PeaceMaker (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A TV camera focused on the handsome face of a young reporter..." (more)
Key Phrases: authorization sequence, wallet computer, termination command, Dianne Morgan, Ray Brown, Jim Smith (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Author and obvious computer techie Dan Ronco delivers a breathtaking thriller of a story about a deadly computer virus. -- Marie Jones, Reviewer, Bookideas.com

Exciting, violent, thoughtful, and unfortunately true to life ...a powerhouse of computer adventure. -- Piers Anthony, author of the classic XANTH series

For computer geeks and Tom Clancy readers alike, PeaceMaker is hard to put down. This is truly chilling material. -- Joe Massucci, author of CODE:ALPHA and other thrillers

Mr. Ronco's realistic dialog gives flavor and edge to his characters. The climax is taut and powerful. -- Jeanette Cottrell, Reviewer, eBook Reviews Weekly, Author of Sliding on Rainbows

PeaceMaker is a fast-paced and exciting speculative thriller. -- Victoria Strauss, author of The Burning Land

PeaceMaker is the debut novel from Dan Ronco, and what a debut! If you enjoy techno-thrillers, you will enjoy PeaceMaker. -- Darren Lewis, Reviewer, Book Forum

PeaceMaker is very well written, organized, and edited. Can't wait for the next book in the series. -- Cheryl McCann, Review-books.com

While the read is enjoyable and fast, the issues this novel raises deserve serious consideration. -- Kevin R. Tipple, Reviewer, Blue Iris Journal

Product Description

While working on the next release of the Atlas operating system, I discovered PeaceMaker, a lethal computer virus enhanced with artificial intelligence, and I have decided to do everything in my power to defeat it and expose the people who developed it. I'm scared, and I thought about walking away from it. I can't do that. Since you received this message, I must have failed.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the story. Humiliated by the federal government in an anti-trust trial that tore apart her software company, CEO Dianne Morgan has become obsessed with a plan to unleash PeaceMaker and shut down computer systems across the world. She is determined to crush the global economy unless the nations of the world agree to share power with the Domain, the clandestine organization she leads. She recruited some of the best computer scientists in the world into the Domain and these people developed PeaceMaker.

Before we go any further, I have to admit Dianne and I were lovers several years ago, and she left me because I could not control my drinking problem. I have been clean for six years and I attend AA meetings most weeks, so I have it pretty much under control.

I'm working on a method of destroying the virus, but it's going to take some time. Dianne has already murdered one of my friends because he discovered PeaceMaker, and now she has agents watching everything I do. In case she gets to me before I can attack PeaceMaker, I created this time-delayed message to alert you to the danger. Unless I reschedule this message every other day, it will be sent as a warning to you. Since you are reading this, I must have been captured or killed.

One last thing - there is a mysterious third force that has discovered PeaceMaker and plans to attack the Domain. I don't know who they are, but Dianne has made a lot of enemies over the years.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Daniel J Ronco @ Associates (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0975271148
• ISBN-13: 978-0975271148
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #883,417 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars an excellent story idea but the execution of the idea does not deliver, October 11, 2005

By	Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Peacemaker" is the debut novel by author Dan Ronco. Ronco has experience in the software industry so it is with personal knowledge and experience that he crafts the story of artificial intelligence and the future of the technology industry. Ronco presents this novel as what could be a worst case scenario with software terrorism and a future where this could be an issue as serious as nuclear war.

Dianne Morgan is the CEO for VantagePoint Software, the maker of Atlus, the most popular computer operating system in the world and one which is in nearly ninety percent of the world's computers. This obviously brings to mind a company called Microsoft. Morgan brought to trial by the United States government in an anti-trust lawsuit and her company is broken into smaller companies. This is something that has happened several times in our nation's history. Her revenge is to unleash a computer virus called Peacemaker. Peacemaker has the capability to infect and shut down nearly every computer on the planet. Her goal: nothing less than global domination. The only man who can stop Peacemaker is Ray Brown, a software developer who helped make Atlus the most popular piece of software on the planet.

The novel becomes something of a cat and mouse game as Ray stumbles across Peacemaker and learns of the scope of this virus which is so sophisticated that it is an artificial intelligence. Dianne Morgan is preparing to unleash Peacemaker on the world and while she needs to stop Ray she also wants to convert Ray to her side since they share a past together.

The concept behind "Peacemaker" with the ideas of software terrorism and the artificial intelligence and just the scope of the issue is fascinating and helps the reader press on through the book because I certainly wanted to know how things played out. The problem is the writing and the characters. The characters seem to be mainly one dimensional and Ray's inner struggles regarding his alcoholism seem somewhat childish. The other characters are not any better and most are even more one dimensional. Before each chapter there is a one or two quotes from a future newspaper or novel regarding some of the characters. What this does is let the reader know a little bit how the events of this novel will play out and affect the world years down the road. It kind of takes some of the tension out of the book.

Ronco has a good deal of potential as an author because he has one very important gift that can't be taught: the ability to come up with a very interesting story idea. I have no doubt that his skill as a writer will come as he continues to write. "Peacemaker" was a very fast and easy read, but it is not without some serious flaws in the execution of the novel. It is difficult to recommend "Peacemaker", but the positive is that the concept behind the novel is a good one.

-Joe Sherry

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chaos Unleased in "Peacemaker" by Daniel Ronco, October 21, 2004

By	Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews

The problem with technology is that when everything is turned over to computers, the computers can and do go haywire. Not just disrupting lives with minor inconveniences but the computers can actually kill. That is the backdrop theme to this soon to be released adventure/disaster style read from author Daniel J. Ronco.

The computer system in this case is the Atlas Operating System, which is almost universally used in the very near future. Created by Ray Brown and his team from Vantage Point Software, the product has beaten all competitors. So much so, the company was a target of an anti-trust trial. A trial they ultimately lost and as a result the company was broken up into theoretically separate units. But despite the breakup, the company is still hers and under her control and beautiful CEO Dianne Morgan has plans. Dianne is charming, sexually confident and aggressive, ruthless and relentless in her obsession to destroy the competition, the government, and anyone else who stupidly stands in her way.

The lovely Dianne has two motives. Not only does she want her company to succeed, but she also wants her shadowy group within and without her company known as "The Domain" to succeed in their plans to take over the world. To do so, they will unleash a virus lurking deep within the operating system. The virus will cause a systematic shutdown of everything everywhere until her goals are met.

The virus's name is "Peacemaker" in reference to her vision of the future under her control. But Ray Brown has discovered a form of the virus and has seen in it violent action. He intends to stop it. Initially not realizing that his lover CEO Dianne Morgan is behind it all, he sets out to destroy "Peacemaker" and can only watch as the evolving and possibly self aware virus not only defeats his every attempt but others are retaliated against for his actions. And while Dianne plots to take over the world she has yet to understand that others within her group plot to oust her and use "Peacemaker" for their own nefarious purposes.

With at least three major storylines, this book shifts constantly in third person between them in this adventure/disaster style novel. As such, character development is rather limited and somewhat stereotypical of the genre. For example, Ray Brown is portrayed as a brilliant alcoholic constantly at war with his inner demon need for a stiff drink while the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Then there is the achingly beautiful Dianne Morgan who reminds one of a figure from Greek tragedy. Not only will she sleep with any man necessary to get her way, while at the pinnacle of success, she throws it all away on a quest for yet more power. And of course, what would any adventure/disaster read be without the pov of various minor characters doomed by the actions of the "Peacemaker" virus. Some will live, some will die and some of those deaths will be horrible as chaos ensues and society collapses.

Having said all that, for what it is in the genre, this is a pretty good book. Unlike many such novels, the focus isn't so much on the fate of the characters, but more a commentary on society, current and future, as a whole. With allusions to recent computer trials in the news, at least in the mind of this reviewer, this novel serves more as a dire warning of a future we may unwittingly be creating each day as we turn more and more control of our lives over to computer systems. While the read is enjoyable and fast, the issues this novel raises deserve serious consideration before the next power blackout or other disaster-man made or otherwise.


Book Facts:

Peacemaker
By Daniel J. Ronco
www.danronco.net
Winterwolf Publishing
www.winterwolf.com
August 1, 2004
ARC


Kevin R. Tipple © 2004

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PeaceMake - a must read, October 2, 2004

By	Paul Nasto - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Michael Crichton move over. Dan Ronco's PeaceMaker is the 21st century sci-fi version of a tale of two cities providing us with the intense drama and emotion of a Dicken's classic combined with the imaginative, yet realistic, view of a Crichton novel. This book was so good, I barely could put it down. Thrilling, exciting, filled with heroes and villains, providing the reader with every possible range of emotions.

Ray Brown is a modern day, believable hero with whom we can all relate. Diane Morgan is a classic villain, willing to sell everything, even her soul, to get ahead and gain more and more power and money. Their fight consumes both of them, driving one into an alcoholic state and the other into the fires of absolute power.

Yet in all of this, a story of how computer technology became the crutch which eventually took over our lives. A story of how we allowed ourselves to become the victims of our own desires and wants. A story which we may be playing out - even today!

Given all of the material published in a year, this is the one book which is a must read for someone who appreciates not only a great plot, storyline, and character development, but just plain great writing.

From those of us who enjoy a great read - THANKS MR. RONCO!