Product Description

The powerful new thriller from the author of THE DEVIL'S TEARDROP and THE EMPTY CHAIR. In Jeff's most chilling and topical thriller to date, we meet the most powerful and modern of criminals, the uber-hacker. Trawling both on and off the Net, he can follow your every move, your every detail and your every communication. He can invade your life before taking it away from you. This is the novel that will stop you ever turning your computer on again. Ranged against this modern day mastermind are two new heros. Frank Bishop, a streetwise but very human cop, and his unwilling ally, Wyatt Gillette, a young, brilliant and idealistic hacker who found himself in prison, but now has been liberated to fight this incipient disaster.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #256165 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In this 21st century version of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" two computer wizards engage in the kind of high-tech combat that only a hacker could love. Wyatt Gillette, a cybergenius who's never used his phenomenal talent for evil, is sitting in a California jail doing time for a few harmless computer capers when he gets a temporary reprieve--a chance to help the Computer Crimes Unit of the state police nail a cracker (a criminally inclined hacker) called Phate who's using his ingenious program, Trapdoor, to lure innocent victims to their death by infiltrating their computers. Gillette and Phate were once the kings of cyberspace--the Blue Nowhere of the title--but Phate has gone way past the mischievous electronic pranks they once pulled and crossed over to the dark side. While Trapdoor can hack its way into any computer, it's Phate's skill at "social engineering" as well as his remarkable coding ability that makes him such a menace to society. As Wyatt explains to the policeman who springs him from prison so that he can find and stop Phate before he kills again, "It means conning somebody, pretending you're someone you're not. Hackers do it to get access to databases and phone lines and pass codes. The more facts about somebody you can feed back to them, the more they believe you and the more they'll do what you want them to."

Review
'Dozens of twists and a couple of first class shocks' Kirkus Reviews 2 'Deaver is the master of the ticking bomb suspense' People 3 "Deaver is a terrific storyteller, and he takes the reader on a rollercoaster of suspense, violence and mystery...Good entertainment' Susanna Yager, Daily Telegraph on The Devil's Teardrop 4 'The best psychological thriller writer around' Peter Millar, The Times"

Review
'Deaver has produced an exciting cyberthriller' (Sunday Telegraph )

'Deaver's customary brilliant plotting' (The Sunday Times )

'A classic detective yarn' (Gerald Kaufman, The Scotsman )

'He has pulled off the considerable coup of introducing two distinctive new heroes . . . but Deaver writes as if the prose in The Blue Nowhere had been his house style all along (Publishing News )

'Another serial killer and the internet both helping and concealing the stunning solution. The murderer chooses victims through the internet, but is is old-fashioned sleuthing that tracks down method and motive' (The Scotsman )

'Engrossing thriller that also imparts a wealth of computer info' (Choice, London )

'Slick, pacey and jam-packed with action' (Yorkshire Evening Post )

Customer Reviews

Phreaking briliant read!
Lara Gibson is a self employed business woman in Silicon Valley and is "the queen of urban protection" - she taught people how to look after themselves, how to be safe. Chapter one of the book brings about her death, by someone she thought she knew - a friend of a friend. As it turns out she was conned, a swift piece of 'social engineering' had turned this young stranger into someone she would trust and would walk to her death with.

'Phate' is a wizard, a hacker, a kracker. He has invented, along with the help of his anonymous friend 'Shawn', a piece of virtually untraceable software which allows him access to people's lives - and ultimately gives him the means of taking that life.

Gillette is a wizard also, a hacker. He is sitting in prison for hacking into the Department of Defence computers and allegedly running a piece of software that could encrypt their 'unbreakable' Standard 12 software.

The police know that the only way they can locate 'Phate' is to play him at his own game and go in through the computer, the only man who could match the talent of Phate is Gillette, and they have to get him out of prison to help them before more people are killed in the deadly game that Phate is playing.

The book is very detailed with computer information although for those that are new to computers and the world of hackers there is a glossary at the start to help you. It has all the usual police procedural information you would expect from Deaver, along with the usual plot twists.

All through the book you are shown how each character works with each other but also how each are working against the others and with their own motives. Part of the story is trying to find out the identity of Shawn who is constantly updating Phate as to the progress of the police investigation, allowing Phate to stay at least one step ahead in a lot of places - I didn't work it out at all who it was until it was spelt out for me, although with each page I turned I thought I had it sussed.

Reading the way in which Phate invades each character's life; it makes you wonder just how safe the world is with everything on computers - no code is unbreakable....... if it was designed by a man then it can be cracked by a man (or woman!!). As it says in the book - you used to be able to disappear because there were no computers to trace you - now you can disappear because there are computers to cover up and delete traces of you.

I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone, and those who have read others of Deaver's books will not be the slightest bit disappointed with this one, although there are none of the regular characters here (well, I have not read every last one of his books yet - but none of these characters have been in any of the books I have read!!).

One of his very best
I raced through this book.

Deaver's latest thriller is a chilling journey into the world of cyberspace, and out into something we dare not take a glimpse of. The capacity horror that hides behind the everyday is tapped into by Deaver amazingly well. He could well have ended up writing another boring book on computers, but he manages to avoid that. And instead he comes up with a clever plot, some great characters, and some more great twists, all of which lead to an exciting read.

The possibility that such things as this actually happening is all too real, and Deaver exploits that modern fear very well.

His characterisation is so subtle that you don't even realise he's doing it until suddenly you realise you're reading a book that has really well rounded characters, and you can't quite place how he made them seem so. It's the sign of a master.

The twists he packs in this time are always surprising, and even when he's pulled the rug out from under you, he still has tricks up his sleeve. It's inspirational. I do conform to the view of some of his fans, that his constant turning of the plot on its head can sometimes be done too much. With this one though, it didn't spoil it at all, it just kept me turning those pages.

I would doubt that everyone could understand this book, what with it being so "computerish". If you have never touched a computer in your life, you probably shouldn't read it, because there are many terms in it which you won't understand. If you know a little about them, it's safe for you to read it. But, for example, let's take my grandmother. She knows absolutely nothing about computers. Deaver did explain very well some of the hacker terms, and more complicated stuff, but he failed to exaplin some of the things which are taken for granted. theses seemingly simple things are the ones which some people might not understand. (However, Deaver couldn't very well have exaplained every single word, if he had the book would have read more like a computer manual.)

This is probably my favourite of Deaver's books after A Maiden's Grave. It is most certainly worth a read.

Another Deaver Winner!
I recently purchased this book in hard back - having several other Deaver novels.

It is a great read having all the usual twists and turns, and if the idea of all that computer jargon puts you off, don't let it as everything is explained!

I would definitely recommend this book - and don't be surprised if there is a movie version sometime soon!