Tonight’s book was Inside Out by Barry Eisler, one of my favorite mental floss writers.  Several (four?) years ago when Amy and I were up in Homer, we became obsessed with Eisler’s John Rain books.  I miss John Rain but if foreshadowing is to be believed, I expect the next Eisler book will include both Rain and his sidekick Dox.

If you like Eisler, Inside Out is fast paced and fun. I found it appropriately cynical about torture, the government, and everything else that was covered, except for the one gratuitous and fully predictable sex scene which was nicely done.

Time for something serious tomorrow – I’m finally going to take on something I’ve been promising the author I’d read for about three months.  Oh – and I am doing a run in the morning and P90X Legs and Back and Ab Ripper in the late afternoon no matter what.  Yoga, on the other hand, isn’t happening tomorrow.

If you read one book in 2009, read Daemon. 

It’s unusual for me to recommend a book so early in the year.  Daemon is only my fourth book of 2009.  It’s a first novel.  And it’s mental floss.  But it’s as close to flawless for a book of its genre.

I first heard about Daemon in December from Rick Klau.  I got to know Rick at FeedBurner; he’s now at Google running Blogger.  Rick told me that I had to read this book.  He pointed me to a blog post he had written in 2007 about it.

“I can remember the feeling I had, sitting in the audience as the credits rolled after seeing The Matrix on opening day. I knew I’d seen something that was different, important, and something that I’d want to see again. And again. When I finished Daemon this afternoon, I had that same feeling. Daemon is to novels what The Matrix was to movies. It will be how other novels that rely on technology are judged.”

I immediately one-clicked it on Amazon.  It wasn’t available for the Kindle so the hardcover showed up a week or so ago.  I devoured it this weekend.  Rick’s assessment was correct – this is by far the best techno-thriller I’ve ever read.

The author – Daniel Suarez (also known as Leinad Zeraus) describes himself as “an independent systems consultant to Fortune 1000 companies … An avid gamer and technologist, he lives in California.”  He doesn’t mention that he is a magnificent writer and brilliant storyteller.

I won’t ruin any of it for you.  It’s got everything you’d expect in a fast paced book that will appeal to anyone that likes Crichton, Brown, Clancy, or my newfound friend David Stone.  The tech holds together well and is completely accessible to non-nerds and nerds alike.  It’s a page turner with very little wasted plot or character development.  And it sets up the sequel (Freedom) superbly.

Yum.