Breakpoint Reprint Edition

by Richard A. Clarke (Author)

81 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0425218631

ISBN-10: 0425218635

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When a sophisticated group of saboteurs launches a series of attacks designed to bring down the world's technological networks, a dedicated team of experts assembles to find out if the responsible individuals are right-wing militias, jihadist terrorists, or representatives from enemy nation-states. By the author of The Scorpion's Gate. Reprint.

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Product details

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berkley; Reprint edition (December 4, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425218635
ISBN-13: 978-0425218631
Product Dimensions: 4.4 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
Average Customer Review: 81 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,396,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6436 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Political
- #8312 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Spies & Politics > Political
- #12133 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Spies & Politics > Espionage

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John Mariotti, author of The Chinese Conspiracy

A tech tour de force, undermined by weak writing and countless errors

January 29, 2015

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The technology described in Breakpoint, while partly hypothetical and partly factual when it was written, has become more and more real every day. The concept of the book is sound: the conflict of ideologies and major global powers. The writing, and the telling of the story reduces the impact of it by quite a lot. The author is a genuine expert, knows his stuff, and has a wealth of experience in the field.

He would have been better served to get a secondary co-author to actually write the story at a level commensurate with the conceptual and technological content.

Still an entertaining read...but only if the reader is tolerant of the writing craft issues described. Other Clarke books I've read are better written. Perhaps he had the suggested editorial or writing help on those. Richard Clarke is clearly a brilliant guy, and he deserves help to create his fictional works at a level equal to his knowledge and intellect/ideas.

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Jon Linden

The Exposed Underbelly of America

February 9, 2007

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Clarke's book is highly revealing. While his book is fictional, the information that surrounds his story is not. Interestingly, much of America's great infrastructure is `hiding in plain sight.' It is only hidden because so few people know about it and where exactly it is, but it is not guarded. Many have spoken about chemical and gasoline manufacturers as sites for potential terrorism activity. Clarke talks about something else. He talks about communications.

It turns out that in just a few locations the majority of internet and telephone connections to Europe can be attacked almost with impunity, if one knows where they are located. Clarke's point is to show that there are huge vulnerabilities in American systems and processes which could be exploited by terrorists at any time. These terrorists can be internal or external. In fact, due to the advantages of the Internet and DARPA very complex terrorist activities can be executed from virtually any part of the world. Clarke posits that the software code that runs communications was also attacked through hidden "back doors" that are built into the software by the designers and is not subject to normal security checks of the software. A user or terrorist with this "back door" information could get into a piece of software and modify it partially or totally.

Clarke writes an interesting, but slightly predictable mystery story to highlight his concern about attack on American infrastructure. Yet, the story does hold the reader's attention and does a good job of illustrating just how many ways there are to mount a serious attack from afar on those systems. It is highly recommended for readers of modern mystery novels. While Clarke talks about concepts and entities that seem futuristic, the basic science to perform these things is already extant. It can be done and in some cases, it has been done. Clarke's talent lies in his experience as a high level government employee in the area of terrorism for so long. Clarke now thinks like a terrorist and is therefore able to map out stories that have a real life feel to them. Clarke is an author to watch.

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An Insightful Work of Predictive Fiction

January 21, 2007

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If you are interested in the potential merger of genetic research, nanotechnology, religious fundamentalism and the internet, this exciting book will be an eye-opener. I'm only giving it 4 stars due to the fact that character development is a little sparse and sometimes the narration comes off a little goofy ("Susan digested the new information, and the pasta."). The true value of this book, however, comes from Mr. Clarke's ability to use his first-hand knowledge of the latest technological developments and the political landscape to create an interesting tour of what the future may hold.

Even though I am not a computer geek, I found the story to be quite interesting and not too confusing. As pointed out in the author's notes at the end of the book, all of the technological developments referenced in this book are in progress at this time. This is a quick and entertaining read, but viewers of the Colbert Report should know that, contrary to Stephen's assertions during the interview, there is no robo-sex.

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Retired Reader

Truth as Fiction

January 26, 2007

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This book belongs to the science fiction genre despite Dick Clark's disclaimer that it is not science fiction. There is nothing wrong with this genre although Clark appears to think so. Science fiction authors, as a whole, have never pretended to great writers, but consider themselves explorers of probable futures and purveyors of original ideas. This book does exactly this. It is not great literature, but it contains a number of significant ideas and presents a very probable future for the digital age.

The central, and overarching, premise of this book is the extreme vulnerability of the so-called Global Network as it exists today. The term Global Network (Clark calls it the `Globalgrid')), refers not to a specific network, but rather refer to the phenomenon of worldwide inter-connectivity that has been created between independently owned and operated telecommunication networks. Curiously, given his tenure a presidential advisor on Cyberspace Security, Clark apparently is not aware that the Global Network exists today and such 21st Century phenomenona as the Internet are dependent on it. Be this as it may, Clark does an excellent job of expounding on the physical and operating vulnerabilities of the Global Network. Further he implies that the third leg of information assurance, robust network resilience, is lacking in the Network and would contribute to the massive disruptions even a partial Network failure would cause.

Clark is not a great writer of novels, but he is an excellent purveyor of important ideas. This book is not even on the Tom Clancy level as work of fiction, but it is an enormously significant contribution to the on going debate information assurance in a digital age. In Clark's own words, "Sometimes you can tell more truth through fiction." Hear, hear.

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Breakpoint Reprint Edition

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