pebkac thoughts

Earlier today I finished reading Invisible Armies (Hardcover) by Jon Evans. I enjoyed it thoroughly, despite painfully implausible plot twists, over-the-top feats of über-hacking, and a few odd phrases like, “Davy Jones’s much-fabled locker” that just made me giggle.

Invisible Armies (Paperback) is a bubblegum summer novel tailor-made for those of us who use Linux at work. Where many movies and even novels get both the facts of hacking and the ethos of hacker culture wrong, this book gets enough of the details right that the totally unrealistic cracking several characters do (I won’t spoil them for you) are entertaining instead of annoying.

Mr. Evans clearly did quite a bit of research to put the book together, especially to construct the character of Keiran, aka LoTek. LoTek and his secret weapon (Shazam) kept me reading after interest in Danielle (who we meet at the beginning) had waned. LoTek’s dueling with P2 and their eventual meeting were the highlight for me. I kept thinking as I was reading the book that Keiran was constructed as an amalgam of a bunch of my TriLUG friends. Politics from this person, appearance from that fellow, wit from another. Lack of socialization…. But seriously, Keiran’s character arc is not why you would read this novel. Keiran is set dressing.

The real reason to read this novel is that it’s a well-paced mystery/thriller that keeps pulling you in, assuming your politics are inclined toward skepticism of corporate and government power and you’ve compiled a kernel before. If that sounds like you, give the book a chance. Even if you’re not a Linux nerd, the book’s approach to the techie topics should likely not be off-putting.

Teaser from the publisher:

Everybody has an agenda. No one can hide.

Danielle Leaf thinks she’s helping out a friend on an innocent errand—until she’s abducted, imprisoned in remote rural India and swept up in a secret war between anti- corporate activists and a trans-national mining company. After a daring escape, she is drawn into a dizzying world of shadowy computer hackers and mysterious benefactors intent on exposing the truth. But as Danielle finds herself on the run, she discovers that both sides of this war are willing to kill for their cause—and to hide their secrets.

Cold War suspense for the modern age, Invisible Armies is a thriller that looks behind the power of protests and the devilry of big business.

Read it and tell me what you think of the exceedingly odd Laurent character. I don’t want to put any real spoilers here, but I’d love to hear from people who’ve read it. Eg: Anybody have diving experience? How authentic is the diving bit?

via.