White hat hackers and Homeland Security scramble to unravel the code and create a defense against the worm that has been unleashed into thousands of computers and continues to proliferate, contaminating computers worldwide.
The first evidence appears in the water supplies of cities like Los Angeles and Dallas. Then come the problems with power and light. The first attacks are instigated, then corrected, because the attacks are threats intended to prove what the worm is capable of doing to the nation's infrastructure. And worse is yet to come if the demands are not met.
The name of the terrorist who wrote the code is not given immediately, but it is not difficult to figure out--the author is not really trying hide the perpetrator from the reader.
In addition to the cyber attacks, the family life of Juliana and her husband Mahaz is deteriorating. Juliana suspects her husband's infidelity, a problem she must set aside as she deals with her seventeen-year-old son's too frequent life-threatening complications from hydrocephalus.
G0d_of_Internet does a good job of keeping the reader riveted to a fast-moving plot that echoes the fears of those who are doing their best to prevent this kind of attack from happening. The romance feels false, but the tension of the novel is genuine and thought-provoking.
NetGalley
Suspense. Aug. 16, 2016. Print length: 245 pages.
I know that Ted Koppel's nonfiction look at this kind of thing made you as nervous as it made me...sounds like something along those lines. I'll have to take a look at this one. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteEverything is within a tight time-frame and has a surface feel like a film or television show as things move quickly. Ted Koppel's nonfiction Lights Out is actually more frightening because of his detailed investigations into the what and why an attack on the electric grid would be disastrous. The novel is an interesting reminder.
DeleteIt is scary to think how dependent our society has become on computers, and how vulnerable we are to this kind of attack. What a timely read. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd novelists have all kinds of possible scenarios to consider!
DeleteWe really are too reliant on technology, including the internet. It's amazing when you think about how short a time span the internet has been available to the general public--at least in terms of history. This sounds like an intense read. Scary, even.
ReplyDeleteSuch a relatively short time span for the world to have become so dependent! Technology that has become part of almost everyone's lives in ways that we don't even think about. I had to take away a phone and a tablet from my grandkids last night to get them to go to sleep!
DeleteWith all of that going on I cannot even imagine where romance would come in! Sounds like a good thriller!
ReplyDeleteThe romance was the least realistic scenario in the book. :)
DeleteSounds like an intense read! The cyber world continues to fascinate me, be it fictional or reality. They are a great tool to connect people, but they can wreck it, too. Scary!
ReplyDeleteNot great literature, but a fast-paced thriller. :)
DeleteHey, thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I wrote this book after working on internet stuff (yeah, that's the technical term) :) and I learned just how vulnerable those systems are. I wanted to write the story of what would happen if some of the worst case scenarios I heard about came true. We’d already heard about the Stuxnet worm that destroyed centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant. And since I wrote the book, cybercriminals stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s Central Bank and another $9 million from a bank in Ecuador. These hacks are totally possible and could happen anywhere.
ReplyDelete