Autonomous

Description

William Mackler is about to go on the road trip of a lifetime. After winning a contest--and nearly dying in the process--he becomes the proud owner of Autonomous, a driverless car that knows where you want to go before you do. #Worthit! To sweeten the deal he gets to pick three friends to go with him on a cross-country trip. For William, a reckless adrenaline junkie, this is the perfect last hurrah before he and his friends go their separate ways after graduation. But Autonomous is more than just a car without a steering wheel. It's capable of downloading all of the passengers' digital history--from the good, to the bad, to the humiliating. The information is customized into an itinerary that will expose a few well-kept secrets, but it will also force William to face some inner demons of his own. Think you know Autonomous? The real question is, how much does Autonomous know about you? This funny, tense, action-packed thriller combines topical social-media-privacy stakes with jaw-dropping high-tech action for a road trip saga like no other.

Andy Marino was born and raised in upstate New York, and currently lives in New York City with his wife and two cats. He's also the author of Unison Spark, Uncrashable Dakota, and The Door. You can visit him at andy-marino.com or on Twitter @Andy_Marino.

* A high-tech, twisted Breakfast Club for the social media age.--Kirkus Online Exclusive, starred review In a fast-paced, tech-saturated, and thoroughly hashtagged road trip story, Marino... looks at the potentially insidious side of artificial intelligence and highlights how friendships change as people grow up.--Publishers Weekly Readers will instantly connect or cringe (or both) as the characters' digitally constructed selves collide with the ugly realities of who they are off-screen... This book will have readers questioning just how much of themselves hey can entrust to the inter-webs, and just what the possibilities are when technology becomes autonomous.--BCCB