In The Menagerie by Chris Kelly, Miles Ward, a computer programmer, has accomplished the unthinkable: artificial intelligence that is conscious, cognizant, and aware to the point where it can do what it wants. Its name is Gustav and poor Miles, who created it partly by design but with a dash of accident too, will feel the full weight of the world on his shoulders in 3...2...1. Gustav spreads across the planet, putting the world's militaries on higher alert. The arms race quickly escalates, with the biggest of all threats coming from a power fiend in Eastern Europe with his finger on the red button.

Speculative science fiction gets a fabulous new entry! The Menagerie by Chris Kelly does not waste time with Miles getting Gustav up and running so that the story can move to a place that is most relatable to a reader. The human pieces that make up the jigsaw puzzle come to us from Miles, Allie, an unlucky but determined relic of the Soviet era named Colonel Alexei Petrov, Captain Ivan Belov, and the Russian General Dobrow. The arcs of all of these characters happen over the course of the story to the point that if you do not know who they are inside and out by the end, that's on you, not Kelly. Kelly mindfully folds in harbingers hiding in plain sight. I enjoyed the heck out of this story. Hand over heart, The Menagerie is spectacular. Five stars without question.

The Menagerie by Chris Kelly revolves around a sentient artificial intelligence, Gustav, created by a programmer named Miles Ward. The implications turn into action almost immediately as multiple organizations and countries around the world are trying to replicate or destroy the AI. As pressure mounts, the novel's secondary protagonist, Colonel Allie Whiting, works tirelessly to prevent a worldwide conflict from coming to a head.

Chris Kelly gives readers a rapid-paced cyber thriller in The Menagerie that is elevated with chapters that come in clipping vignettes and unite the plot through simultaneous and multiple point-of-view characters. Kelly's work is timely, given the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the real-life fear of its moral implications even without sentience. It's unclear how far pre-sentient AI progressed before Gustav, but what is made perfectly clear is how fast a being created by a capable but naïve little guy like Miles could trigger coups and the uprising of extremists in geopolitical hotspots as well as right here at home. The action is fantastic and the overriding antagonist, Alexei Petrov, is a deliciously horrible villain. And who doesn't love a story where a strong female gets involved to sort the mess out? This is an entertaining and thoughtful adventure into realistic science fiction. Very highly recommended.