Rationality Zero: A Cyberpunk Espionage Tale of Eldritch Horror – The Dossiers of Asset 108 by JM Guillen

Rationality Zero by JM Guillen
Narrator: Joel Richards
Series: The Dossiers of Asset 108 #1
Published by Irrational Worlds on 24 December 2015
Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction
Format: Audiobook
Source: Narrator, Submitted

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June 21, 1998

San Francisco, California

The world is not what it seems.

Michael Bishop is an Asset of the Facility - a job that comes with many strange perks. He is a man who never gets ill, who never pays taxes. He is effortlessly fit and has a different woman every night of the week.

That is, when he is not on assignment.

When activated, Michael becomes Asset 108, a cyberenhanced human who stands against the strange darkness that lurks at the edge of our world. Armed with equipment that most would find impossible to comprehend, he is sent on missions both strange and deadly. Each dossier pits him against irrational creatures and beings - most with the power to unravel his sanity or reality itself. It's never a simple job.

This job, however, is more complex than most. Mysterious, unknown targets are fracturing reality somewhere in the middle of the Mojave Desert. The Facility has no other Assets in the area, and their telemetry is spotty at best. Without knowing what to expect, Bishop is activated, assigned to a cadre, and sent to the middle of nowhere.

What he finds there is both the beginning and the end.

©2013, 2015 Irrational Worlds (P)2015 Irrational Worlds

ABR received this audiobook for free from the Narrator, Submitted in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the audiobook or the content of our review.

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This was fascinating!

I read the synopsis and I was not completely sold. Mostly because it is sci fi. There was just something about it that sounded intriguing enough to give it a go, and it paid off!

First off, the beginning starts with a note. Each of these can be read separately but to get all of the clues, all of them must be read! Interesting!

Michael is sort of like a cyborg or something. He is able to download and remember information much like a computer. He processes information, and even needs certain upgrades depending on his assignment. But, those upgrades can only be used if he has enough room.

The language is pretty easy to pick up. There is a bit of jargon, but not so much that I felt totally out of my element. The main characters, pull you right in but at the same time, almost keep the reader at arm’s length. Not enough to cause the book to become boring, but just enough to feel like they are way too busy working and fighting abnormalities to worry about telling each other about themselves.

When they are not working, they slip back into their lives, but forget that they are agents. They have lives but their lives are far and away from being agents!

This was a short story, but pretty much had me from beginning to end. It did take me a minute to get into the Sci Fi atmosphere, but I attribute that to my lack of love for sci fi.

Really curious about the next book in the series now.

The audio was brilliant. I could have listened to this and to the narrator, Joel Richards, forever. He has a deep, rich voice. He was great with the different accents but also with the highs and lows of the story. As Michael is getting upset Joel’s voice kept up with the anxiety. The three main characters are also easily distinguishable even though they talk to each other, and sometimes over each other, often!

In short: lovely, quite fascinating story. Took me a minute to be fully engaged but once I was I didn’t want the story to end!

On a side note: Cool cover!

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