This acclaimed and action-packed 2008 novel follows 17 year old computer wiz kid Marcus after a serious terrorist attack in a not-too-distant future San Francisco. He decides to use his computer “skills’ to subvert a subsequent military crackdown and help return democracy to the state of California.

There’s an overall troubling theme of how computers and surveillance could subvert society. However the reader may have to take for granted the methodology and miraculous abilities of our hero to hack complex government computer programmes and take down the Department of Homeland Security.

The hot sex scenes could probably have been toned down without affecting the novel’s impact. The websites in the bibliography are an excellent  resource for anyone interested in Corry Doctorow’s other novels and his well-known work in the digital arena.

Will suit middle to upper secondary school readers.

review by Phil

image by  Pip R. Lagenta