The Devil's Code [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Severn House Publishers
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0727858122
• ISBN-13: 978-0727858122
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,416,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Sandford was born John Camp on February 23, 1944, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He attended the public schools in Cedar Rapids, graduating from Washington High School in 1962. He then spent four years at the University of Iowa, graduating with a bachelor's degree in American Studies in 1966. In 1966, he married Susan Lee Jones of Cedar Rapids, a fellow student at the University of Iowa. He was in the U.S. Army from 1966-68, worked as a reporter for the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian from 1968-1970, and went back to the University of Iowa from 1970-1971, where he received a master's degree in journalism. He was a reporter for The Miami Herald from 1971-78, and then a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press from 1978-1990; in 1980, he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, and he won the Pulitzer in 1986 for a series of stories about a midwestern farm crisis. From 1990 to the present he has written thriller novels. He's also the author of two non-fiction books, one on plastic surgery and one on art. He is the principal financial backer of a major archaeological project in the Jordan Valley of Israel, with a website at www.rehov.org. In addition to archaeology, he is deeply interested in art (painting) and photography. He both hunts and fishes. He has two children, Roswell and Emily, and one grandson, Benjamin. His wife, Susan, died of metastasized breast cancer in May, 2007, and is greatly missed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different but as good as davenport, October 5, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil's Code (Hardcover)

At his home in Dallas, John James Morrison knows he is in trouble by the nocturnal visit of the security agents. They escort John to AmMath where St. John Corbiel plays a tape in which they caught John violating company policy. John tries to bluff but Corbiel kills him. The security agents arrange a cover-up to make it seem like a night guard shot John while discovering him in a forbidden area late at night.

John's sister Lane Ward believes the official interpretation of her sibling's death rings false. She asks John's former partner Kidd to investigate her brother's death. Kidd, an expert on stealing data traveling along the information highway, agrees. He learns that John uncovered something major that led to his deliberate murder. Kidd and his partner LuEllen begin to uncover a monster conspiracy involving AmMath and the Feds using technology to hide murder and blackmail. That knowledge could make Kidd the next dead person.

It has been about a decade since John Sandford wrote a Kidd novel (see THE FOOL'S RUN and THE EMPRESS FILE) having switched to the popular Prey novels. Perhaps the earlier Kidd tales were ahead of the times, but with the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet explosion, THE DEVIL'S CODE plays like a modern day electronic thriller. The tale is well executed due to Kidd's intellect, witticism, and ethical beliefs. Although it may seem hard to accept an electronic thief has scruples, Kidd does and that propels his compulsion to investigate. Best selling author John Sandford has returned with one of his great characters in a story that will please more than just net conspiracy buffs because of its fast-paced, gigabit loaded hard driving plot.

Harriet Klausner

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I basically liked it, October 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Devil's Code (Hardcover)

I'm a "Prey" fan, and was happy to find an additional series by the same author. I read the other two Kidd novels in paperback, and enjoyed them both. This one is written intelligently, like all of Sandford's novels; I can't stand books that are written for 5th graders.

I confess to being in the computer field, which I think would make a difference in this novel. It's kind of odd: if you don't enjoy the details you might not be able to follow it, but on the other hand I don't think it has the kind of hard-core details for the true techies.

The characters are kind of lightly drawn; I thought that LuEllen started sounding like the woman assasin in the last Prey novel. I also felt that the novel wandered somewhere in the middle; not quite enough involvement in the characters and not enough plot to go around. I might have been happier with this novel if it had been published in paperback; with lower expectations I think he would get a better response.

You might be happier waiting for the paperback.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced and funny, October 3, 2000

By 

Cheer Mom "cheermom" (Voorhees, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Code (Hardcover)

Conspiracy galore here in this new novel by John Sandford. I'm not too familiar with the author's "Prey" novels, but I certainly enjoyed this one. The main character, Kidd (no first name) and his cohort, LuEllen, investigate the murder of one of Kidd's computer colleagues. The story moves extremely quickly - the crackling conversation between Kidd and LuEllen is a breeze to read and very enjoyable. Now, I have to go find the two previous Kidd-LuEllen novels! Highly recommended.