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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
A great read. Suspenseful, but with characters that are very human. Laughed a few times, once until I was near tears. Keeps you on your toes until the end.
It's hard to enjoy a book about a technology crook that was written in 1996! Dial up modem? What?
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It was a good story from start to finish, getting a bit dull in the middle but ending with an exciting turn of events.
John Camp's first novel was The Fool's Run, before he started writing under the pseudonym of John Sandford. The protagonist, Kidd, is artist, computer geek, tarot card reader (as a contingency planning device) and part-time criminal...a likeable anti-hero. In this first book, he works with a couple of sidekicks who will make appearances in later novels, LuEllen (a cat burglar) and another computer geek named Bobby. This is a fun romp through cutting edge computer technology and language...from 1989. That would be when Kaypro computers and Hayes modems were the thing to have...anyone remember them? I found myself chuckling, and then thinking through how things had changed in the 25 years that followed. It was an entertaining read, and presaged the writing style and popularity of Sandford as an author.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The technology is dated. Fortunately the story has strong enough plot lines so survive on it's own.
It's all about high-tech hacking of evil corporations, except it was written in 1989, before the arrival of the Internet as we know it. The hacking is more Capn Crunch than Edward Snowden, with dial-up modems. All of which adds to the charm. Substitute some modern technology and the story would work just fine today. Book 2 was written in 1992, Book 3 in 2001, and Book 4, which I've read, in 2004 -- if nothing else, the series is a neat timeline of the evolution of networks.