Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Sometimes a book comes along and literally blows your socks off and The Passengers is one of them. My heart is still pounding just thinking about this brilliantly twisted novel.

This is one author whose books just go from strength to strength. Each one gets more gripping and shocking. What I love is how in a couple of his books now, he centres the story around something futuristic that really could happen. It is seriously scary stuff.

There are so many twists and turns in this book that I didn’t see coming. A couple were definitely jaw dropping moments. What does make for sombre reading though is how judgemental as a nation we are. Its really hard to say too much about this story without giving spoilers away but it has definitely made me more aware to get all the facts before jumping to a decision.

The Passengers is just a brilliant story and concept. I absolutely loved it. It really is an edge of your seat read that will have you clinging on for dear life. One particular part made my heart stop with the mounting tension. It seriously messed with my mind and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. An absolute must read for 2019.

Having enjoyed the authors previous books I couldn’t wait to get stuck into this one. To say I was blown away by it is an understatement.

The way the author introduces the characters to the reader is so well done. Then he brings out their stories gradually, allowing us to see that first impressions aren’t always true. He then turned that around when he revealed the full stories of those involved nearer the end. The twist at the end was very well done too.

I loved that this book brought in references to his book The One, which was my previous favourite by the author. The Passengers has now taken that spot, however, and I highly recommend it.

Huge thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

I am a huge fan of John Marrs, he writes such great books with unique storylines, this one is probably not as far fetched as we would like to believe. It will have you on the edge of your seat and rooting for all the wrong people, or maybe not. When a lesson needs to be learned it only takes an army of hackers to show what governments are capable of but the hackers are ruthless in their methods and many lives are threatened. A brilliant read thank you, John Marrs

Utterly AMAZING.
My favourite book by John Marrs was 'The One' (previously titled 'A Thousand Small Explosions')
WAS... The Passengers has surpassed this and become my number one by John Marrs, I will be recommending this book to literally EVERYONE I know.
My work colleagues already can't wait for this book to be published because I raved about it while reading it. #WorkEnvy
I cannot wait to buy this in paperback, a copy for my own shelf, and a few copies to be dished out as presents for my favourite people.
If you haven't read The Passengers. why? Read it! Truly outstanding. John Marrs just gets better and better I cannot wait for the next one!

John Marrs has a very dangerous mind - that much was evident after reading the pre-cursor to this novel 'The One' - which has subsequently been optioned by Netflix.
He has an uncanny ability to take scenarios which are only all too possible and run with them in very twisted and thrilling directions.
While The One was centred on the possibility of a dating site matching lovers based on DNA, The Passengers looks at world in the not too distant future where cars operate on an autonomous basis, leaving the the passengers as simply that.
There's an appeal to that - imagine climbing into your car each morning, telling it 'Alexa' style to drive you to work and you sit back, watch you favourite TV shows, catch up on work, eat your breakfast or whatever until you are dropped off at the office and your car scurries on home waiting for your return journey.
The the world of hi-tech autonomous cars the 'passenger' need do nothing. The car will use all technology it has to hand to handle road conditions, unexpected hazards and park itself. Anyone of us cursing on the school run or trying to find a parking spot in any city centre would love it, right?
But it only works if the software is unhackable... and there in lies the twist.
In this book eight cars, containing eight very different people from different walks of life, are taken over by an unknown 'Hacker', who informs each of the unlikely passengers than in 2.5 hours they will be dead...
The cars are set on a collision course, and it's up to a jury and the general public to decide who lives or dies. This is the Hunger Games meets Speed meets Big Brother.
Marrs has created a stark look at how we are influenced by social media, 'fake news', sound bites and how quickly mob mentality can set in on social media platforms. As the Passengers are driven towards their death, the event becomes one of the biggest reality TV events in history. Terror becomes a form of entertainment in this world where the lines are consistently blurred.
This is an edge of your seat read. It does not waste any time in putting you in the thick of the action and making you ask yourself if you could save one Passenger, who would be it be and why?
This book is not a direct follow up to The One but it does reference the dating agency and the DNA testing from that book which gives it that extra something. I've no doubt Netflix will snap this one up.
And I'll be honest, I've never been so glad to own a five year old Nissan that doesn't come with bells and whistles. I'll stick to traditional driving, thank you.

An absolute corker of a read, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this mind-blowing book. It is one you can say truly does have many twists and turns which keep you guessing to the very last page. Who would have thought a novel about driverless cars could have such an impact and leave the reader questioning whether this scenario could actually take place many years in the future. Brilliantly and cleverly written, this book would form the basis for a film or tv series. A huge 5* from me.

I'm in the minority here I suspect but I didn't like The Passengers. The rather implausible scenario is of 8 self drive cars and their unfortunate passengers with secrets who are selected to be killed when their cars are hijacked. The characterisation of both passengers and the people who had to decide who was going to escape the inferno was skilful if rather cliched: an ageing film star, a woman with a dead body in the boot of her car, another woman about to give birth ... etc.

I thought the love interest thread was weak and I guessed who the Hacker was who was instrumental in setting up the whole exercise. I just don't think this was the book for me as I don't like mind games at the best of times but thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House/ Ebury for the opportunity to read and review the book.

Another brilliant book by John Marrs. It isn't as dark as The Good Samaritan but that isn't a negative because it makes up for it with suspense and such a rich tapestry of characters and subplots. I enjoyed how it also borrowed from The One.
I am a huge fan and look forward to reading more of Johns work.

Wow, what an interesting book that brings together intrigue, mind games and a brilliant set of characters!

John Marrs has a very twisted imagination and it’s not too many steps from today to the scenario of driverless cars...

An absorbing, engaging read that grabs you by the seat of your pants and races off. It doesn’t let go and you keep promising just one more chapter and before you know it, you’re still awake long past your bedtime. Lots of twists, turns, cliffhangers and shocks!!

5* Another brilliant book from this very talented author.

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 woman, a disabled war hers, an abused wife who is fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man.
The public have to judge who should survive but are all the passengers all that they first seem?
A brilliant thriller, with lots of twists and turns. The story gets you into the book by feeling sorry for the passengers and then being against them. I felt I had a connection with the characters and was involved in their outcomes too!
Many thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Holy Moly he's done it again!

What i love about the work of Marrs is when you think he can't produce another sensational book he does!

So, in 'The Passengers' we are introduced to a society in which driverless cars are the future. There are various stages of driverless cars but the book mainly focuses on a level 5 driverless car which will transport you to wherever you need to go. The government insists they are the safest way of transport has pushed for everyone to have a level five car.

Somewhat ironically, the story begins when eight passengers are informed that their car has been hijacked and they are going to die within the next two hours when they reach their destination.

We are then introduced to Libby, who is a member of the public who has been selected for driverless car jury service. The jury has to maintain whether it was the driverless car, or another factor which caused a fatal accident.

The story weaves in and out of the jury, with whom the hacker is communicating and the passengers. With more ups and downs than the big dipper I had no idea where this book was going and how it would conclude.

Fast paced, furious, and Marrs has one hell of an imagination. This book is going to top the bestseller charts for certain.

Sadly I just couldn’t get into it. The characters were just blah, the villain was blah, the writing was blah. In the end I gave up. It’s a shame as I don’t think it would have taken much to make it engaging but it just fell a bit short on every level

Well! This is certainly a good read. Preposterous, implausible but definitely gripping. Set in the near future, driverless cars are the norm so it certainly comes as no surprise to see that they are prone to being hacked. 8 passengers are being held hostage in their cars, told that they will die in 2 and 1/2 hours time. Everything is broadcast live on the world's media and given the chance to save one passenger people post their meaningless tweets judging who should live and who should die. A nightmare scenario especially when we find that the Hacker is super manipulative giving only one side of each passenger's story. I also liked the references to The One, another of Marr's novels. This is the perfect novel to take on a long plane journey though you might sit in terror imagining what could happen if someone hacked into the plane's computer! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Oh wow, first chapter ends and my heart is in my mouth, oh dare I keep reading, scary and hits me hard in the gut, deep breath and I try another chapter. Possibly a mistake to read this just before going to bed and sleep..... I'm loving this book so much I actually read the first two chapters out loud to my friend and then stopped saying she really must read this book. The spin on the story, topical with AI currently. This storyline n characters take you on a journey with many twists and turns, you often think nooo they can't/ won't do that but they do. Kept me guessing with a great final last twist. I didn't want this book to end as it was so good, in fact I refused to carry on reading as I knew I was close to end!! However the final few chapters were amazing, loved this book, written so well and my type of book, well done and please write me some more books John Marrs, true 5 star.

John Marrs’ The Passengers is definitely an engaging action packed read.

Although the book is set in the near future, there is arguably no ‘science fiction’ per se. I don’t think there are many people out there that don’t believe that fully autonomous vehicles are the way of the future. It’s more a question of when rather than if. Of course the surrounding technology and how it is used could definitely be considered dystopian in nature. Regardless, as entertaining as the book is, it does ask us very pertinent questions about the ethical use of data and the deployment of predefined decision matrices. Tough subjects indeed.

As for the plot, to be honest I thought that it was heading in a bit of an obvious and clear direction, lending to itself some tedium, but boy was I pleasantly surprised as the book progressed. The intricacies of the plot and the revelations dished out as I made my way to the conclusion were superb.

I also felt early on that the characters seemed a little superficial, almost fact driven. But I suppose this may be expected when you start off with a large cast whose natures are inherently deceptive due to the plot requirements. Still, I would have liked to have felt more invested in the protagonists.

All in all a fun and engrossing read.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a review copy.

I love John Marrs books and was really excited to read this one so thank you for the opportunity.

This book was very different to the others and to start with whilst it was easy to read and follow I wasn’t sure where it was going or if I liked it then something clicked and I was gripped. I really got into it and couldn’t put it down. A very clever concept with lots of twists and turns and just as I thought I had guessed what was going to happen..... I found I hadn’t.
Gripping, interesting and not like any book I’ve read before.
A real original concept with twists to the very end.
Gripping

In the not too distant future a new wave of autonomous vehicles has been approved by the government with the assurance they will minimise fatalities on our roads. Perhaps a touch ironic considering eight "Passengers" have just been informed they are going to die after being held hostage by their own driverless cars.

Is it a case of the computer says ‘no’ or something way more sinister? One thing’s for sure, this is a journey where no one is eager to say, “are we nearly there yet?”

With "The Passengers’" rerouted and their phone signals jammed, their terror is a macabre spectacle being streamed live, via an uncensored video feed. The reality of just how insanely powerless and desperately alone they are increases with every page turn, especially after learning their fate will be decided by complete strangers.

How can anyone determine whose life is worth more, or is worthless? Well, things get ugly real quick and there are some mammoth shockers. "The Passengers" will cause every reader’s moral compass to lose all sense of direction until they arrive at their final destination.

To some this whole scenario may sound fantastically far-fetched, or perhaps it will feel a little too close for comfort. Whatever your conclusion this author sows the seed of future nightmares, especially when the cause of our fear is unnervingly plausible.

Whip-cracking retorts and a chillingly exhilarating ride made it immensely difficult for me to put this one down. LOVED IT.

This book gave me the fear! It is terrifying and extremely clever with a brilliantly original storyline.
The idea of driverless cars seems to be to be incredibly dangerous and I am proved right in this book! A hacker has taken over the computer system that controls these cars and the hacker discloses the darkest secrets of the passengers to influence and manipulate users of social media into deciding who lives and who dies. Plenty of twists and turns, one of these books you don't want to put down.
John Marrs is a brilliant author, I have enjoyed all of his books and love the way each one is completely different and not reliant on a similar formula. I would highly recommend any of them

Another fast pace and addictive thriller by John Marrs! I would love to watch this one as a movie or TV series- so good. There are many characters in it but Marrs pulls strings with talent and the plot is engaging.
Would recommend if you like punchy thrillers.

What a totally epic start to my 2019 book reading. An absolute corker of a book, totally unputdownable.

I have certainly been put off driverless cars forever!

(Love the TBC mention at the end of the book. I so enjoy that group).