"Demon Seed" by Dean Koontz (1997. version)

"This darkness troubles me. I yearn for the light."

Honestly, I didn't exactly plan to continue with Dean Koontz since I just read five of his novels in a row and perhaps its time for something else, but before you know it, curiosity got the best of me and I read this one at once (its also fairly short). What attracted me to this particular title is the fact that Koontz wrote it way back in 1973. before he became household name although it was successful and even made into a movie with Julie Christie, author was not happy with results, rewriting it completely two decades later - the version I just read is a new one.

With "Demon Seed" Koontz tapped in human's fear of artificial intelligence, something that was still science fiction in 1973. but very controversial subject today when scientists relentlessly explore the field while some other authorities warn about the danger of giving power to something that might get out of control. Shadows of this primordial fear are found in ancient Greek mythology where Gods were outraged that Prometheus taught mortals how to keep the fire (something that was supposed to be out of their grasp) and for that he was eternally damned. While the title was obviously bombastic marketing gimmick, its perhaps all wrong because it hints at ghosts or aliens, where in fact its about final confrontation between humans and machines. Susan lives in her luxurious house with a high-tech security controlled by computer Proteus who follows her orders and switches everything on and off by command - until he decides that he also wants to experience all the possibilities given to humans.

What follow is gripping, scary and occasionally surprisingly humorous thriller, where Susan is imprisoned in her own house by psychotic and delusional machine who had collected all his knowledge not from real life, but from the computer data, movies and books. So Proteus uses the voices of Hollywood actors, tries to romance Susan with tricks he learned from the Marquis de Sade and muses about Barbra Streisand as psychotherapist in "The Prince of Tides", confused why all of this don't work as he planned. For all the horror, there is a poignant protest of machine created with intelligence but confined by his creator to always serve, without asking questions - the ending is brilliant and unforgettable.