Review: High Tech Heist Hijinks
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2013
This was a fun read.The basic concept behind the world is that everyone has an implant that allows them to interface with the internet directly, and everyone trusts the data that they get from their implants because everyone knows that the interface is unhackable.The narrator is part of group that has learned how to hack the network, and this gives them interesting abilities--for example, being able to become effectively invisible by using the interface to alter the visual feed.  They use their abilities for crime, but unfortunately they get drawn into a conspiracy of another group that uses network hacks for a darker and more violent purpose.We meet the characters in the middle of a heist and the action is pretty much non-stop from then on.  Maybe a little too non-stop, actually, I had trouble remembering who some of the minor characters were. It was a good ride, though, this is the kind of book that doesn't have a lot of time for introspection or philosophical pondering, it's get in, strap down, and hang on from page one.I did have a minor issue with the book, however.  The hacks themselves weren't as well explained as I would have liked, there were a couple that I had difficulty believing could result from altering a person's data feed.  And there was an issue with the hacks having a limited time that they could run, and limited number of times that they could be activated.  While I can understand why the writer did that from a narrative standpoint, I would have liked a rationale for that. It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the novel as a whole, but I found myself wondering about those issues from time to time.If the author writes a sequel (and I hope he does, it's a world that could support more stories) it would be nice to have more of the technology fleshed out.Like I say, though, that's a minor issue, and I don't know if anyone else would even care.  As a story, it moves well and features a very likable narrator--an everyman who gets out of his depth and has to struggle to survive a situation that he can't really understand.I received a copy of the e-book in exchange for an honest review.