The Passengers – John Marrs

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife – and parents of two – who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?

The Passengers is a high-concept, fast-paced thriller that you’ll just race through. Eight characters for the public to judge, who will live, who will die? But are we seeing the full side of each of their stories? And why does the mysterious Hacker want to make the public judge, jury and executioner?

Loved it. Completely hooked from the first page, and one of those books with more twists and turns than that really twisty street in San Francisco which will leave you wanting to read just a *tiny* bit further.

The characters initially feel a little bit cookie-cutter stereotype, but of course as the book progresses you find that there’s more than meets the eye for each of them, and finding out their true stories is fascinating. Similarly with the Hacker – initially a faceless Man In Black, but discovering the why behind his actions as the story progresses gives way to a much deeper character.

Also fascinating to see the role that social media plays in the story – our Hacker plays on the emotions of the public to see how they can make them turn for and against his Passengers.

Who will live? Who will die? There’s one way to find out…

The Passengers by John Marrs is published by Ebury in May 2019 in paperback but is available now as an ebook. Many thanks to Tracy Fenton and the publisher for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.