A Better World by Marcus Sakey – a Review

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Description:
The brilliants changed everything.
Since 1980, 1% of the world has been born with gifts we’d only dreamed of. The ability to sense a person’s most intimate secrets, or predict the stock market, or move virtually unseen. For thirty years the world has struggled with a growing divide between the exceptional…and the rest of us.
Now a terrorist network led by brilliants has crippled three cities. Supermarket shelves stand empty. 911 calls go unanswered. Fanatics are burning people alive.
Nick Cooper has always fought to make the world better for his children. As both a brilliant and an advisor to the president of the United States, he’s against everything the terrorists represent. But as America slides toward a devastating civil war, Cooper is forced to play a game he dares not lose—because his opponents have their own vision of a better world.
And to reach it, they’re willing to burn this one down.


Review:

A Better World by Marcus Sakey is the 2nd book in his Brilliance series. Brilliance, the first book in this series was one of the best thrillers of the year. It had us on the edge of our seat in a complex and futuristic world. I am happy to say that the 2nd book, A Better World continues this trend.

We learned in Brilliance about the “abnorms”, children born with special intelligent abilities that made them smarter then the “normals”. In 1980 there was 1% of the population that were “abnorms”. The government in fear that f these “brilliants” would become too powerful, even if they are partially responsible for the advanced technology in the world. They took the “abnorm” children away from their families, especially those considered tier one (highly intelligent), and put them into an academy, which would either make them work for the government or lock them up to hide or weaken their abilities.

Nick Cooper, our hero in this series, is also an ‘abnorm’, but he is a government agent that helped stop a terrible plot in the last book. Nick is forced back into working for the government (The new President), to help as an advisor in the escalating war between abnorms” and “normal”, with the new terrorist group, Children of Darwin killing innocent people.

Nick once again is in the middle, with most of the President’s cabinet wanting to destroy the “abnorms”, or force them to have microchips put into them. A war has begun, tensions are on the rise, as some cities have totally closed down, and only Nick can keep the President from following the lead of the Secretary of Defense, and other bad government members, who want to destroy them.

John Smith, one of the villians in the first book, who turned out to be a national hero is back, though not as much as the first book, but he continues to be an integral part of this series. Will the real truth about John Smith be discovered?

Shannon, who is one of the brilliants assassins, and Nick’s lover, is also back. She is as awesome as she was in the first book. Shannon does a fantastic rescue mission in this story. Besides Nick and Shannon’s, there is another POV, that of Ethan Park, a scientist who is on the run with his family. Everyone wants Ethan, as he knows something that is very powerful, which would change everything. Anything more would be spoilers.

Once again, Marcus Sakey gives us another exciting thriller, with non-stop action, so many twists and turns that you cannot blink or you will miss some important information. This is a complex world, but done so well by Sakey. If you like suspense thrillers, action, excitement, great characters, in a futuristic but somewhat modern world.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher