Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

In Jason Middleton’s The Last Harmonic, at a diplomatic event in Geneva, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presents a reset in relations with Russia, marked by a symbolic button that conceals a critical translation error and signals a deeper shift already in motion. Years later, Valentina Reyes, a signals analyst working in the United States intelligence, identifies a hidden frequency embedded in a globally popular song that alters human behavior and escalates conflict in everyday interactions. As she investigates, she uncovers a coordinated program directed by an artificial intelligence known as the Architect, implemented through international leadership and reinforced across the media, environment, and medical systems. After a personal loss links the signal to measurable harm, Reyes aligns with Daniel Hawthorne and Mace Delgado to locate Sam Clements, a former designer of the system, as they move toward a facility where its control must be confronted.

Jason Middleton’s The Last Harmonic is a fantastic dystopian thriller that takes the tech of Michael Crichton and the fear factor of Stephen King, and reinvents a premise that does all the things a social media algorithm can, but with more panache. And that, folks, is how you write speculative fiction! Reyes is a character with a laundry list of tough choices to make, and alongside Hawthorne, she is easy to champion. I love the character Mace, whose wife, Alexandra, is forced to live with the lasting effects tied to the same system. Middleton leans right into a mighty combination of AI fears and a conspiratorial group that's so well fleshed out. The antagonist is the Architect, who directs the Twelve, consisting of twelve senior figures inside major governments and institutions, and exerts control by shaping the systems people rely on each day. Saving the best praise for last, the visuals are darn near cinematic, from a remote cabin among snow-covered trees, with a narrow road leading to a wooden structure and rock with anything but organic contents, to a public library where readers sit in rows humming the same melody under fluorescent lights while the pages turn in unison. Readers who adore great speculative fiction will love The Last Harmonic. Very highly recommended.