hardcover, 304 pages
English language
Published Feb. 25, 2020 by DAW.
Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with émigré Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company.
Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.
Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous.
After a slow and deliberately somewhat confusing start, this ends as another very entertaining entry to the Peter Grant series. This is a good, fun book, but for me it is still the weakest part of the series so far - which is saying a lot about the generally high quality of all the former novels.
Being a fan of Peter Grant, this book is ok. It contains some humour and wittiness, but the showdown and solution were ... mmmh .. ok.
Bev's role is quite reduced to a twin baby breading machine, and Nightingale seems to have emotionally already quit job.
