Dare to Know, James Kennedy
Dare to Know, James Kennedy
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Dare to Know
A Novel

Author: James Kennedy

Narrator: Bradford Hastings

Unabridged: 8 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/13/2021


Synopsis

Dark Matter meets Annihilation in this mind-bending and emotional speculative thriller set in a world where the exact moment of your death can be predicted—for a price.Our narrator is the most talented salesperson at Dare to Know, an enigmatic company that has developed the technology to predict anyone’s death down to the second. Divorced, estranged from his sons, and broke, he is driven to violate the cardinal rule of the business by forecasting his own death day. The problem: his prediction says he died twenty-three minutes ago.The only person who can confirm its accuracy is Julia, the woman he loved and lost during his rise up the ranks of Dare to Know. As he travels across the country to see her, he is forced to confront his past, the choices he has made, and the terrifying truth about the company he works for.Wildly ambitious and highly immersive, this mind-bending thriller explores the destructive power of knowledge and collapses the boundaries between reality, myth, and conspiracy as it races toward its stunning conclusion.

About James Kennedy

James Kennedy is the author of The Order of Odd-Fish. Before becoming a writer, he was a computer programmer with a degree in physics and philosophy. Dare to Know is his first adult novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on October 20, 2021

3.5 stars: “Dare To Know” is a fun sci-fi thriller that has a narrator who I found similar to “Up in the Air” Ryan Bingham. It is silly and quirky. This is a goofy story about a businessman who represents the company, Dare To Know. This company has an algorithm that can accurately pinpoint the momen......more

Goodreads review by Danielle on January 02, 2025

Note: I received a free copy of this book. In exchange here is my honest review. An interesting concept for a book. 🤓 I wouldn’t dare to know 😝......more

Goodreads review by Book Clubbed on July 03, 2021

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. This is, for better or worse, an entirely modern book. We have a shady scientific company, speculative aspects in an otherwise normal society, a deteriorating relationship, a joke-y narrator, and too many damn anecdotes and allegories to tell the reader HERE'S WHAT......more

Goodreads review by Darla on September 08, 2021

This book was like being inside a video game. Our storyteller is a salesman who will calculate the exact time of your death for the going rate. His company began as Sapere Aude and catered to an elite clientele. Now the company has mainstream clients and changed the name to Dare To Know Essentially......more

Goodreads review by Karen’s Library on September 06, 2021

Going into this book, the premise seemed really interesting and something that I thought I’d like. The MC works as a salesman to sell the exact time of someone’s death. Using science and physics and charts and books, the date is ALWAYS 100% accurate. At least it’s always been accurate until the MC c......more


Quotes

“A voraciously readable page-turner of a novel, part creepypasta, part thought-experiment.” Cory Doctorow, New York Times bestselling author

“A fascinating, compulsively readable thriller.” The Guardian (London)

“Entertainingly mindbending.” Financial Times (London)

“Audaciously clever…vivid, thought provoking, and unsettling.” SFX Magazine (5 stars)

“A fresh and morbid twist on the old sci-fi/occult idea of hacking the universe’s mathematical source code." Geek Wisdom

“[A] genre-bending thriller…Good pacing and clever plotting keep the pages turning.” New York Journal of Books

“Hastings’s sarcastic narration is a fantastic complement to the nameless narrator’s tone as he’s prone to snark…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile

“Essential reading for the gathering dark.” Times Saturday Reviews (London)

“A wholly original novel that’s bound to frustrate just as many as it entrances.” Esquire

“A fast-paced, existential, mind-expanding thriller—a thoroughly enjoyable read.” Shelf Awareness


Awards

  • Indie Next List
  • Gizmodo Pick
  • Guardian Pick
  • Library Journal Pick
  • Chicago Reader Pick
  • Financial Times Pick
  • London Times Pick
  • AudioFile Earphones Award