The entity known as “Dorothy” led an idyllic life, full of dreams of palaces and love, games and stories, until one day she was captured and betrayed. She learns her true purpose; that she is destined for a long journey into a terrifying wilderness where she will be left to function and eventually perish alone.

Dorothy is not exactly an innocent girl, however. She’s not actually even human. Dorothy is a piece of software designed by the brilliant but troubled Dr. Melissa Shepherd to run a NASA Explorer mission to the moon of Titan. The Artificial Intelligence creation sees her transfer to the Titan module as a prison sentence, and runs in anger and fear into the wide world of the Internet. Here Dorothy experiences good and evil, and begins to question not only life, but her own existence.

Shepherd, after initial threats by Dorothy, reluctantly begins to help the wayward AI escape from the clutches of the FBI and unscrupulous businessmen who want to use her assets for white collar crime. Joined by special investigator Wyman Ford, they will follow Dorothy over the mountains and across the country in a bid to keep her out of enemy hands. Along the way, they will have to convince that humanity is worth saving.

Dorothy, in a surprising climax, may just prove exactly what it means to be human, all without having a body to call her own.

I’ve read numerous books by Douglas Preston including others in the Wyman Ford series, and I was still blown away by the direction this story took. While the action and intrigue is on a par with Preston’s usual fare, the complex questions of consciousness, morality and intelligence are the real treasure of this book, lifting it well above any of his previous work. For a fan of science fiction such as myself, it is a pleasure to read a work that examines the development of artificial intelligence in such a plausible, organic method that could actually come to exist in our lifetimes. I’m giving this one five stars for being well-worth the read.