Cyberterror (Mass Market Paperback)

by R. J. Pineiro (Author) "> IN MY TWENTY YEARS SWEATING IT OUT AT THE CIA as a field operative I thought I'd seen everything..." (more)
Key Phrases: spook sense, cyber agent, frozen construct, Ares Kulzak, New Orleans, San Antonio (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Prolific technothrillster Pineiro addresses the vulnerability of present cybernetic systems, large and small, to terrorism. Superterrorist Kulzak jiggers the controls to the gas lines in the San Antonio area, spreading death and devastation far and wide. Expert counterterrorist operative Tom Graham, cowboy FBI agent Karen Frost (hubba hubba!), and computer whiz Michael Patrick Ryan form one of those special teams that are always more effective in thrillers than in real life. They and their spear-carrying colleagues take their lumps but eventually prevail. Pineiro has always subordinated characterization to hardware and action, and he has frequently played to his readers' paranoia. That said, remember that readers with voracious appetites for fast action and hardware exist in droves, and that is how they will come for this book. Moreover, after 9/11, is any terrorist act that is physically possible too improbable to be envisioned in a novel? Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
From the author of Conspiracy.com and Firewall comes a white-knuckle page turner about modern technology being used as a weapon in terror. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (February 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765343045
• ISBN-13: 978-0765343048
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #848,902 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible Abuse of Technological Jargon, January 22, 2005

By	Jeff Sullivan (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cyberterror (Hardcover)

This book was horrible. Technical jargon was thrown around to make things seem accurate, but was horribly abused. People familiar with TRON will recognize the idea of throwing around viruses as though they were balls.

The writing style was childish and often full of word abuse, as has been noted by other reviewers. The characters are undeveloped and all the good guys think and act exactly the same: buck the establishment investigators who make lots of really good guesses. Deus ex machina to the extreme.

The amount of belief that must be suspended, especially by someone remotely familiar with modern computers, goes far beyond my tolerance for something that is supposed to take place within the decade.

If you want to read some high-tech fiction, read Neal Stephenson. He requires suspension of some belief, but writes much better and has characters with depth.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong cautionary tale, February 9, 2003

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Cyberterror (Hardcover)

In San Antonio, terrorists access the computer program that regulates the flow of natural gas. They dramatically increase the pressure on the system resulting in uncountable leaks into private homes and other buildings, which in turn leads to numerous explosions throughout the area. Thousands die and The Alamo City turns into a prison cemetery reminiscent of the fire bombings of World War II. More than just the United States is in a panic as much of the developed world wonders if their home will be part of the next assault.

Two decades of experience as a counterterrorist fails to prepare Tom Graham for the type and magnitude of this attack. He knows the old rules are gone and he needs outside the societal crypt type thinkers and a software Einstein to prevent future rapes via the American cyber-infrastructure. Tom mobilizes FBI Special Agent Karen Frost and obtains the services of computer guru Michael Patrick Ryan. The war is engaged as the threesome supported by the Federal Counter Cyberterrorism Team try to follow back the hacking path that led to the San Antonio wasteland.

As President Bush claimed Bin Laden the threat after 9/11 and Hussein as the threat in 2002, R.J. Pineiro provides a cautionary tale that describes the seemingly real threat is through cyberspace. The theme of CYBERTERROR is protection to the computer-managed infrastructure is weak and subject to hacking. Though the characters serve more as good guys vs. bad guys stereotypes, this action-packed thriller will haunt the audience with its message of no escape for the innocent if the cyber weaknesses of our support systems is not fixed yesterday.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Gibson ripoff, July 2, 2006

By	C. Blanc "Chris Blanc" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book takes what made Neuromancer unique and turns it into cheap suspense. Its technical information is inaccurate, and by trying to stylize "cyberspace," it creates a mess of illusion and reality intertwined around a predictable logical path. For all of its bluster about warning us of the dangers of cyberterror, it gives a simplistic view of the situation. As a suspense novel, it is not terrible, with a reasonably compelling character, but between the plot holes and predictability, it is about as suspenseful as reading The Congressional Record. Read Neuromancer instead.