Review: All thriller, no Techno
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 17, 2011
My high hopes for Spyware were dashed against the rocky shore of The Land of Disbelief.  (You didn't know it had a rocky shore?).  The Internet (both servers and infrastructure) is attacked by a self-replicating/network-aware worm written and released by a stereotypical pasty, fat, over-eating hacker with his filthy apartment windows foiled over.  Larson takes a shot at the technology that would be involved in this scenario but he shoots wild.  The first indication of Larsen's technological half-heartedness is that the book is mistitled. (Pointed out by reviewer: James Bell) It's not spyware that is being described in the novel.  OK, most people don't know and don't care what the difference is between Spyware and Internet Worms, I get it.  In Larson's defense, "Self-replicating/Network Aware Worm", isn't nearly as good a title as "Spyware".  In short, the technology amounted to little more than words like, Firewall and router and acronyms like VPN and FTP.  I kept wanting Larson to create his own technological world, not try to work within the constraints of the current one.I did however enjoy the pace and I think the characterization was good.  The mad genius's perfect plan botched by his fumbling henchmen and the budding love affair between the incongruously characterized FBI agents carry the plot along wonderfully.