The Termination Node [Hardcover]

Robert E. Weinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 1999

You step up to the ATM machine, type in your PIN number. A pause. Then the screen reveals the last thing you would have expected--that someone has electronically drained your account. You've been left with a balance of zero.

It can happen. In a world online, no one is safe, nothing is private, no transaction is secure. This frighteningly plausible scenario is unveiled in The Termination Node, an electrifying new novel coauthored by top internet security specialist Lois H. Gresh. Grounded in fact and substantiated by astounding expertise, The Termination Node will blast you awake, revealing the sheer vulnerability we all face, today and in the future. Gresh has seen it all, and she baits our unease with informed--and shocking--possibilities.

Judy Carmody is a total hacker, a free-wheeling California freelancer who, at twenty-something, is the best in the business of Internet security. But even Judy has never seen anything like the cyber-heist that instantly vaporizes the assets of a major bank. Penetrating all state-of-the-art defenses in the dead of night, someone is using a mysterious new code to empty accounts. And they're getting away with it, leaving no trace. The masterminds have thought of everything--including the elimination of every hacker who might be able to stop them.

Forced into hiding, Judy disappears into the bizarre underground of California hacker culture. As she desperately hurries to crack the deadly code, she uncovers secrets that reach the highest levels of power--secrets that jeopardize the security and privacy of every citizen. For today, computers are everywhere.

Totally terrifying, completely original, The Termination Node is a spellbinding novel revealing dangers you never thought possible. Until now.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Late one night, while double-checking a bank's security system, computer security specialist Judy Carmody detects an electronic intrusion from a superhacker who uses the handle Helraze. Using techniques Judy has never seen, Helraze is able to steal millions of dollars from the bank's accounts in minutes. But before Judy can notify the bank's director, Helraze replaces the stolen money and disconnects, leaving no traces of his maneuver: his prank was a test for a much larger crime. Judy's amazement turns to fright as the smartest hackers she knows begin to disappear, and two thugs show up at her apartment trying to kill her. She manages to escape, and with the help of a band of loyal hackers she begins to uncover a sinister conspiracy led by Bob Ingersoll, the shady director of the National Security Agency. To further his aims, Ingersoll manipulates 17-year-old genius Cal Nikonchik, who has invented a powerful new computer code based on the principles of human genetics. Judy must struggle furiously to protect her life and decipher Cal's dangerous innovation before the world sinks into chaos. The characters created by computer security expert Gresh (The Computers of Star Trek, etc.) and two-time World Fantasy Award-winner Weinberg (Dark Love, etc.) can be a bit wooden; the hackers' social incompetence, in particular, is sometimes exaggerated to the brink of parody. Nonetheless, the authors generate an exciting plot that boasts enough authentic high-tech detail to make the criminal possibilities of electronic finance seem very real, and just a few mouse clicks away.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Storywriter Gresh, a computer-security specialist, teams up with science-fiction author Weinberg (Lovecrafts Legacy, 1990, etc.) for a cautionary tale of computer hackers who are saving the next century from greedy, homicidal suits. Whos killing t he great hackers of California? Could it have anything to do with the massive hack-attack that vaporized the deposits in a So-Cal bank? Superhacker Judy Carmody, a roller- blading, highly paid consultant for an Internet security company, isnt given much t ime to ponder it. After coming off an all-nighter at her keyboard, she discovers that a major client, Laguna Bank, has been cleaned out in nanoseconds by an unknown cyber-thief. Hoping to get some much-needed rest under the sun, she narrowly escapes murde r when two well-dressed gunmen kill her surfer-bum condo neighborand blame the crime on her. Judy takes off with her laptop and hacks herself into the perps rental car. Then, as the notorious TerMight (her hacker alter-ego screen name), she jumps into Vil eSpawn, an underground hacker network of hirsute misfits and suburban shut-ins who are both clueless and concernedafter all, they also had their money in the bank. Meanwhile, in a swank and spotless carriage house on the edge of the California desert, Cal vin, a dweebish hacker genius barely out of high school, believes the suavely tailored Robert Ingersoll and his lethal henchmen are government agents merely using Calvin's data-swiping skills to test the Internet security systems. Fortunately, Cal and Ter Might meet cute in cyberspace, discover their mutual enemy, and use their cyber-skills to spin webs around the bad guys. For authors Gresh and Weinberg, the hacker world is an abstract, jargon-filled costume ball that will continue to be exploited by well -dressed computer illiterates until the hackers learn who's naughty and whos nice. Well-worn, breathless Net-scapade of feisty, socially challenged computer adepts. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (January 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345412451
• ISBN-13: 978-0345412454
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,392,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scary; very believable thriller., November 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Termination Node (Hardcover)

Though I use the internet mainly for e-mail and research, I found The Termination Node to be one of the most believable and frightening thrillers I've read in a long time. As a librarian, I read plenty of novels so that I know what to recommend to my patrons. This book is going to be right at the top of my list for people looking for an entertaining fast read that combines high-tech thrills with non-stop action. I especially liked the fact that all of the characters were believable and not overdone cliches. None of them were perfect, and Judy, the heroine, evolves and changes througout the story. The computer material was explained well and seemed very real. It really made me wonder if the story could happen right now. Another thing I liked about this book is that while it is aimed at adults, it is not filled with a lot of graphic sex and violence. It is suitable for older teens, who would probably really enjoy the computer material and the hacker details. This is a book that every library should carry. I know ours will.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRULY BELIEVABLE COMPUTER THRILLER, November 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Termination Node (Hardcover)

This book is the best computer thriller I have ever read. It is not really science fiction though it takes place a few years in the future. All of the computer science is true and is happening today. Anyone who thinks this book is science fiction is missing the whole point of the novel. The stuff that takes place in this novel can take place right now. That is what makes this novel so scary.

I'm a computer science major in college and the characters in this book are very believable. I attend college with people just like the hackers in the story. It is easy to relate to them as they are exactly like my friends. Cal and Judy are both typical hackers, as are Grouch and his friends. Reading the description of how they live made me laugh, because it describes my apartment.

If you are the least bit interested in the dangers of internet banking or high-tech crime, you have to read this book. It is the first book that really describes the computer field and hackers the way they really are. I can't wait for the sequel.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Predicted Cyber-Crime Years Before It happened!, June 23, 2004

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Termination Node (Mass Market Paperback)

I read this book when it came out in 1999 and thought it was an entertaining but unrealistic view of the future of computers. I found it interesting that many of the reveiwers claimed they knew so much about computers and all of them seemed to think that the authors' predictions were way out of line. Several of the reviewers went out of their way to point out how much smarter they were than the two writers who had composed the book. Well, all of those hot-shot reviewers are gone and so is their laughter. During the past several years, this book has become famous as the most accurate account of computer crime ever to appear in a novel.

Recently, the Federal Government released a report stating that over $2 billion had been stolen over the internet by hackers breaking into personal accounts and stealing money from everyday people. That's when I re-read THE TERMINATION NODE and discovered that Gresh and Weinberg had predicted all of the recent problems involving internet robbery five years ago. Though the book never received much coverage in science sections, it should have been on the front pages of newspapers throughout the country. Most citizens still have no idea how vulnerable their bank accounts are to hackers. Maybe it'll take a $50 billion dollar heist like the one in this book to convince everyone that they need to protect their internet investments better. This is a book every person worried about 21st century crime should read!