Spyder Web [Mass Market Paperback]

Tom Grace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2000

Doctoral student Nolan Kilkenny is investigating a seemingly harmless technical fault on a secure computer network when he becomes inadvertently caught up in a US security services hunt that puts his life jeopardy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tom Grace, a Michigan architect, wrote his first thriller in his spare time, in between designing research facilities for IBM and the University of Michigan. That explains why it has both a cool, careful structure and the feel of a solid foundation of scientific research behind its many scenes of absorbing action.

Ex-Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny has just begun work at his father's online research facility called MARC (for Michigan Applied Research Consortium) when two high-level hackers steal a CIA device called Spyder and turn it loose on MARC in a test of its strength. Spyder is the ultimate hacking program, with the ability to sniff out every byte of supposedly classified data on the Internet and make it public--creating a financial disaster for the Kilkennys as well as a potential threat to world order.

Using his old SEAL killing skills and his recently acquired cybersnooper abilities, Nolan sets about solving both problems at once. Grace knows enough about designing thrillers that function on visceral as well as intellectual levels to keep the action flowing along with the technical jargon. If you've been wondering where the next generation of Tom Clancys is going to come from, direct your gaze to Ann Arbor and environs. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The sizzle of a good thriller is missing from this originally self-published debut, even though Grace fuses brawny action-hero derring-do with brainy computer hacking. After one final mission of government-sanctioned vengeance, Navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny, who lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., is eager to get to work for his father's pet project, an online research clearinghouse called MARC (Michigan Applied Research Consortium). Meanwhile, thanks to a financially vulnerable CIA agent, data thieves Alex Roe and Ian Parnell have gotten their hands on Spyder, a CIA prototype of the ultimate hacking program?and they've chosen MARC's mainframe as their test target. Naturally, Kilkenny discovers the theft, and his SEAL talents are called upon to ward off worldwide technological disaster. Despite Grace's use of seemingly every thriller component in the business?Asian killers, Navy SEALs, KGB defectors, high-tech pirates?in scenes that take the reader from Ann Arbor to Puerto Rico, Haiti and London, this novel is curiously devoid of thrills. The SEAL action scenes read like a Muzak version of Richard Marcinko's. The language is jargon-larded without actually explaining the technology. The plot is promising, but Grace's pacing impedes it. By cutting back and forth among the main players, he succeeds not in ratcheting up suspense but only in fracturing a reader's attention. Agent, Esther Margolis.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Vision; Reprint edition (August 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446607894
• ISBN-13: 978-0446607896
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,350,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put It Down!, July 18, 2000

By 

"tdsnyder" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spyder Web (Hardcover)

This book was one of best books I ever read. I like espionage stories but since I'm a programmer, I want technology to be a big part of the story. This had both and it's hard to find these two things combined sometimes. Great action, more or less non-stop the whole way. This was a lot of fun and intelligent to boot. Has Grace written anything else? I want more.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Internet Farce, July 16, 2000

By 

DP "dp" (Wokingham, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spyder Web (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking that it would be better than Tom Clancy's attempt at Internet terrorism. Alas it was just as bad, with simplistic technology twists, and the reliance of a Navy Seal character for the tense action. The story is simple, with nothing in it other than a sense of purpose to keep you turning the page. If you want a decent techno-thriller I recommend the Cryptonomicon. This is squarely for the younger audience who are still wanting to read simple tales with simple characters.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spyder Web, July 12, 2000

By 

Tim Bloomquist (Traverse City, MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spyder Web (Hardcover)

The beginning to Spyder Web was somewhat confusing, but the action scenes kept me interested. The techno-stuff was intriguing and since I'm not techno-literate I was willing to accept whatever Tom presented. When the story line began to fall into place the novel moved more quickly, however when the love interest appeared it bogged down and the dialogue became sappy. And the ending... well, I thought I had mistakenly picked up my wife's latest Nora Roberts novel. Still, I'm waiting for the next Grace adventure. I may wait for the paperback.