William Hertling

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.… (altro)

The software/AI plot was interesting and believable.

Sadly, the plot was rendered through intensely annoying characters and culture. Avogadro Corps is transparently Google, and has all the cultural problems that plague the IT industry. So do most of the characters. The main character is whinier than Luke Skywalker, has less moral awareness than a three year old, and has so little sense of self that the prospect of losing his job overwhelms him with existential anxiety. And that's despite the fact that he's got a quite substantial safety net: his wife has a good paying job and enough influence to get him another job in her company. (But don't even get me started on his wife.)

The most unbelievable part of the book is that the main character , a team lead at Google, wouldn't know what social engineering was. That scene could easily have been written in a way that explained social engineering to the reader without that unbelievable gap in the main character's knowledge (and without his wife's giggling ego-stroking him through it).

I'm willing to concede that these characters may be realistic. That doesn't make them any less annoying. I don't want to hang out with these people in my books any more than I do in real life. Ugh.

… (altro)