The LAST BEST THING: A Classic Tale of Greed, Deception, and Mayhem in Silicon Valley [Hardcover]

Patrick Dillon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 1996

A classic tale greed deception nadn mayhem in Sillicon VAlley.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Pat Dillon's Silicon Valley potboiler was originally serialized in The San Jose Mercury News, where it drew an avid, computer-literate audience. Now The Last Best Thing is available between hardcovers, and this tale of greed, lust, and industrial sabotage should entertain even those readers who don't know a SIMM chip from a hole in the ground.

From Publishers Weekly

Lampooning the excesses and eccentricities of Silicon Valley's hi-tech moguls with up-to-the-minute detail, this tale of deception, greed, revenge, Internet hype and vaporware was serialized in the San Jose Mercury News and on an interactive site on the World Wide Web. It chronicles the chaotic rise of a new start-up company where, ironically, the only honest executives are in marketing. Maria Cisneros, who spruced up Intel's corporate image in earlier days and handled another successful IPO, is just as seduced by charismatic CEO J.P. McCorwin's maverick personality and visionary proclamations as are his spellbound investors when she joins the enterprise. Brad Roth, fired by Microsoft, is too desperate to be choosy. Both of them are in for a turbulent ride as they struggle to do their jobs without figuring out what it is this bewilderingly New Age operation and its massive R&D deployment are actually trying to create. Brad is drawn into an online affair with the mysterious "Rose D"?only to have one of the company's problematic laptops explode in his hands during a passionate exchange. Maria becomes embroiled with FBI investigators when someone sends an e-mail from her account suggesting Bill Gates as a Unabomber suspect. The novel's wacky twists and turns probably played out better in serial publication. Taken as a whole, the deliberately silly plot becomes tiresome and the characters unconvincing. Still, Dillon's trenchant depictions of high-tech players?both real and fictional?and their world are the attractions here, and they are entertaining and dead-on.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1ST edition (October 21, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684836149
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836140
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,709,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars abysmal, April 4, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The LAST BEST THING: A Classic Tale of Greed, Deception, and Mayhem in Silicon Valley (Hardcover)

It's rare that I don't finish a book, but after two-thirds of this disaster, after it became clear that it was getting worse, not better, I finally gave up. I even considered sending it back to Mr Dillon. Ghastly. Awful characters, silly plot, contrived scenarios and -- oh, what's the on floor? -- ANOTHER NAME. RUN, DON'T HIDE FROM THIS!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Masterful lampoon of Silicon Valley, November 29, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The LAST BEST THING: A Classic Tale of Greed, Deception, and Mayhem in Silicon Valley (Hardcover)

Dillon peppers this high camp tale with a combination of both real and loosely veiled references to industry luminaries and key events. The quasi-serious tone gets a bit tiresome at times, but for anyone familiar with the vendor end of information technology, this book accomplishes an hilarious send-up of every cliche and vice that plagues modern Silicon Valley.

4.0 out of 5 stars An amusing light farce and very little else, September 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The LAST BEST THING: A Classic Tale of Greed, Deception, and Mayhem in Silicon Valley (Hardcover)

This book was originally a weekly humor column crossed with a low-grade soap opera, and as light farce and satire of Silicon Valley characters, companies, and customs, it succeeds cleverly. Of course, the author knows virtually nothing about technology (or at least ignored it in the book), the characters are tissue-thin, and the plot is ridiculous. In a farce, these are not bad things. This book makes even lightweight stuff like Po Bronson's "The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest" look like a scholarly disseration, which is not, again a bad thing (considering Bronson's questionable grasp of tech--though his book is good, too). At very least, it's a fast read and you'll get a better feel for the absurdities of Silicon Valley.