The first thing to know about this book is it is detail heavy with regard to hacking, coding, and internet technology. I don't know how much of the tech in this book is real or embellished but it all looked and felt real to me, and I'm no stranger to some of the technology. However the detail is expressed in a simplified manner and if you can get past that, this book is a compelling read. In fact it's almost three books in one, one part cyber-assassin, one part cat-and-mouse computer espionage thriller, and one part tech startup drama. All three are compelling on their own, and drawing the storylines together was I'm sure no easy feat. That being said, sometimes one storyline would carry on a little too long, getting a bit mired in details. That's a minor criticism, and on the whole I enjoyed this book. ( )

Incredible (the literal meaning). This books crams an unbelievable amount of cool tech into its short narrative - common exploits and techniques but also some detailed description of various technologies that don't really matter to the plot but are just there so you can go "yes, I got that reference!". Not a paragraph will go by without some more or less obscure reference - this must be what fan-service looks like in book form.

Most of it will be completely incomprehensible unless you're a software engineer but there's also equal amounts of geek SF Americana. You name the cliche - it's there. It's so strange, like a shopping list of touchstones. Expensive coffee machines, microbreweries (honestly, at that point I just started laughing and could no longer take the book seriously), psycho-analysis, ramen fueled startups, Japanese culture, minecraft etc. etc.. The protagonist is a Kevin Mitnick, Linus Torvalds, John Draper, George Hotz, Kevin Poulsen (and many others) all rolled into one, taking on their skills and histories.

You'd think that would be enough to stretch anyone's credulity and provide enough material to work with but why stop there? Let's change that protagonist into a woman and a amputee and she murders people as a coping mechanism for her mental problems (throwing Dexter Morgan into the mix).

It's a fun wish-fulfilment fantasy, similar to Daniel Suarez, except the technical details are orders of magnitude better. The social commentary is equally heavy handed and black helicopters of the oppressive government zoom around the sky. Evil people are evil, good guys are saints. ( )

I've been overwhelmed with a great number of recent novels that deal directly with hacking lately, and what do you know? It's a blast!

Not only is it stuffed to the gills with 0-Day exploitz and customized onion-router networks now that Tor has been hacked, but we've also got a masters-view of the process from within the tale. It's great. But this is hardly all!

The character twists before we even begin the story are worthy of a novel all on its own.

I mean, how many accolades can you give a woman who Dexters the victimizers of spouse-abuse, has been doing it for years, and has done it only through hacking? In my opinion, there's not enough accolades out there! Sure, sure, it's hacking and sometimes killing, but for the most part she merely puts them out of the way. But 50 victims! And she never got caught! W0w!

And then here's how she killed her own husband and lost her arm in the process, of course, but all of this leads up to the main course-correction of her life.

How to stop the abusive behavior of Tomo! (Read googly, FacePalm, Twitpocalypse, or any other the other social media sites.) They all save your data. Everything. They always have. If you start paying for a package that keeps you private from their targeted ads, then that's all you're paying for. The right to pretend that you're not being tracked.

Her dream is to have a nearly-open-source alternative with complete and utter control over customization in the hands of each user. Have it across a total distributed network, and have competing companies (and not just your trust in a single company) dictate how safe everything you've ever done online is.

Beautiful. Abusive partners, indeed! Is your loved one checking all your email and snooping on your physical location? Are they isolating you and blocking access from all of your friends? Well maybe some serial murderer out there is going to help you out! :)

It's definitely no where near as corny as I make it. It's a great techno-triller and believable every step of the way. The depth of characterization is truly delightful.

I totally recommend this right up with [b:The Sudden Appearance of Hope|25746699|The Sudden Appearance of Hope|Claire North|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454363620s/25746699.jpg|45587878] and [b:The Circle|18302455|The Circle|Dave Eggers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1376419833s/18302455.jpg|25791820]. The pieces they all have in common are pretty amazing. :) ( )

I haven't read too many techno-thrillers, other than Daemon, which was fun but suffered from overly robotic characterizations, deeply offending my robot sensibilities. This one had more human humans. On the other hand, the tech is a bit techy for most readers (this is where you say "challenge accepted!"), and the whining is a bit on the whiny side. To save you time to getting offended, the main character is a victim of abuse and spends the entire novel on the edge of PTSD. It was a bit much for me. ( )

I think there was a lot to like in this book. The main character is a woman who works in tech, suffers from PTSD and anxiety, and uses her tech skills to kill men who are abusing their wives. So that's a pretty fantastic premise, and the main character is pretty awesome..... And the author clearly knows what is and is not possible with today's technology, so the tech aspects were totally realistic.

However, I couldn't handle it - this was way too triggering for me. The descriptions of what it is like to live with PTSD, what it is like to have an anxiety attack, and what it is like to be a survivor of abuse were painfully accurate. It was too upsetting and I couldn't read it.