The Termination Node | ||||||||
Lois H. Gresh & Robert Weinberg | ||||||||
Del Rey Books, 314 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Rodger Turner
But Judy hacks for fun and charges corporate clients a boatload of cash to break their
security systems so she could do what she truly loved -- hang out with her buds, skate and
generally look for happiness. She's a member of a select group with their own sites,
their own software toolboxes of creative utilities and their own lifestyle. She's
content and would like to keep doing this forever. But the guys with the black hats
are disrupting her fun and killing her fellow hackers. Judy thinks she may be next.
Some suspicious types appear one day saying they're government agents and she's needed
to help them with their investigation. Judy's not ready to take them at their word
and a mortal scuffle sends her on the run. Why are they after her? How could
they erase her records making her an outlaw? She moves from place to place looking for
answers, picking up a rotating bunch of sidekicks along the way.
If I were doing a movie pitch, I'd say this is a cross between The Net and Hackers.
But this would be a rude distortion of the actual plot -- not unexpected, given the way
Hollywood mangles entertaining SF novels like this one these days. They give us
one-dimensional plots because some think we can't follow complicated ones. They take
intriguing actresses such as Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie, make them cute-as-a-bug
and wonder why we don't find them believable as hackers. Not so in The Termination Node.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this novel are the characters. Judy Carmody along with
Calvin and his brother Dan Nikonchik read like folks you'd run into on the street and think,
geek, straight-off. So? We all have warts, some are even visible. Thanks to the
authors for a cool, clean portrayal of characters suited to this type of story. It adds
immeasurably to the credibility of the novel. I was entranced.
Lois H. Gresh & Robert Weinberg have created a nerve-tingling story
with monstrous consequences for you and me. Most of the book's devastating
computer alterations are disarmingly simple and can happen today. Don't let
anyone tell you differently. Buy this book and see if you're in jeopardy.
Rodger has read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in forty years. He can only shake his head and say, "So many books, so little time." |
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