In this ambitious techno-thriller, ten carefully-selected participants have thirty days to evade detection by Fusion, a state-of-the-art surveillance system which is the brainchild of tech genius and billionaire Cy Baxter. If any of the subjects is able to successfully illude the brilliant software, they will be rewarded with $3 million; if all ten are apprehended, Baxter's company will win a lucrative contract with the CIA. One participant, librarian Kaitlyn Day, is more motivated than anyone to beat Fusion and claim the reward - but will it be possible to defeat a system which knows what you are going to do before you do?

The premise of Going Zero immediately piqued my interest, reminding me as it did of the 1982 dystopian classic The Running Man, and I bought into the story very quickly. The parts of the novel detailing the pursuit and capture of the various subjects were fascinating, and I wish more time had been spent on these other characters and the ways in which they planned to avoid being caught. The main storyline, the pursuit of Kaitlyn, is tense and pacy, but I found it frustrating how the author would constantly cut back to the Fusion lab for drawn-out conversations about privacy, ethics and the evolution of technology. These interludes were tedious and really disrupted the flow of the story.

Kaitlyn Day is an intriguing character from the outset, and I wanted to know more about her motivation for taking part in the trial. Why is she so desperate to disappear? Who is Warren, and what happened to him? The author sustained these questions for almost two-thirds of the book, culminating in a couple of impressive twists, but ultimately, I found the novel stagnated in the final third, and I found myself losing interest. After initially setting up both Kaitlyn and Cy as fairly sympathetic characters, the ambiguity of unanswered questions leaving the reader wondering whose side we are supposed to be on, but this is clarified too quickly and neatly.

Ultimately, Going Zero poses some interesting questions about 'wrestling with the ancient mindfuckery of right and wrong in an accelerated world, the greater good, individual freedom versus the security of the whole,' but for me, failed to maintain its initial promise.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Perhaps TV comparisons are a little over-used but I'm going to do it anyway - Going Zero reminds me of Channel 4's The Hunted x BBC 1's The Capture. In other words, a thrilling chase vs the technology all around us...

Set in America (largely), the CIA have partnered with Silicon Valley genius Cy Baxter's Fusion - the ultimate surveillance program. To test how good it is, ten Americans are picked for 'Going Zero' - a challenge in which they must evade detection/capture for 30 days.

The initially unassuming Boston librarian Kaitlyn Day is our main character on the 'Going Zero' side. She knows the Fusion team won't expect much from her but she has a plan and more than a few surprises up her sleeve. This infuriates Cy Baxter as one-by-one all the others are caught. How far will he go to catch her? How far will she go to escape capture?

The book's interesting on a couple of levels. First you have the thriller/chase angle, which is nicely done, with a few twists here and there to keep the intrigue going. Second, there's the exploration of the ethics of surveillance. As technology evolves, it reaches further and further into our lives. Sometimes with our consent, and sometimes sliding right past it. In Going Zero, the hunted people are tracked financially, physically (gait analysis, face analysis), and psychologically (predicting their most likely moves) - and it's easy (and scary) to extrapolate that to real-life situations.

As the book goes on, the stakes ramp up - asking the reader to suspend a bit more disbelief every time. It might annoy some but to be honest I think it comes with the territory when you pick up a thriller! A fun read for me.

Amazing book that I think I’ll stay with me for a while. Amazing but realistic premise that was really well executed. Fully recommend

The concept for this story sounded intriguing but for me it just didn’t pan out.
I found too much of it boring. The author likes the f word way too much and I didn’t like the ending,

What intrigued me about this book was that it was written by a screenwriter and I knew it would read like a cinematic experience and it delivered on that front.

Boom! This book was all things brilliant! The premise is cracking and the plot sublime. And a bit scary. But I get ahead of myself.
The CIA has partnered with a civil company, headed by Cy Baxter, to produce the ultimate surveillance program which they hope will eradicate crime - ignoring for the moment all the intrusion and civil liberties and privacy issues. It is called FUSION and has just reached Beta testing time. This will consist of 10 carefully selected people who will, at the appointed hour, have two hours to disappear, to go off grid. The will then have to spend 30 days evading detection as the Capture Teams strive to use FUSION to track them, find them, and eliminate them... from the test!
The rewards are worth having. If FUSION is successful, Cy will get a multi-million dollar contract, but if any tester successfully evade capture they will take home megabucks.
Although we meet and follow all 10 testers, it is only one that this book really focuses on. One Kaitlyn Day, librarian. It is assumed she will be easy pickings and will be one of the first caught. But... never underestimate the wiles of a librarian! As we soon start to realise there is many layers and depths to Kaitlyn, she has talents beyond comprehension and she is about to run the Capture Teams, and Cy himself ragged in their attempts to track her down. So much so that it soon becomes evident that her motive and expertise are not at all what they seemed...
I loved this book. Especially all the twists and turns and omg moments that the author delivered along the way, It really was hit after sucker punch. Kaitlyn is also an awesome character, but I can't really expand on that here, for reasons which will become obvious as you read the book. I blooming loved her!
And the plot, brilliant! And the premise of all that surveillance, scary. And wholly credible which actually means it should be terrifying. And that comes from someone with nothing to hide! Cue a queue for online cleanup and scrubbing companies to make a fortune!
I did have a few niggles along the way and pacing wasn't always as good and consistent as it could have been but they pale into insignificance compared with the enjoyment the book delivered me. I had a cracking time reading it - really didn't want to put it down, needed to know what would happen next, especially when I found that jaw-dropping part... no spoilers.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Can't recommend this book highly enough. It was fast paced and had me on the edge of my seat a real page turner . A high tech super surveillance system where privacy could be a thing of the past . Loved it

Going Zero is definitely written to become a film.
A great mixture of ‘Hunted’ , 10 people trying to evade capture by technological surveillance , cover ups, espionage and a power struggle.
This book had some tense moments, unbelievable moments and some ‘could this really happen’ moments.
I did not completely understand all the technical details but that did not stop me enjoying the novel.
Some very strong female lead characters made this book even more interesting.

Who is up for the ultimate game of hide an seek? There’s 3 million up for grabs if you can hide for 30 days without the a CIA/Social Media combo finding you with their state of the art and secret technology.

I loved the premise of the book and the initial days of the “Going Zero” beta test. I was fascinated by the vignettes of how the people hid and how they were caught. I would have loved it if all the book focussed on was that. In the second half of the book, it became less about the beta test and more about the politics of why one person was hiding and for me, it became slower paced and a bit repetitive in the last few days of the beta test. It feels like it’s written for the big screen, rather than a novel, which makes sense for the author’s background. I was left with a big question mark about what happened to one of the characters which seemed an odd omission. I was ready for the story to conclude before it did and I can’t say I was completely satisfied with the end.

It’s a book for those who enjoy political thrillers and tech/spy themed reads. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A joint experiment between the CIA and a tech company. Ten participants have a two hour window to go undetected for thirty days. The winner will claim a three million dollar prize fund. In this high surveillance world can anyone really go 'missing'? When we live our lives online is there still such a thing as privacy and anonymity? A tale full of twists and turns. A fast paced book with likeable and unlikeable characters. A story that will have you rooting for the good guys

What an interesting story this is!

Set in present day America, we meet Kaitlyn Day, unassuming Librarian who has been chosen to take part in an experiment between Fusion - a tech company who claim they can track the movements of anyone on earth, and the CIA. Kaitlyn and the 19 other zeroes are given two hours to disappear for 30 days. At the end of this time period, any zero still uncaught will win $3 million dollars. For Fusion, the prize is far greater - a $90 billion dollar contract with the government to help in the fight against crime.

What follows shows just how hard it is to live 'off grid' in the modern world. Within minutes of go time the Fusion capture teams are already closing in on their targets as they access their banking details, track their phones, and use surveillance camera's to try and find them.

Kaitlyn has a plan....a plan that she has been preparing for quite some time, because she has an ulterior motive...

I really enjoyed the speed of this book and it made me think about the technology that I use and how I use it. Some of the tech they use to find their zeroes is (hopefully) fanciful, but it offered the interesting thought of just what governments are prepared to do to hunt people down and how ethical the tech companies are that we surrender so much of our privacy to.

There is a big plot twist in the middle that I absolutely did not see coming and the ending was a bit....unbelievable

It is a good read though that is very thought provoking.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Is it possible to drop out of sight anymore in the modern world?
Going zero follows a groups of contestants testing a new piece of spyware, whose creators believe you cannot disappear from their view.
Following a groups of both elite specialists and normal civilians the program traces almost their every thought, using algorithms to predict behaviour, track the way you walk, talk and interact it is seemingly impossible to swerve...but Kaitlyn is doing it- with what amounts to seemingly random luck, reasonable judgement and good planning.
The fact that this is so close to reality (or maybe even is reality- who know who is monitoring my review!) makes it a tense read, rooting for Kaitlyn to make it to the end and to the prize.

This was a great read, well written and following the different characters going off-grid with their own game plans was good fun, and thinking what would I do.
Then there was a twist which I didn’t see coming at all which for me is the mark of a really good book.
Give this book a go.
I will look out for other books by this author.

This was an intriguing read! The world we live in now, just shows you how easy it is to see what people are doing, where they are etc.
A test of new software, ila prize if you can beat it. 10 people selected to go zero, disappear and remain undetected for a month.
For one zero it's more than that, and conspiracies are uncovered but can she find out the truth
Thank you netgally for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a really interesting premise and I was excited to start reading it. Unfortunately, the excitement evaporated rather quickly. The writing style wasn't for me, disjointed sentences that often ran on and in many cases were overwritten. The other thing was that every character sounded the same. There was no distinction between them except for the fact their name was given. I DNF'd at 40%. I just didn't care enough to see what the outcome would be.

As we are being completely truthful, the premise of this novel is a series of events that we expect to happen in real time and whether that is next year or in the next decade, it is difficult to know. For all we know, these events may be true already and this writer’s fiction may be closer to non fiction. For a company to be able to have complete access to the CIAs and FBI files and be able to exploit what is available under the guise of giving the government a better quality software programme to track and find every individual on the planet, is mind boggling. If this is happening already, the majority of citizens will have no say how government tracks you in the future.
The story is a very good read with one particular major twist that no one can foresee. The only fault I found in this book was that America’s most computer and data conscious entrepreneur would allow his computer to be infected and tracked so easily. Apart from that minor adversity, I enjoyed this story which was perhaps, a touch too realistic. The pace is very good and the tension rises as individuals who are trying to hide are gradually captured as part of a trial to prove that a company is better than the government’s data holding.
Although I received a free copy of this novel, I enjoyed it so much I will be sure to check out Anthony MaCartan's other work. With how quickly chat AI has developed in the previous few months, everything in this book could easily come true and it is perhaps a warning to governments that they need to put something in place now to prevent this possibility, or do governments really want to track us all day and night? Unfortunately, as in life, the majority of individuals here are driven by finance, profits and the will to become richer.

Going Zero, is an amazingly unique, immersive sci-fi mystery, with a fast pace and lots of twists and turns I couldn't stop reading. I think the only downside was the lack of clear chapters, instead it was locations and/or dates which did make it confusing at time due to the multiple POV's. However, I was absorbed and loved all the reveals and how this touches on deeper topics with constant surveillance and how the government has total control yet is corrupt. Overall, I really enjoyed this, I just wish the chapters were more clear so the story could flow a bit better.

Superb, original premise exceptionally well told.
Rarely have I rooted for a character so much.
I seem to be developing a taste for the 'just about possible' novels like those of John Marrs and this is up there with them.
Looking forward to reading more by this author.

What a ride - I actually quite enjoyed this fast paced thriller. Following our protagonist as she endeavours to hide from advanced spyware for 30-days, the first two thirds flew by with shirt detours to see how other competitors are getting along in their attempts to beat the system. So, why only 4-stars? Well, I found some of the writing clunky - in parts it almost read more like a movie script than a novel but it was still worth reading. The main issue was a twist that felt a little too out there for me. Again, not enough to make me even think about stopping reading, instead as a reader I was aware something was coming but it fell flat for me. All in all, a fun read and almost reminded me of reading Michael Crichton novels in the 90’s - good times.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Really enjoyed this book and the questions it raised around privacy and ethics. Didn’t see where it was going despite some, in hindsight, obvious clues.