In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

Book Summary and Reviews of Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

Brilliance

by Marcus Sakey

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Jul 2013, 452 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Book Summary

In Wyoming, a little girl reads people's darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They're called "brilliants," and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in - and betray his own kind.

From Marcus Sakey, "a modern master of suspense" (Chicago Sun-Times) and "one of our best storytellers" (Michael Connelly), comes an adventure that's at once breakneck thriller and shrewd social commentary; a gripping tale of a world fundamentally different and yet horrifyingly similar to our own, where being born gifted can be a terrible curse.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. In this parable of democracy's downfall told in rapid-fire cuts, Sakey upends truths Cooper once thought self-evident, the truths people don't seem to want any more, preferring instead, 'safe lives and nice electronics and full fridges' - nothing less than the tragedy of our times." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Sakey's premise is utterly compelling; no committed thriller aficionado will be able to set the book down. His complex characters are deeply engaging, and his writing is propulsive." - Booklist

"Sakey's (The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes; Good People) is one of the more surprising thrillers of the year. It should appeal to both sf and mystery lovers." - Library Journal

This information about Brilliance was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Diane S.

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey
Not only is this an original concept but it is also a timely one. In the US, we have had the Snowden scandal, and many of us learned, though some of us had already suspected, that our government had been bugging its own citizens. Of course they claim it is for our own safety and that many terrorist attacks have been averted because of this program. Well what one thinks of that is neither here nor there, in this book Cooper finds himself working for a government agency that is charged with just such a task. Doing anything to keep the public safe, only safe for whom?

This is a suspenseful book, it really kept me turning the pages, wanting to find out how it was going to end. The Brilliants, are children born with unusual abilities. While there have always been savants, geniuses, now many more are being born than ever before. As usual, because it isn't understood, it is feared.

This book does make one think. When is it okay to bug your own citizens?
How does one know when they are being told the truth. Most of all, what can we do as regular people when we don't agree with what is happening?

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Marcus Sakey Author Biography

Photo: Brett Carlson

Marcus Sakey's thrillers have been nominated for more than fifteen awards, named New York Time's Editor's Picks, and selected among Esquire Magazine's Top 5 Books of The Year. His novel Good People was made into a movie starring James Franco and Kate Hudson, and his other books are in various stages of development for film.

Born in Flint, Michigan, he attended the University of Michigan before beginning a decade-long career in television and advertising.

His debut thriller The Blade Itself was sold at auction and published to wide critical acclaim, allowing him to work full-time as a writer.

Marcus was the host and writer of the acclaimed television show Hidden City on Travel Channel, for which he was routinely pepper-sprayed and attacked by dogs. He lives in ...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Marcus Sakey's Website

Other books by Marcus Sakey at BookBrowse
  • The Blade Itself jacket

5 more...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more thrillers...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...
  • Book Jacket
    Something, Not Nothing
    by Sarah Leavitt
    In 2020, after a lifetime of struggling with increasingly ill health, Sarah Leavitt's partner, ...
  • Book Jacket
    A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
    by Raul Palma
    Raul Palma's debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens introduces Hugo Contreras, who came to the ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

The low brow and the high brow

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.