While THE PASSENGERS is a fast-paced and somewhat outlandish thriller, its value may well lie in author John Marrs’ ability to imagine how technology and social media hijack humans on every level.

The story is set in the near future when, in an effort to override human error and combat pollution, autonomous cars are now regulated and compulsory in the UK. A "Vehicle Inquest Jury Duty" summons requires Libby Dixon to spend a week with a small group, deciding if cars or humans are at fault in various fatal accidents that have taken place since the self-driving cars hit the road. But Libby, a young therapist at the local hospital, makes the shocking discovery that the jury is rigged in favor of the cars, not the passengers or pedestrians.

"Marrs’ ability to educate his audience about the problems of a future dominated by autonomous vehicles that are at the mercy of hackable data will win a lot of readers over."

She is soon thrown into a much larger moral sinkhole, when all the screens in the room are seized by the Hacker. He --- a disembodied voice --- also has taken control of eight cars, each carrying someone who was handpicked for a different reason. One is a Somalian refugee with five children, one an army veteran, another a legendary actress, a police officer, etc. The Hacker tells the world --- through various social and other media --- that shortly all but one will die in a massive collision. The world will decide which one of them will live. And it is the members of the Vehicle Inquest Jury who must persuade the twitterverse who is worth preserving.

As the jury is given each rider’s details, the rest of the world hears them too and immediately begins voting for or against their favorites. Moral outrage at the Hacker’s toying with human life is subsumed in everyone’s excitement at jockeying for their favorite character’s survival. Only Libby and a few of her colleagues seem to have concerns that they are being forced to play god. As each potential victim has a secret that the Hacker insists on revealing, playing god also means deciding which transgression --- infidelity, extortion, fraud, pornography --- is worse.

How this resolves itself --- and there are several apparent denouements before the final one --- is both clever and manipulative. While the loose logic detracts from the novel to an extent, Marrs’ ability to educate his audience about the problems of a future dominated by autonomous vehicles that are at the mercy of hackable data will win a lot of readers over. And his understanding of how social media can threaten our very humanity is nothing short of brilliant.