CyberStorm

CyberStorm is an excellent apocalyptic disaster novel by Matthew Mather. Michael Mitchell, his wife Lauren and their toddler son Luke live on the sixth floor of an apartment building in New York City. Their best friends, Chuck and Susie and their infant daughter Ellarose live in the apartment next door. Unfortunately, their lives become perilous due to three powerfully destructive forces that converge on NYC during the Christmas season. Widespread malicious cyber-attacks bring down power grids and major logistical networks, as well as taking away email and Internet access and the ability to use credit cards or get cash. In addition, the city is hit by horrendously powerful, relentless, and recurring winter storms that make it extremely show more difficult and very dangerous to even go outside. Also there’s the threat of Bird Flu that also increases everyone’s panic level. This book includes a large number of interesting, appealing, and also sinister characters, who endure a harrowing nightmare struggle to survive. The very fabric of modern society is torn asunder by the extreme violent behavior of terrified, starving people trying to survive, and many characters do not survive. This is an amazingly gripping story that I did not want to stop reading, although I sometimes was emotionally caught up in the terror and gloom of the desperate situations and life-threatening struggles. Mather, who self-published this book via amazon, has a bright future as an author. He is planning a sequel to this book, which I will certainly read, and I also plan to read his second book Atopia, which is already available. I highly recommend this book. show less

Matthew Mather's Cyberstorm hit home with me. After a lifetime career in the high tech industry, I've often wondered what would happen if the technology weren't there. So many scenarios are possible, and I question our ability to survive if the technology was lost to us.

Cyberstorm takes you on a journey where the impossibility occurs, and is a good study in the ability of humanity to survive. We've become so dependent on social networks, news and weather reports, and the comfort of being able to type in a few keystrokes to have almost anything delivered to our doorsteps. If all was taken away from us, would our morality suffer in order to survive?

Such a thought provoking tale, set in a thrilling manner in the likes of Michael Crichton. show more I enjoyed it immensely. show less

This is not a book for the squeamish; it goes into the realism that happens when everything starts going to pot. And it slowly sneaks up on you just like in real life. That being said, I ended up finishing it in two days. It had me hooked and I just couldn't wait to see how the narrator was going to deal with what I kind of knew was going to happen next. This book will give preppers even more to think about. My computer security industry friends say it runs pretty true to what could happen if all these plot events converged.

He got it right

Not many cyber disaster books get it. But he nailed it. Combination of dystopian fiction and real world racism with a touch of bad media reporting thrown in the mix. Great read.

Mike Mitchell and his wife live in New York with their young son, Luke. They are battling modern problems -- stresses of city life, his wife wanting to return to work, the joys and fears of parenthood -- when things go horribly wrong. A cyber attack shuts things down. Everything. Power, water, the internet. Gone. And then the snow starts falling. NYC quickly becomes a disaster area with everyone struggling to survive.

I listened to the audio version of this book. A very engaging and enjoyable listen. I learned during 2020 that upsetting the usual supply chain in any way can cause people to behave badly pretty quickly. I witnessed people panic buying and going into crazed angry rants when informed there were buying limits. People have show more been beaten and even killed over disagreements about wearing or not wearing masks in public. I saw people come to blows over toilet paper. And I read many reports about senior citizens being targeted by scams and worse. And -- our utilities, basic supply chains for medicines, food and water and the internet were never interrupted. Imagine how people's behavior would slide if the lights went out, running water shut off, no garbage pickup, no gasoline available, no food in the stores, no fire department, no police patrolling...... Can you imagine?

I was totally engaged in this story until the end. I felt let down by the ending.....too easy, felt contrived. I enjoyed it.....but it was just like tying things all up in a pretty bow at the end. I guess that's better than ending on a totally bleak horrific turn of events....but the ending just felt a bit Hollywood.

Enjoyable disaster story. Definitely had me thinking over 2020 and contemplating how we behave during disasters. All the issues that have come up during Covid19....how much worse would it be if something worse came along that left people starving and panicked? Things would get very bad in just a few days.

I listened to the audio version of this book. Narrated by Tom Taylorson, the audio was a bit over 11 hours long. Taylorson reads at a nice pace and has a pleasant voice. He did a good job of voice acting. Very enjoyable listen.

I'm definitely going to read more by this author. Even with my disappointment in the ending, I really liked this book. show less

This is a disaster novel, some might call it post-apocalyptic, but it is closer to reality than science fiction. Most readers will have an idea of the threat from the title; many will have heard snippets of news about the resultant widespread damage that would occur if such a storm were to be the result of a planned, concentrated attack. This novel has similarities to a movie The Perfect Storm in that Mather combines natural forces (a severe New York winter) with planned cyberattacks and even poorly planned spontaneous cyberattacks. To know the sources of the attacks, read the book.

Mather uses many characters who live in a New York apartment building to tell his story. Initially daunting in the number of characters, the reader should show more not abandon the book because it seems too difficult to keep track of everybody. The novel fairly quickly settles into the tales of principal, important characters.

Lauren is the attractive wife of Mike. She comes from a wealthy family and her parents are not too happy with Mike, not poor, but dedicated to being an entrepreneur. They feel she should have a career and she won’t have it with Mike. Lauren sort of feels the same; she feels trapped with son Luke. Her talks with another building resident, Richard, is misinterpreted by Mike as a possible affair in the making. The tale of Richard will lead to one of the early surprises in the novel.

Chuck and his wife Susie are good friends of Lauren and Mike; they also have a young child. These four will be the center of action throughout the novel. The way they interact with each other, the shifting of power at different times in different situations, make the story move.

This is a novel with warnings that we all may have heard before on CNN. Our characters will not follow CNN for long because the internet is one of the first things to go. Another is the nationwide transportation and logistical system. As is pointed out many times, inventory is replaced by an on demand system that relies on communications. When the stores in cities run out of things, shelves are not restocked because no requests are made. People get hungry and even thirsty because the computer controlled management systems to distribute water break down.

So somewhere we have to have a computer geek hero, Damon, who can provide some workarounds for at least minimal communication needs, such as text messaging. Damon plays a huge part in the novel to help our fearless foursome. He also provides interesting ideas to the technologically challenged reader. My favorite line from the novel comes from Damon “If you don’t pay for a product, then you are the product.” (Kindle Location 3604). To find out what that means, read the book.

Mather’s descriptions of the Russian survivors of Leningrad and how they interact in this novel is quite entertaining.

This is a story of how base human nature can become when survival is at stake. There is a continuing struggle on the part of many characters to show humanity to others in need. There is an ending I did not anticipate. It is not a spoiler to note that a lot of problem occurring throughout the tale are due to misperception on the part of the principal characters.

I will read more from this author. show less

What if the Internet broke? If you ever wondered what a cyber war might look like this is an interesting book. It is a first hand account of what a fictional family in Manhattan goes through during a cyber event when the Internet fails. If you think you are prepared for a disaster, you are not. Things you don't even think about like toilets and safe drinking water. What would you eat for 30 days if there was no power to keep food fresh. How about disease in a heavily populated area? It is scary. You may become a prepper after reading this.

I saw this book as more nonfiction but using a fictional family to make it more understandable. That is why I only rated it a 3 because it really isn't a novel. It can really get bogged down in techno show more jargon, which for me was interesting until it wasn't.

Definitely worth a read if you want to know more about cyber threats. show less