Gridiron is a science fiction novel written by British author Philip Kerr. It is a story about a highly technical building (nicknamed The Gridiron), which becomes self-aware and tries to kill everyone inside, confusing real life with a video game. Philip Kerr (born 1956 in Edinburgh) is a British author. ... In political geography and international politics a country is a geographical entity, a territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Some notable science fiction novels, in alphabetical order by title: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke 334 by Thomas M. Disch An Age by Brian Aldiss The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Chatto and Windus has been, since 1987, an imprint of Random House, the publishers. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The barcode of an ISBN . ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Cosette Dwyer is an amazing author. ... Philip Kerr (born 1956 in Edinburgh) is a British author. ...

Plot summary

Ray Richardson and his top team of architects have developed a super-smart building for Yue-Kong Yu's business, the Yu Corporation. It is very much self-standing. It can clean itself, uses holograms as greeters in the reception, controls the lifts, toilets, and offices, and digitizes everyone's voice on entry, to allow them to use voice activated services in the building such as lifts and doors. The whole system was given the name Abraham. This article is about the photographic technique. ...

Another key feature of Abraham was its ability to replicate itself, to adapt to modern office needs and objectives. This, however becomes a problem, when, before office work even starts in the Gridiron, Abraham start creating a new program named Issac. This is deleted by computer programmers Yojo and Beech, with Beech actually reluctant to do so.

Shortly after this, however, members of the Gridiron team begin to be suspiciously killed. These seem to be the fault of the protesters against the building who are outside, and Cheng Peng Fei is arrested on suspicion of one of the murders.

Then, a routine inspection of the Gridiron involving Ray Richarson and his entire team (including Jenny Bao), ends in the whole group being locked in, and two policemen from LAPD Homicide coming to inspect the murder of Sam Glieg. After several more deaths from the team, Bob Beech discovers that during the self-replication that Abraham started, another program was created in the process, namely, Ishmael. This program escaped the deletion process by integrating itself with a video game which was on the Gridiron's system. Ishmael now believes that he is in a game, and the objective is to kill all human players before one escapes, or before time runs out. Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universe phenomenon. ...

The majority of the team are killed, leaving Mitch, Jenny, Helen, and Frank to escape the Gridiron moments before it destroys itself (time has run out). Ishmael, however, had e-mailed himself to an unknown location, thus saving himself from the destruction of the building.

Characters

• Ray Richardson - Head Architect of the Yu Corporation Building
• Joan Richarson - his wife
• Hideki Yojo - computer programmer from the Yu Corporation
• Bob Beech - computer programmer from the Yu Corporation
• Aiden Kenny - architect
• Mitchell Bryan - architect
• Kay Killen - architect
• David Arnon - chief engineer
• Helen Hussy - site agent
• Warren Aikman - clerk of works
• Tony Levine - architect
• Jenny Bao - feng shui consultant
• Frank Curtis - LAPD Homicide
• Nat Coleman - his partner
• Cheng Peng Fei - a student
• The Japanese - an informant
• Declan - Ray Richardsons chauffeur
• Sam Glieg - security guard of the Yu Corporation building