Amazon.com Review
It takes almost 300 pages for the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service to get the bad guys in this tepid remake of
The Firm, but when they finally do, it's enough to convince you that these wolves in accountants' clothing are the scariest guys in town. It would be better to pay taxes on every cent of your income than bring them down on you. Murder a bunch of innocent people? They'll hardly notice. But try to cheat the government by diverting IRS funds offshore and evading taxes on your ill-gotten gains? Now that's a crime! When SoftCorp hires Michael Ryan, fresh out of Stanford, and lures him to Austin with plenty of perks and promises of more to come, he has no idea that his boss and some higher-ups in the company's only client--the IRS--are lining their pockets with government wealth. But when a dogged FBI agent goes solo to tie Softcorp to the murder of one of her own and finds herself thwarted by higher-ups in her own agency, she partners with Michael and his wife to uncover the conspiracy and save the day. Of course, she has to call in the CID to do it, but by that time the reader has spent so much time in the virtual reality program Michael created to make catching tax cheats easier that it's all a blur of bytes and bits. R.J. Pineiro's real talent is for making complicated technology understandable, but that's not enough to turn this into a read for anyone who's not halfway there already.
--Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
A young high-tech exec and his banker wife join forces with a fortyish female FBI agent to take on a ruthless killer with powerful friends and a few high-tech tricks of his own in this cyberspeed thriller. After Mike Ryan completes his doctorate in virtual reality systems, Nasdaq biggies toss money, but an unknown Texas high-tech firm, SoftCorp (one of several nifty bits of wordplay that keep the lingo light), makes the best offer, not only assuring Mike's financial future but also coming up with a job for his wife, Victoria, with Capitol Bank, the firm handling SoftCorp's finances. The lure of money, house, car and unlimited research funding for Mike's work with SoftCorp's only client, the IRS, hook the pair, and they move from California to Austin. Meanwhile, FBI special agent Karen Frost, checking a tip on IRS agents gone bad, finds the mutilated remains of a missing field agent and links his fate to SoftCorp. But when the FBI director is murdered, Frost is left out in the cold, especially when the new man in charge swallows framed evidence that she has turned rogue. Frost uses the Web to contact Mike and Victoria just as they discover their dream home is bugged, and they agree to work with her. But then Victoria is kidnapped, and Frost is actively pursued by her former employers. Pineiro (Shutdown) writes with humor and flair and turns the high-tech field into an accessible playground for the uninitiated. The thrill of hacking and evading capture equates with the rush of dodging bullets as Pineiro manages a major translation of techie dreamworld into mainstream adrenaline rush. (Apr.)Forecast: Already an established name in techno-thrillers, computer engineer Pineiro is due an upgrade in reputation and perhaps sales with this entertaining story.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
