Customer Reviews

Ulterior Motive

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most thrillers that involve computer technology get it laughably wrong. They are clearly written by people who's most intimate interaction with cyberspace is through a word processor. At best they get spotty advice from geek friends which they probably ignore for the sake of the story.

Not so for Daniel Oran. He's clearly "been there and done that" when it comes to working in a software company. He hits the mark of software development culture right on: from flame wars to by-the-book user interface nazis to twinkie-eating boy hackers to black-turtleneck-clad project managers. (The only things missing are the cold half-empty latte cups everywhere.)

There are a few bugs, however. The action is somewhat contrived at times. There are a few (a very few, and far between) laughable cyber-gaffes that only programmers are likely to notice. Most important, however, the reader seems always several steps ahead of the protagonists. At each point when they finally clue in to pieces of the conspiracy, one is compelled to mutter aloud: "Like, well, duh! Obvious 3 chapters ago!"

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable light read. I look forward to future fiction from this author. It will be interesting to see what he can do with something not so close to his own life experience. (Oran is a former Microsoft employee.)

Oran has the potential to be to the software industry what Tom Clancy is to the military. I can't wait to find out.

Finally, here arrived a comtemporary high-tech/computer-industry/intelligence based futurist fiction. There are so many micro-plots and big plots. Each player has ambitions and weakness for money and power. Still want a job at MegaSoft to become a puppy?

I was also e-mailed my Danny. Being a bit pessimistic about the way I was confronted, I decided to read about the book and read the reviews on "Ulterior Motive". Looked interesting enough so I decided to buy it. I'll tell you, I'm not sorry in the least as this is one of the best first novels I've ever read. Danny writes as though he's been writing for years. Had he not e-mailed me, I may never have heard about his book.

The story tells of an employee at Megasoft who enjoys his job and co-workers totally. He and his friend, Kenny, are banging heads in a positive way in their great working relationship and close friendship. You feel their closenessas much as you fear for them when they uncover what's fishy at Megasoft. The founder, JackM, is running for president with a faithful following by his employees. You trust him. You respect him. You fear him. You ache for Jon as his wonderful world slowly slips away from him.

Ulterior Motive is a must read. You'll be very disappointed if you don't because you're missing one hell of a read and one fast paced book.

This novel to me is just a so-so read since it's full of broken links and illogic plots and scenario. MegaSoft obviously portrayed Microsoft as the author indeed was one of the wizboys in that copycat empire, while Jack Malcom and Ted Nesbitt were clones of the current two hot public figures of it. As to Jonatham, well, not a quite welcoming creation since he looked pretty stupid and always on step behind the evolved scenario in many ways. How could Malcom survived from the assassination in pointblank? And if I were that assassin moved on to him so close, I'd put three shots to his head, neck, and the chest, instead of his upper torso that might be protected by a body armour worn under the suit. Why and how Jon would only call MegSoft's security after he witnessed a murder in one of its parking lots, instead of calling 911 directly , as a normal, common citizen? If he could survive and climb the MegaSoft ladder so high as to the hottest project, Jon was suppose to be smart, but how could he not become suspicious when the security team that appeared on the scene asked him just to go home and without any real police force ever presented? As I read along, the inexplanable and illogic business-as-usual scenes, the reactions of Jon and other characters, as normal human beings should have behaved, almost jumped out of every chapter with so many whys and hows ???? that only meant the author did a very poor research on any other fields and didn't quite know jack of all trades except his computer exprience and its jargon stuff. This is a story with lot of twists that sometimes over twisted unreasonablly or just poorly twisted not enough, but of course,on the otherhand, it's far better than what "MEG"--THE DEEP SEA TERROR--had moronically tried to deliver in the summer97.

The author e-mailed me from a review I had done in amazon.com, saying he thought I would enjoy his debut if I liked the Stephen Hunter novel. I figured that kind of door to door marketing and belief in one's product was just novel enough to warrent a looksee. The guy invented the start buttom for the PC, and that is way more than most accomplish in a lifetime. His writing career can be just as bright. He makes you care about the characters and the action really moves. I also liked the way everyone at Megasoft is known by their e-mail name. This was a fun read and the pages flew by.

I bought this book because the author, Daniel Oran, sent me an e-mail and asked me to. Not a bad marketing idea. Well, great literature, it's not. An OK way to way to fill time in 23E, it is. The plot was sort of Tom Clancy-Lite and the lead characters were somewhat two dimensional Barbie and Ken types. It reminded me a lot of the Hardy Boys adventures I used to read when I was a kid. Which is not all bad. Should sell well in airports.

The first few pages got me going -- great opening scene, but the rest of the book let me down. I enjoyed the mild Microsoft references, etc, but it was not enuf to make up for the bland characters and totally precdictable outcome. I guessed the whole thing right from the first murder scene. The female lead is described (and I am not making this up) as a *babe*, and of course *they kill Kenny* (hah. hah. -- sorry, but I had to). Geesh. And surprisingly, there is nothing new or interesting in the way of computers or technology, I bet even Sandra Bullock gets most of the lo-level techno jargon. As a murder mystery, plot intricatcies are lacking, and the structure is too simple -- the hero and heroine meet and do only what is needed to move the thing along -- nothing deeper is offered. Most troubling are the characters who don't behave the way you'd expect from real people of these types. Why does a CIA hot-shot panic and run to his car, unarmed, etc.? Too much about the characters just doesn't make sense. Much is made of the author's invention of the Start button in Windows 95 -- yeah, he's good with beginnings, but ... Finally, a comment WRT my purchasing experience: I was solicited via e-mail by the author from, I think, my reviews here on Amazon. I checked the book's Web site, conversed with other readers and authors I know online, and read other reviews. I bought the book, of course, online here. Though I did not *love it*, I'm not sorry I bought the book, but I thought the purchasing experience said something interesting about the way commerce works these days.

I'm not a programmer, hacker or even someone who could author a web page, but I do understand invasion of privacy and it scares me to think that there is no way of protecting ourselves from the information age.

The author emailed me and asked me to consider reading this book. I purchased the book through amazon.com and settled in to read.

As an espionage-phile from way back (I remember when Ludlum was GOOD), I cannot say that this book belongs with the greats, but I did enjoy it, especially the last 1/3, where everything begins to fall into place for a riveting climax.

I look forward to other Oran books...I'm sure he has more "Megasoft" stories to tell.

In short, this is a great, light, fast summer read.

I was e-mailed a few years ago by Danny. Being a bit pessimistic about the way I was confronted, I decided to read about the book and read the reviews on "Ulterior Motive". Looked interesting enough so I decided to buy it. I'll tell you, I'm not sorry in the least as this is one of the best first novels I've ever read. Danny writes as though he's been writing fiction for years. Had he not e-mailed me, I may never have heard about his book.

The story tells of an employee at Megasoft who enjoys his job and co-workers totally. He and his friend, Kenny, are banging heads in a positive way in their great working relationship and close friendship. You feel their closeness as much as you fear for them when they uncover what's fishy at Megasoft. The founder, JackM, is running for president with a faithful following by his employees. You trust him. You respect him. You fear him. You ache for Jon as his wonderful world slowly slips away from him.

Ulterior Motive is a must read. You'll be very disappointed if you don't because you're missing one hell of a read and one fast paced book

Danny---we need MORE fiction from you!! Great job!

Loosely based on a certain software giant in Washington, this is a great, suspenseful read. While I very much enjoyed all of the intrigue of the politics, office hierarchy and sniping, what riveted me most was the insider's view of what it is like at a high-tech company such as Microsoft, sorry, Megasoft. As anyone who uses a computer knows, there is more information about us out there on the Internet than we would want anyone to know. The fact that it would be possible to be monitored by "Big Brother" is extremely scary, made even scarier by the fact that it is entirely possible. I read the book when it first came out and just re-read it this past weekend. It is definitely a keeper.