Customer Reviews

Back Slash

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Somebody said that the people from the Midwest didn't "get" this book...frankly, one would either need to overlook massive technical errors and basic readability issues to enjoy this one. The dialogue is cringe-inducing. This author writes like someone who isn't used to speaking with actual human beings. The plot is promising...but it doesn't begin until more than halfway through the book and never really reaches its peak. Most of the characters are lame stereotypes, although Conrad and Russell had potential. It was disappointing that that potential was never tapped. I'd recommend this book if you're into computer-alarmist pulp cheese, but otherwise skip it.

Not only is this book filled with technical errors (as outlined by many reviewers), it is also full of bad editing. In one scene Jerome wakes up early, is careful not to disturb Georgia, but by the time he drinks half a cup of coffee, the sun is high over the lake and Georgia is fully dressed and working...

These types of errors make the novel read more like some high school creative writing class.

Because of the technical inaccuracies in this book, I kept being jolted out of the fictional world the author tried to create. I finally gave up half way through, because I couldn't stand trying to ignore them. I didn't even care enough about "who-dunnit" to finish the book.

A definite must-read for those working in Information Warfare. It was a little weak at the end, but who cares... that's not why I read it. In terms of the technical inaccuracies, I forgave those, primarily because of the fact that some of the detailed information was accurate. Interesting to note is the fact that the readers in the midwest don't "get" it and those around Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Colo Springs, DO!! Makes you wonder!!!

First the good news: The story is not altogether bad. Lovejoy does a very good job with his characterizations, I really connected with most of them. The the bad news: Technically speaking this novel is more wrong than right. Lovejoy has us telnetting to email addresses, refers to the world wide web as a different network and in many cases leaves me with the impression that he thinks that computers are magic. If Lovejoy would have allowed a network engineer to read the book before it was published many if his small mistakes could have been fixed, but in addition to those, his major premise is also flawed. In short this book is like then old B movies. If you have a real working knowlodge of computers of the Internet, you'll need to leave that _reality_ at the door.

An absolutely terrible book. The author is superficially acquainted with lots of 'Net information, but the technical howlers are frequent and fragrant. Add cardboard characters, a thin and obvious plot, and the fact that I bought this book in HARDBACK -- and you have my poorest reading investment of 1996. Maybe of the 1990s

I belive William H. Lovejoy's book is a good book even though it is filled with technical errors that make it difficult for somebody who is knowledgeable in this area to get themselves into the book. An example is where Mr. Lovejoy has us telnetting to some e-mail address....ummm, no. Other than the technical errors, the book is very worth the time it takes to read....I have read it twice and enjoy is very much...If perhaps Mr. Lovejoy could have the book reviewed by a person knowledgeable in IW, the book would be more enjoyable to those people who have more knowledge about this area and it's technicalities........

The book had a great premise, but never quite pulled me in. I simply got bored half way through the book and I stayed that way. After the first several technical mistakes I just couldn't get into the story anymore because I could no longer suspend my disbelief.
It was readable, but if your computer or technically savvy such as myself; you'll find most of it laughable. Such as having your own hidden microwave transponder tower. I'm also in agreement with some other reviewers. There is no computer Virus to date that can destroy a processor by "blowing it up." Just doesn't happen. Might have been more believable if the good times virus maybe over-clocks the processor through the CMOS firmware somehow causing the system to shut down due to overheating (This is a real pain in the [...] if you've ever run a business server and business network with 60+ machines). Backs\ash is ok, if there's nothing else to read at the doctor's office. Nice try, but could have been much better.....

Once all the characters had been introduced, there was only one we didn't get to know properly. I hoped until the end that it wasn't that obvious, but unfortunately it was.

The computer side of things was a continuous background annoyance. Supposedly users couldn't disconnect from the net without losing all their LOCAL data. Why not just switch off the power and extract the data from the hard drive using some other method (they had all the worlds computer specialists working on the problem).

Also, no-one could look at the mystery program (it was a hidden file) - but it was there in physical reality on the hard drive - no one thought to read the hard drive using anything other than the infected operating system.

Way too many things were supposedly accessible from the internet - power companies I have worked for do not have any link between the internet and the control of circuit breakers. Even on the switching computers there is always operator intervention required to carry out switching. Also, most such systems run specialised software - extremely difficult to hack the code for one such specialist system (if you had the source code) let alone the code for specialist operating systems from traffic lights through to air traffic control through to nuclear weapons. VERY annoying.

And the Good Times virus - all you have to do is read an infected email and it will blow up your processor and your monitor - puhlease. Isn't the spreading of information about the (totally fake) Good Times virus tantamount to a virus itself.

Having said all that, it was a very readable book, well paced (except you were always waiting for something major to happen, and it NEVER did), good character interaction, reasonable character development. The two action sequences were well written (shame there was only two, in 419 pages). Also a shame it was completely implausible.

It was junk food - easy to read, but insubstantial, and ultimately unsatisfying.

I am impressed with the authors research abilities and accuracy shown in his book back\slash. While he had some inaccuracies in the book such as telnetting through e-mail. Most other aspects of the book were correct showing little error. I would pass the few alterations or mistakes he made in the book as necesary in order to make the book readable without making it a security problem for the internet *note the authors note in the begining* I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the saftey of computers and the net.