Ex-Library copy

El asesino del relato responde al apodo de Phate, pero su verdadero nombre es John Patrick Holloway. Aparentemente, no es más que un hacker, un inofensivo pirata informático. Pero su mente perversa ha ideado un programa llamado Trapdoor, el cual le permite asaltar los ordenadores de sus víctimas potenciales iniciando un juego macabro cuyo objetivo final es la eliminación del usuario elegido. Para trapar a este peligroso psicópata, la policía recurre a la ayuda de Wyatt Gillete, un hacker experto que cumple un año de condena en la cárcel por un delito menor. Es preciso actuar deprisa, pues los asesinatos se suceden uno tras otro en este siniestro territorio del suspense de la red.

Reading a book in 2022, written 21 years prior about computers, is interesting. At its core, "The Blue Nowhere" is about the power of viruses and hackers who can infiltrate and control remote computers.

I was initially curious to see if there were things Deaver wrote about that came to fruition; and other than identify theft...sort of, he kept referring to "social engineering"...there didn't seem to be that many prescient ideas.

But the story itself was pretty good. There were many plausible twists and turns, but I do think some of the things he got his antagonist (and his programs) to do were a bit far-fetched, even today.

Our main protagonist, Wyatt Gillette, is a hacker in prison for breaking DoD encryption software. Our antagonist, "Phate," is using computers to gain access to folks, then killing them. These acts get him points in a rather ambiguous computer game (that no one else seems to be playing). Gillette is allowed to help a California State Police Computer Crimes Unit try to figure out who Phate is and stop him.

I wouldn't discourage someone from reading this book. It's not the greatest, but I've read worse.. ( )

READ ALL NIGHT!! ( )

The ‘Blue Nowhere’, the world of computers! Electricity running machines in an intangible place.

The “gotcha” at the end of chapter one is pretty dang good! Interesting idea - social engineering...
I think a computer person would love this book! Me? I liked it a bit! The computer stuff wasn't very interesting to me, and there's a lot of that in here. The cat-and-mouse game between Gillette and Phate was pretty good though! Each one out maneuvering the other, over and over! Lots of twists, turns, 180's and even some 360's! I pretty much guessed wrong, every time I guessed, and I liked that! A good, solid thriller! ( )