Customer Reviews

Flame War: A Cyberthriller

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

 

 

Flame Wars is just OK. The tech is good, the dialogue is flip, and the story has been done before.

Slacker Harry newly graduated from law-school just meets the beautiful daughter of the scientist then he gets blown-up. The scientist dies in the explosion. With nothing else to do, he decides to solve the mystery of the scientists murder and win the girl. This leads him to a serial murderer and a plot involving a Clipper-like national encryption standard.

The best part of the story was the dialogue. It was hip, and flip. In addition, the author's had their tech straight. Although, I think the scientist's daughter did end-up going on-line in a pizza parlor without a phone connection (or a cell modem) at least once. I also doubt you can squeeze enough C4 inside a 3.5" floppy to create a weapon of mass destruction.

The problem I had was the story had been told before. There was nothing new in the way it was told. In addition, the characters did not have enough spin to escape cliché. Except for characters getting sliced-and-diced, I'll have to agree with the Kirkus review, that this book would appeal more to Young Adults.

Read this book, if you want to catch-up on the (now defunct) Clipper national encryption issue without getting technical..

a pleasant surprise, not what I was expecting. slow in a few parts but never enough to put down for long. interesting political viewpoints as well. recommended.

_Flame War_ was unimpressive and dull, though it had a few brief moments of enjoyment buried in it. Cute, stereotyped characters (pudgy, asocial hacker; beautiful female geek; clueless man w/ heart of gold) and poorly planned plot devices (going online without modems/getting diskettes in the mail/being blown up by diskettes with C-4), and maddeningly slow pacing make this book resemble a bowl of porridge rather than the spicy curry of intrigue the jacket promises.

Protagonist Harry Garnet, law student-cum-caretaker, provides a style of narration that seems at first silly and flip, then gratingly cutesy. However, the dialogue in general is better than average. Another point in _Flame War_'s favor is its near-accurate depiction of MOOs and MU*s in general.

All things considered, though, you'd do well to wait this one out and hope for a more savvy treatment of the 'cyberthriller' premise.