Nicely complex plot. ( )

Excellent debut novel, with quality political intrigue and well-developed, yet complex characters. Gibson Vaughn is the son of a political hack, who committed suicide after Gibson's computer hacking found data implicating Senator Benjamin Lombard of theft, and the subsequent investigation pinned the crime on his father. Instead of jail, Gibson is allowed to serve in the military, but finds his employment is stymied by the vengeful Senator, who is now Vice President and seeking the Presidency. Gibson's only close friend was Lombard's daughter, Suzanne, who disappeared at age 14. Gibson is given a chance to find out what happened to her, and finds himself in big trouble as there are many parties, who wish to let sleeping dogs lie. Suspenseful, yet believable. However, FitzSimmons does not allow readers to see what happens in the pivotal confrontation. At least this gives him something to improve on in his next book. Recommended. ( )

The technobabble is not the worst I've read, clearly someone at least tried to give it a once over but Neal Stephenson it is not. Frankly I don't care if it's not crucial to the plot but here it is half the plot. I don't expect realism or scientific accuracy from my fiction (although when books manage that they are usually superb in other ways too) but the book doesn't really have anything to offset it. It wants to be hardboiled but ends up edgy instead. The characters are almost all caricature stereotypes.

...and I always love when books and films dredge up the classic line about IRCs being these anonymous places where hackers meet to discuss their super secret world domination plans. ( )

This was a very well done story. I have had a copy of this book for years and finally decided to give it a try. I am finding that I have overlooked a lot of great novels over the years and this book is one of them. This book was able to grab me right away and I, along with everyone in the story, wanted to know what really happened to Suzanne. I really enjoyed the time I spent listening to this story.

14-year-old Suzanne Lombard disappeared ten years ago. At the time, her father was a well-known senator but he is now the vice president and is currently running for president. There was one surveillance video of Suzanne that surfaced shortly after she disappeared but nobody has seen her since. Everyone wants to know what happened and where she is now.

Gibson Vaughn knew Suzanne when they were kids. Gibson's father worked for Lombard and as a result, Gibson and Suzanna spent a lot of time together when they were children. Gibson has his own issues from the past to deal with and is no longer on good terms with Lombard. He decides to sign on with a group trying to finally get to the bottom of Suzanne's disappearance. I liked Gibson a lot and had a good feeling that he would be able to find out what really happened.

This was a very well thought out mystery. Every piece of information that comes up could become important later in the story. I really enjoyed seeing all of the pieces of the puzzle come together to show the full picture. There is a lot going on in this story but I thought that it worked very well. Everything really made sense and the story felt very possible. I liked that the mystery was able to keep me guessing. There were some pretty big surprises and some excitement that really kept the story moving forward.

I thought that the narrator did a good job with the story. Some of the voices that he used were very similar and I found that I really had to pay attention to determine who was speaking. He had a very soothing voice that I found easy to listen to for hours at a time.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that it was a wonderfully layered and detailed mystery that was able to really make me think. I wouldn't hesitate to read more from this author in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley and I purchased a copy of the audiobook. ( )

I found this to be a well-written thriller, with lots of surprises and well-drawn characters. Suspense is maintained throughout the book and clearly, FitzSimmons is knowledgeable about cyber-hacking which is at the heart of the novel. A worthwhile read. ( )