I enjoyed John Marr's 'The One' about a DNA test which would match people to their only biological soulmate, so was eager to read The Passengers and it didn't disappoint in its soapy, emotional drama. There' are boatloads (or driverless carloads?) of exciting, twisty climaxes and a huge cast of characters who all manage to get pretty nuanced backstories considering the time constraints. I was so gripped by the central premise of hacked driverless vehicles that I had a discussion about it with my taxi driver yesterday, who reassured me our car wouldn't explode in two hours and that I could get out at any time :)
The book reads as if it was written with a movie adaptation in mind - or at the least an episode of Black Mirror, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's optioned; it would work very well as a Speed-style feature film.

Spoiler Alert below

I love a plucky Everywoman protagonist, but was slightly miffed to see her get her stereotypical female-character 'reward' of marriage and motherhood aftr it seemed as though, for once, a literary heroine might actually be satisfied with being able to do worthwile work as her reward for doing the right thing!

First and foremost thank you to @net / Penguin Random House and @john for my arc!
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Well, well, well this was one hell of a ride 😏!
The passengers is set in dystopian future, which to be honest we aren’t that far from, government have brought in fully automated vehicles, where the driver has no control what so ever!
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We meet Libby the stories main character as she attends a jury service with a twist, they are judging if a fully automated car or a pedestrian is at fault with recent fatal accidents.
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Whilst Libby and the fellow Jurors are discussing recent cases, 8 random passengers enter their automated cars, unknown to the passengers that their car is hacked by an unknown hacker.
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The hacker informs Libby and her fellow jurors that, he has taken over full control of the supposedly un-hackable vehicles, and once all the cars reach their destination they will collide in a head on collision killing them all..
However, the jurors have one chance to save one passenger...
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I’m going to say it right here - this is one of the most thrilling books I have read this year!
I loved the character build up with every page that turns, the twists and turns are none stop! I couldn’t keep up, I was racing through the pages like I was on speed!
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Usually with Thrillers I have a good eye and can see the ending before the end!
Oh Boy!!! With this one I couldn’t see any ending, and the ending 😧🤯 absolutely fantastic!
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I superb novel with a very realistic feeling for what’s to come in the not so near future!
OUT 30th May 2019.
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5 burning bright stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 from me!!

I loved this book - I could not put it down and did not anticipate the ending!

Eight self-drive cars are hacked and their passengers set on a literal collision course with a jury and the wider public deciding who should survive. The concept was novel but what was more interesting were the back stories of the passengers and how their stories could be manipulated to produce a given result.

A real comment on the power of social media and sound bites and how our views are manipulated by them. You see the terrifying power of the mob and the attempts of an individual to stand against it.

A book which kept me gripped until the end and had the power to surprise as well.

John Marrs has absolutely done it again! A plot that interests and grips, characters you love or hate and just nail hitting action at every part! Reminded me of black mirror. Just amazing, thanks so much

I am normally a big fan of John Marrs but found The Passengers to be too far fetched. I couldn’t gel with any of the characters and the main female lead was too dippy for words. It was an easy read but definitely not the Author's Best.

3.75 stars

This starts off in a very plausible way. . Isn't it only a matter of time before our roads are taken over by self driving cars... the fact it's a possibility makes it scary.
Then someone hacks your system and soon we have 8 cars,with their passengers on a collision course.
It was fast paced,with some real cliff hanger moments,which were not always what they seemed to be.
Each of the characters was caught to be lying about something...
The book kept me guessing on the why and how right to the end.
Definitely one to buy the friends.

If you only read one book in 2019, read The Passengers! I went through this in three days, could not put it down. The idea of driverless vehicles is already on the way to becoming a reality. If you ever had any doubts about this technology, The Passengers will help cement them. Without giving too much away, the plot is the U.K. government have sanctioned and are heavily invested in driverless vehicles. The premise is that they will help tackle the problem we have in real life of an overloaded infrastructure by cutting down on traffic, parking and pollution. The public approves (and who wouldn't) and are assured that the technology behind the vehicles is 100% safe. But it isn't. Eight people, seemingly targetted at random, find themselves locked in separate vehicles, on their way to their deaths, all of it controlled by The Hacker. You'll love it!

Ooooh this is good! Do you have a niggle at the back of your head when you think about driverless cars? You know, the one when you can't quite explain what a car would do if something goes wrong? Well this is the rip roaring thriller for you.

But it is not just about cars; there is corruption, trial by social media, mob rule and general treachery. Just when I thought the tale was wrapping up it notches up another gear and a whole new bag of twists and turns opens up.

I did have a worry that the book but was playing games with me. Months ago I turned off the 'hours left in book' footer as I found myself having a race with the ebook- 'Hah! what do you know Kindle - four hours - I am going to do it three - take that!' Much in the same way that I used to race the SatNav before the technology wised up and updated the route as you drive. Anyway - the hours left in book returned when reading this book - so off I went - racing the ebook, neglecting my family, scarcely pausing for refreshment - when it hit me. The book knew. It had paired up with my phone, my fitness tracker, Facebook - it was running my life. Or maybe 'Passengers' has made me wary of all this technology!

Thank you to Penguin Random House UK, Ebury Publishing, NetGalley and John Marrs for the chance to read and review this book,

With any John Marrs book you know you’re about to read something not only great, but different. One of the things I love about this author is no two books are the same. This latest novel was no different in that regard. I was excited by the premise of the book and I’ve always thought the idea of a driverless vehicle was cool and something that would be handy, especially as I've never learned to drive. After reading this book I’m no longer so sure….

The book is set in the not too distant future where driverless cars, the kind where all you do is speak commands, sit back and relax, are not only possible, but just a few years away from being mandatory. As always there are some who don’t like the idea of self-drive cars, but most people are embracing this new technology, a technology they’ve been assured is completely safe and impossible to hack. But all that is believed to be true about driverless cars is about to come crashing down. Eight vehicles on their way to various destinations are taken oven by a mysterious Hacker who tells them that he has rerouted their destinations, and in two hours and thirty minutes it is highly likely they’ll be dead. The Hacker transmits the live feeds from the vehicles on social media and the news channels soon pick up the terrifying story.

In a secret location five people are meeting to view footage of deaths by driverless vehicles and decide whether or not they were lawful. The Vehicle Inquest Jury, as it’s known, meets for one week each month and is made up of four Government appointed officials and one randomly selected member of the public, the latter of which changes each time. This week Libby Dixon, an opponent of driverless cars, is reluctantly the fifth juror. She is in the room when proceedings are suddenly suspended after the foreman, Jack Larsson, receives a call telling him about the news footage of the hijacked vehicles. The Hijacker’s voice is suddenly heard in the room. He has rules that they and the passengers must follow or there will be consequences.

The Hijacker tells the jury that he chose six of the passengers and the other two were in the wrong place at the wrong time when they happened to get in one of the two taxis he hijacked. We get to know the eight passengers and some details of their lives: the chosen six were introduced in the first part of the book and The Hacker tells us about the random passengers in part two. The jury is then informed that they, along with an eager public via social media, are to chose the first to die and then which single passenger should be saved using the information they’ve been given and interviews with the passengers themselves. But do they really know the truth about the eight people hoping to be saved? And how should they and the public decide which life is most worthy of being spared?

This fast paced book had me gripped from the start. From the moment the first passenger was told they might be dead in just hours I was on tenterhooks and couldn’t put the book down. I liked that it opened with chapters about the passengers, detailing their own unique stories. It gave us a connection to them as human beings so that when their lives were in danger we felt the terror along with them and were fraught with the same dilemma as the jurors in wondering who should be the one to live. From the moment the live transmissions started we were in the same position as the jurors so we agonised alongside them as they tried to make the right decisions and came to terms with the fact they were powerless to save all eight people.

Behind the drama, tension and mystery of this novel lays a deeper social commentary on many issues: how lives and news events are played out online, that people say things on social media that they’d never say in real life from behind the safety of a keyboard, mob mentality both on the streets and online, our readiness to judge others on surface information that can often give a false image of someone or something, how much we are monitored in today’s society and the potential consequences of that, and the us versus them mentality that many have towards asylum seekers and immigrants.

John Marrs is one of my favourite authors and this book has again shown just how talented he is. No matter the topic he will enthrall you. I loved that this book had references to The One, which was the first of his books I read and one of my all time favourites. This novel had all you want in a thriller: it was exciting, full of suspense, intriguing and you didn’t know what was coming next right to the end. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially if you love thrillers. Just make sure you’ve got a clear space in your schedule as you won’t want to put it down.

Absolutely brilliant, Marrs is so talented at creating these future worlds that are completely plausible and therefore utterly terrifying. Loved the references to The One, a nice little nod for fans. Another hit!

Really enjoyed this book not the sort i usually read but kept me gripped though out will definitely be reading more from this author

Thank you to Netgalley, penguin random house and John Marrs for my arc of The Passengers. 
Well what a ride that was! (Sorry I couldn't resist). I've loved every John Marrs thriller I've read and this one was no different. John takes something new, a dating site, the Samaritans and in this case driverless vehicles. And puts a dangerous twist on it.
Part one sees 8 passengers get into their driverless vehicles only to have their car taken over by a hacker who informs them that once they reach their destination they will die.

Part two meanwhile introduces us to the character of Libby. She's the token member of public on the jury assessing whether fatal accidents should be blamed on the car's AI or an actual person.

The novel is fast paced and interesting and comes with a lot of unexpected twists and turns that hold your interest and make it unputdownable. The characters have many layers and to be honest are for the most part quite unlikeable!
However, the big thing about John Marrs' writing is that he makes you question yourself, make moral decisions and question technological advancement. Taking the worst possible scenario of what could happen with (in this case) driverless vehicles and making that fear real life.
It makes for a thrilling read which heightens tour anticipation page by page.

A thriller set in a mildly dystopian future with autonomous vehicles. A special jury determines who or what is responsible when fatalities happen.

A strangely compelling story despite violent scenes and the need to suspend disbelief at times when the plot seems rather contrived.

Worth downloading a Kindle sample.

(Review to be posted to Amazon when released).

I'm a big fan of John Marrs books and I was delighted to receive an ARC of his new book The Passengers and I was not disappointed.
I was hooked from the first page and I did not want to put it down.
This thriller is about the dangers of technology. Eight driverless cars have their operation systems hacked and are on a collision course. The passengers are told this and we see their reactions and the reactions of the social media and television audiences.
This book kept me on the edge of my seat with some great characters and lots of twist and turns.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Passengers is a superb story that flows effortlessly and has a cast of characters you become totally involved with.
Britain is now full of driverless cars, completely controlled by computers, road accidents are rare but there have been occasions where pedestrians have been killed by these cars.
Inquests are held to ascertain who is at fault for the fatalities caused, these inquest are held in great secrecy led by a government minister, with members of the public chosen for ‘jury’ service.
Libby has been chosen as a juror and is attending only because she has to, having witnessed one of these cars colliding with 3 pedestrians and killing them she is totally against them.
As they deliberate, someone who calls himself the Hacker takes over the proceedings through the computer systems in the room. He tells the panel that the computer systems of 8 cars have been hacked and he has sent each car on a collision course that will kill each passenger. He will save one but it is up to them to decide who should be saved.
From here on in we learn about the lives of each passenger, each have their own story and all are fascinating. As the clock counts down the tension mounts, shocking and heart stopping moments start cranking up the action.
A brilliant thought provoking story, lots of shocks, but above all a thoroughly entertaining read. Well done Mr Marrs you’ve written another corker of a story.
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

Well Mr Marrs, you have made me late several times, and I have spent the whole afternoon reading as you have made this book impossible to put down! I have loved all your books, and this is up there with the best of them.

So this is set in the future, when most cars are driverless- not just with some driverless capability, but no steering wheel, no breaks, nothing. Who hasn’t wondered what would happen in this scenario if things went wrong?

A jury of people have been set up to rule over car crashes that happen with these driverless cars. Whilst they are inherently more safe than manual cars, on rare occasions things happen that prevent everyone in the crash coming out unscathed. A panel is set up regularly to oversee these incidents, and a member of the public is co-opted to the panel, which is how Libby finds herself in a room of people who are obviously not happy to see her or hear her views on driverless cars.

Meanwhile 8 driverless cars are highjacked, and the Hacker takes control of the vehicles, the jury, the media, and inevitably the interest of the public. Each car contains someone with a story, and all are not what they seem. The Hacker promises that one person will survive, but only one, and the jurors and public have to vote on which one. Will it be the pregnant lady, the scorned wife and mother of 2, the battered wife running from her abusive husband and mother of 6, the aging actress and former national treasure with her little dog? Or one of the others?

Things are not always what they seem and the Hacker makes sure that the nation and the jury find out things about the 8 that they would rather not reveal.

Each chapter leads you swiftly into the next. The writing is pure magic as with all John Marrs books. The homage to The One delighted me as it’s one of my favourite books ever.

The Passengers is another John Marrs triumph that you won’t want to put down, and will leave your mind racing with this highly original and extremely topical story.

This is the first book by John Marrs that I've read. I'm happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and will looking up his back catalogue asap.

The Passengers was one of those books with that magic indefinable 'something' that kept me picking it up in any spare moment I had. Libby was a strong and interesting character and the slow reveal of hers and the others back stories was well done.

There were a couple of bits that felt a little bit not as well researched as others, mainly with Claire but the suspense and intrigue of this book kept going right until the end and I found it a hugely enjoyable read.

I thought this book was brilliant and so clever. Many twists, terrific themes of judging without knowing the whole story, racism, sexism, classism, political power, the dangers of social media and AI, and the ugliness of the voyueristic society we've become, societal cleansing. It explores what potentially could be done with all the data we pour online,
A deliciously uncomfortable, gripping read that had me squirming with guilt and gasping as the twists punched me from the pages.
I will be asking readers - who did they choose to save?
Cor!!!!!

I loved this book! I was already a huge fan of The One, and it was nice to see that elements of that novel carried over into this one.

The story itself was very tense, multiple people are hijacked in self driving cars and on a path to collision, killing them. The public has a vote in who gets to stay alive.

John Marrs is without a doubt very talented and writes amazing stories!

Excellent book! Loved the characters and it was a great storyline. I would highly recommend this book.