R. J. Pineiro

An F-117 loses control and crashes into a heavily populated area of Las Vegas. Two trains collide head-on in Florida. Two commercial airliners collide over a residential section of Chicago. An oil refinery explodes in Texas. Together, thousands of Americans are killed and injured in what turns out to be the result os a case of cyber-terrorism the likes of which we were unprepared to withstand. “A new kind of terrorism had been launched against America, and unfortunately, the perpetrators show more were even more elusive than Osama bin Ladin and his kind. The deadly beauty of their approach had left a large number of ticking bombs across the country, making the situation much worse than in 2001.” (p. 107. And the weapon being used? Corrupted semi-conductors designed to fail in computer systems after a certain amount of time had elapsed. But who was the enemy?
Enter into the story it’s two main characters; career FBI agent Brent MacClaine and a young, highly intelligent computer hacker felon Erika Conklin, convicted of creating a virus which stole passwords to major institutions in America thought safe from hacking (including the FBI’s). Given a choice of spending ten years in a Federal pen or six years working for the FBI and a clean record, she chose the latter. The two were then paired together to track the sources of the cyber terrorism and stop it before more damage to America’s infrastructure and population could occur.
A bit plodding and predictable in spots the climactic conclusion was vivid and exciting, and a bit tragic. show less

Excellent technothriller from an IT insider's point of view. Pineiro's writing keeps you in the middle of the conspiracy at all times.

I was impressed that a technology professional could write such an accessible, apocalyptic and believable novel without getting bogged down in geek speak. Great read!

4.5 stars

This was strangely enjoyable. Full of stereotypes and clichés, like a power-hungry general and typical other-universe oddities, as well as repeated explanations of what happens when one strikes the Vegas nerve or the magazine capacities of various military-issue handguns and rifles.

Overall, it was a pretty straight forward sci-fi thriller that kept pretty close to the cuff for this genre. There were a couple of shocking scenes towards the end of the book that felt out of place, show more like when Agent Riggs and his wife were captured, tortured and killed, which seemed completely unnecessary to the story. I mean, we already know how ruthless the general is, so this didn't add anything to his ruthlessness.

I listened to the Audible version of the book, which was very well done. The narrator was perfect for this one, especially when discussing the scientific aspects of the storyline. show less

This book was kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The transition from one viewpoint to the next was just perfect. The characters where not forgettable and it was amazing to see the differences between the 2 versions of different people. The ending left me wanting more but at the same time was a perfect ending to the story. Definitely going to add this author to one of my favorites after this.