In the twenty-first century, information is a godsend. But how to protect it? Any repository can be hacked, except… A few ordinary people are chosen by the government to participate in a unique data protection program. After state-of-the-art bioengineering operations, they become walking caches, the Carriers. Henceforth their brains contain top-secret information encrypted in the genetic code. In return, they are given a chance to solve all their problems and start their lives over. Together the Carriers know all the dirty secrets, the truth behind every lie, every conspiracy theory. But can they be trusted? After all, they too have secrets, and they will do anything to protect them …
Author’s review:
They were chosen for a special mission
But no one said exactly what the consequences might be of their agreeing to it. Everything was presented in such a way that it was the highest honor and after a certain period of time they would be able to return to their normal lives, so also rich and possibly famous in certain circles.
Well, the point is in the consequences, or rather the risks. No one can know what will happen in advance, but can at least try to anticipate, to weigh. Alas, no one did either.
And so the lucky ones are already in anticipation, they must become living bearers of state secrets, their life is now not just an existence, but an opportunity to be useful to their state and they must try by all means to conform. They have been instructed accordingly, have acquired useful skills, and have immersed themselves in new lives with complete renunciation of past lives.
But at some point, the very notorious consequences begin to surface that no one has ever thought of. And fear creeps into the lives of the bearers, and fear is justified. After all, they are being hunted.
But who is prepared to kill, and more importantly, for what? Is it really worthless human life, is the information classified as top secret is so priceless, are the great minds again miscalculated? But all turns out to be much more prosaic and to some extent predictably banal, and it could well be prevented in advance.
This book in its storyline echoes the author’s previous works, it often mentions moments from the Passengers, and even from The One. And willy-nilly comparing them, I come to the conclusion that The Bearers is still inferior to the first two predecessors, in the plot, in the construction, in the story, in the characters. What it is on par with is the author’s imagination and the futuristic world he has created. But either the speed or the timing, something clearly prevented the full realization of the idea and put it into a really cool story.
