This was a gripping read. Toward the end when the bad guys and good guys were jetting from the US, across Europe and Russia, it was a bit contrived. It's based on the premise that Computer glitches (read malware) can bring down modern commerce, communications, power plants and even planes. Since several airlines, banks and credit card services have had MAJOR problems with their systems going down in 2012 and 2013, and with identity theft and hackers, it does seem more real now than when it was written just 2 years ago. So...have long shelf life food in your closet and cash in a safe for when the internet goes down and stays down.
I snagged this because an acquaintance thought I'd like it since I'd liked Daemon and Freedom. Well, despite a promising start it devolved around half way in as it moved from an interesting idea (killer virus of unknown origin) to something Dan Simmons could have written on a bad day (evil Arabs waging cyber jyhad against the west) or something from one of Baen's worse authors.
The characters moved to flat or stereotypical and the ideas not that interesting once they got beyond the virus.
So, not recommended.
The characters moved to flat or stereotypical and the ideas not that interesting once they got beyond the virus.
So, not recommended.
