berkley via Netgalley for the arc.

I am loving John Marr's thrillers set in an fictional future. They are always so thought provoking about what our world could.. or maybe already is turning into. Technology is useful but also very scary. We put our trust blindly into it.. and it can certainly back fire on us. John Marrs always makes us question that possibility. If you like government conspiracy theories then this is going to be right up your ally.