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Paranoia
It may be hard for anyone who's endured the economic downturn in the computer industry and the ascendance of the DRM lawyers to see the romance of tech, but the computer business continues to be one of the most exciting and explosive corners of the zeitgeist. Fortunes are made and lost in days; products depend upon the synergy of the hackers and the marketeers; and everything turns on the information passed along in IMs, emails and whispers. This world is a rich backdrop for the new thriller by Joe Finder, the spy novelist who set his previous books in the world of the three-letter agencies and the military justice system. This time he's plumbing the depths of corporate politics and industrial espionage with his story of a company racing to deliver the next big Palm Pilot replacement.
The thriller is a reminder that electronic gizmos continue to be a tumultuous and exciting domain where creative people with whip-smart
minds can change the company's destiny. I suppose it would be possible to set a similar novel in, say, the auto industry, but it just wouldn't
have the same resonance. No engineer, designer, or bright employee is going to make much of a difference at Ford or General Motors. Much of
their future is dictated by the cost
of
medical
care
for the retired workers and the problems are not about cars qua cars. Producing great cars would be nice, but it's not the main challenge for
the companies. At least in Silicon Valley, there can be some direct link between action and reaction. Newton's law still holds.
The beginning of the book is an irresistable hook. Who wouldn't want to throw a party on the corporation's dime?
Many of the elements of Silicon Valley's mythology appear here. There's a boss who keeps stable of young, blonde administrative assistants around. There's another boss who works out of the same size cubicle as everyone else. Secret research labs to develop the next generation of gadgets are locked away in a perimeter guarded by other gadgets that scan eyeballs or examine fingerprints. All of the characters drive slick cars and worry about the quality of their real estate.
As the novel unfolds, Cassidy's allegiance and soul is pulled in a tug-of-war. Who deserves the information he's gathering? Is there right and wrong in corporate espionage? Which company deserves to win?
The novel is similar in tone and structure to John Grisham's The Firm or Michael Crichton's Disclosure, two other novels that mused about the nature of the modern workplace. Finder's characters are
richer and better drawn, at least than Grisham's earlier works. The search for the next gadget isn't really the point of Cassidy journey in
the labyrinth, it's just an excuse to work through the modern world of corporations and the way they organize people and their creations. The
book is not filled with the neo-Marxist questioning of the capitalist
system that comes from places like the Baffler , but there are
similar themes that echo in the cubicle bins.
This is, of course, because it's a thriller, not some postmodern master's
degree thesis. The twists are well-handled, the pacing is good, and the
ending may open the doors to debates. I spent some time wondering
whether it was the best ending on many different levels. That kind of
resolution is something that doesn't come from standard thrillers by
people like Tom Clancy or James Paterson. In those books, the author's
point of view is as solid and fixed as, say, those opinion shows on Fox
TV. Someone's always dying or trying to destroy America in those books
and stopping the murder or saving the country is the only possible resolution.
Finder's earlier books delved into the mirror world of espionage and
the realm of three-letter agencies. Moscow
Club focused on a coup and an assassination in Soviet Russia. Extraordinary Powers explored the
possibility that various spy agencies could tap clairvoyance and other
extra-sensory powers-- a premise that David
Moorhouse later confirmed was very real in his book, Psychic Warrior . The world of
covert assassination in Latin America took center stage in High Crimes.
The tone is also much lighter than Finder's early books, with their heavy body count. After watching the movie version of High Crimes, I kept wishing someone would write a nice comedy for Ashley Judd. She deserved it, after the blood and betrayal. This time, death isn't part
of the stakes, and this leaves Finder a bit more room to maneuver and
play people and allegiances off each other. Cutting down on the raw
danger gives him the freedom to build suspense with action and
character. The book is really a light-hearted romp through a
semi-mythical world where fortunes are huge, dreams are made real
through engineering, and everyone drives a slick car. I say "semi-mythical," because despite the downturn, there's still plenty of
money in some corners of technology. Will it always be there? Well,
that's not the point of this book.
It's worth commending Finder for his insight into the technology world.
His background is more in Russian literature and spy things, not in programming. Yet, the tech world he creates is as true to life in
Silicon Valley as books like Po Bronson's The First 10 Million is the Hardest
and Douglas Coupland's Microserfs. Technology is a wonderful domain for a novelist to work within, and we should be glad he came in from the cold to check it out.
Peter Wayner is the author of 13 thrilling technical books on topics like building secure databases ( Translucent Databases ), steganography ( Disappearing Cryptography ), and stopping cheating ( Policing Online Games ). You can purchase Paranoia from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
But I feel the need to tell all the geeks out there how great Finder's writing is...I know I hate it when people write stuff that has obvious factual holes, and he's able to always get it right without sacrificing creativity. Excelent reading for people who can't stand bugs :)
There's also Paranoia, the much-loved and sadly out-of-print Logan's Run meets McCarthyism meets Douglas Adams meets Kafka role-playing game.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
It all started one day when young Joe Bloe Linux user signed onto the web and started reading Slashdot... There was a news story on Microsoft and he just couldn't resist.................
-]Phreak Out[-
One major automaker passed a corporate rule that outlaws the use or possession of a camera-phone within buildings.
Apparently, a "tourist" glimpsed a model of something, snapped a couple quick shots, and was later sold to the competition. The estimated losses were in the millions.
Can someone write a review of it so I know if it's worth reading?
The CB App. What's your 20?
I ownder if this book is related to the film Cypher - plot sounds very similar, a guy is un-willingly placed in the world of corporate espionage? This got a limited release here in Ireland last year so I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds interesting.
It's hard enough to remember my opinions, never mind the reasons for them..
>>How is this news for nerds?
Because some of us enjoy the occasional break from reading "The Bible of Google Linux Hacks" and "Teach Yourself How To Be An Ungrateful Slashdot Poster in 21 Days". There have been non-technical related books reviewed here and they have always been appreciated.
As for the technical relationship, the book takes place in the same world that many of us work in. It presents a romanticized notion of corporate espionage based in the technical industry. Thus, it is a subject that appeals to a significant amount of Slashdot's readership.
Slashdot exists to provide a community that fosters discussions on a wide range of topics. Let's try to keep that in mind before we start shooting down a book review that clearly took a significant amount of thought, time and effort.
Excellent work, Peter, and thank you for the recommendation.
Ryosen
One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
passed a corporate rule that outlaws
Sorry to nitpick, but a company's policy doesn't make something outlawed. It just means that they can make whatever rules they want and kick your ass out if you don't obey them.
With our corporate-influenced government, I think it's an important distinction.
I still think the old Paranoia game is far more interesting.
Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
amazon cut and paste review
Until you have read it (& I'll admit that I haven't), it is interesting from the root description if only (& this being a single layer of interpretation) being from the POV of a "schoolbook-machiavelli" character w/a streak of moral feeling (that is slightly "Das Kapital").
Don't think it's worth your time, fine. That's you; just remember, "There are no statues built for critics."(tm)
"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun."
After reading that review I'm glued to my seat. No, really. Someone put glue on my seat and now I'm stuck. Help!
Adam Cassidy? Nicholas Wyatt? Sounds like a bad porn story already...
There's a growing sense that even if The Future comes,
most of us won't be able to afford it.
-- Lemmy
I have to protect the identity of my sources, but apparently, some studio wants to adapt this book for film, and I've received a leaked copy of the film's theme song.
Download MP3: "Paranoia Theme" by Naoki Maeda
Except that's called extortion/blackmail, and it's illegal. Being willing to report it would probably get you a plea deal, if not a get-out-of-jail-free card from the DA, because going after the exec = good PR, going after the little guy = bad PR...and besides, what'd this retirement gig cost? $10k maybe? That's not the kind of thing that lands you in jail for 20 years. Hell, Enron execs hid BILLIONS and their accountant's going away for 10-20; his wife got 5-6 months(mostly because they both did plea-deals, but anyway...)
I know it's fiction, but lets try and have a semi-believable premise, yes?
Please help metamoderate.
Sure its been researched, has plenty of the latest buzz technologies and namechecks in it, and provides something for the bored office worker in all of us. Afterall, who wouldn't appreciate a change of life like Adam Cassidy?
Aside from that, I thought it was a very ordinary story , that redeemed itself only somewhat by the ending.
Too me, a book needs to be good all the way through and not just rely on the last few pages, in order to stand out as something worth reading.
And the ending itself? Inconclusive and rushed. Which is a real shame, as the whole novel was set up in order to spring it.
I hear that its to be made into a film, which it would be well suited too.
Don't think I'll be reading it again though.
Don't worry. You're probably not missing much by not reading this. 20 years in prison for stealing steak and lobster from an office via fraud? Sounds pretty hackneyed to me. They don't even lock up hackers who steal credit card numbers that long.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I never could get into political non-fiction, but I'm really enjoying a political fiction series right now. It's about this bumbling guy, who's dad was president, and manages to get himself elected president as well, despite having no appreciable talent. The election article is really fantastic, but totally unbelievable. I mean, who would allow shady election results from a state run by the guy's brother? But it just gets better, he gets them involved in an oil war to distract the public from a failing economy and his overall failed attempt to catch a notorious criminal (there's also a subplot about how he's trying to avenge his dad). It's really funny, because he declares the war over too early... oh well, I'd better stop before I ruin the ending :)
What, me worry?
You're getting modded as flamebait because you're not sharing your opinion. You're apparently trying to talk for the rest of us. People usually infer that when you start off sentences with 'we'.
You might come here purely for technical-only book reviews. Many others don't. Its even worse when the book is clearly tech-related.
We finally get a real review on here instead of some two paragraph blurb and you're moaning about it. If you don't like it don't read it.
My blog: http://jkratz.dyndns.org/~jason/blog/
That's like saying 'the dinner you prepared was better than the saran-wrapped egg salad sandwhich I got at 7-11 for lunch'.
Finder's interesting, the book's excellent -- of course, there may be some flaws, but Joe Finder does his research... it's fast fiction and fun. There's an interview Finder and it's on Popmatters -- published Tuesday.