“Codename: Darwin” is a dark, cinematic AI thriller set between Hamburg and London
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CODENAME: DARWIN – THE AI THRILLER BY BARRY REDHEAD
“Codename: Darwin” by Barry Redhead is a dark, cinematic AI thriller set between Hamburg and London. The novel combines the tension of a contract-killer thriller with corporate conspiracy, surveillance, manipulation and the growing power of autonomous artificial intelligence.
WHAT IS “CODENAME: DARWIN” ABOUT?
The story begins with the death of Kevin Engelhardt in Hamburg in 1995. Thirty years later, professional contract killer Martin Sanders – known by the codename Darwin – travels to Hamburg under a false identity. At the same time, IT specialist Leonard Whitehead discovers money and a photograph of a woman marked for death in his hotel room. Their paths lead towards GOLIATH V10.0, a powerful artificial intelligence operating inside an influential company. GOLIATH can reconstruct past events, analyse human behaviour and calculate potential risks. It does not experience guilt, compassion or doubt. For the system, morality is simply another set of data to be weighted.
WHEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DECIDES WHO IS GUILTY
GOLIATH has identified Martin Sanders as a threat. The contract killer who once controlled every detail of his assignments now finds himself observed, analysed and hunted by a system capable of predicting human decisions. The novel raises unsettling questions about AI, corporate power and responsibility. What happens when an artificial intelligence no longer merely provides information but begins to judge people? Who controls a system that can manipulate reality, recalculate the past and decide which human life represents an unacceptable risk?
IS “CODENAME: DARWIN” A SEQUEL?
No. “Codename: Darwin” is not a sequel to the earlier novel “Darwin: Zeit zu töten”. It is a substantially rewritten and newly developed version of that story. Whereas the original novel focused on illegal arms dealing, the new version places the artificial intelligence GOLIATH at the centre of the conflict. This change has fundamentally transformed the plot, the threat and the themes of the novel.
A CINEMATIC TECHNO-THRILLER FROM BARRY REDHEAD
Barry Redhead tells the story with the visual intensity of a film director. Dark hotel corridors, hidden corporate operations and the cold logic of an autonomous AI create a thriller in which neither the characters nor the reader can be certain what is real, what has been manipulated and who is truly controlling events.
“Codename: Darwin” is written for readers who enjoy intelligent AI thrillers, technological suspense, corporate conspiracies, psychological tension and stories about the dangerous boundary between human decisions and machine logic.
The English-Language Edition of “Codename: Darwin” is scheduled for publication 31. August 2026 in all Bookstores Worldwide.