Review: James Bond on the other side of the law...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2013
This series is all around really good. It is all about action, misdirection, and cracking codes. Underground societies, crazy prototype gadgets, FBI vs criminal love, these stories have it all. There is not that much in-depth computer hacking in these books, so even those who are not adept with computers can still enjoy them as they are more James Bond in their technology. I read Encrypted months before getting the whole series, and was impressed enough to give the rest a read and am really anticipating the next ones in the series!HACKEDI read Encrypted many months ago and figured it was time to give the rest of the books in the series a try. The prequel, Hacked, definitely worked better as a short story than anything longer as it failed to impress. While the premise was sound and it gave a little bit of discovery from the FBI agent about the Robin Hood Hacker, I just don't think it was enough. It had action and implausible getaways, but I found that it didn't go back far enough; it was just another robbery by the hackers. Instead of being it's own book it could have been a prologue to Encrypted as it doesn't really add anything to the pre-development of the characters. I was hoping it went back even further to how Quirk and Ronnie started working together or how Zach ended up working on the case. It was just another crime where he was close to catching the Robin Hood Hacker, and not much more than that. Still a good short, but just not enough.ENCRYPTEDAs an old school hacker, the premise of this book stood out to me -- and didn't disappoint. It started off in the heat of action and the hunt of the Robin Hood Hacker while she stole over 3 billion dollars, and the action barely died down throughout the rest of the book. The descriptions of the scenes and toys used were excellent and I was really able to visualize everything that was going on; even the more fantastical toys and hacks were detailed in such a way that it all could be real. It was really hard to put this book down and made my reading sessions much longer than usual with "just one more chapter" being said to myself quite a bit. I am not one for love stories, but the way that it played into this book really helped push the story and action along and definitely didn't hamper the experience.The only reason I didn't give the book a perfect score was what I believe to be just a brief amount of research that went into the book. On the tech side, it was not bad at pulling theories and putting them into action. On the disease control side it was less believable. Even with all the seemingly impossible hacks and situations that were survived, it was still the medical aspects that were more fantastical.That being said, overall it is a stellar book! With non-stop action and adventure and enough plot twists to keep you guessing, Encrypted comes highly recommended by me to anyone that likes anything fast paced. You don't need to be geeky to understand any of the tech stuff which is an added bonus for most people as well.BINARYWhile the prequel to Encrypted left me wanting a lot more, I think this bridge between Encrypted and Cipher did more for the story. Like the rest, it takes place in the heat of action of a hack with a very messy get-away. What it does right is show the lengths that Ronnie and Zach are willing to go to not be found out by the rest of the FBI. Certain things remain unclear, but that is why this is just a bridge and not a full on book. While Hacked left me a little disappointed, Binary left me wanting more...so onto Cipher I go!CIPHERCipher and Encrypted are very much the same book with the same goal against the same villain. Replace "plague" with "influenza" and "art" with "music" and there is very little difference in the general plot. The hidden hand are up to their usual "take over the world" tactics and the Robin Hood Hacker with her team are using 007 gadgets to stop it from happening. One of the things that I find lacking in this book over Encrypted is there is less hacking and deciphering code and more action with the hope of romance. I would not be so down on this book if it was a standalone book, but putting it next to its predecessor, it is like a mirror image with a few smudges.That all being said, the weapons in this book were pretty thought out (even though overused) and the defences the Hidden Hand have in their base were neat ideas, like nanobots. The book itself was as well written as Encrypted with the same fun and Quirky personalities. Always in immediate danger, the action didn't really slow down. Even when it was about to slow down for something romantic or emotional, it doesn't go through with it and jumps right back to the action. While waiting for the next one in the series I am thinking about giving another Carolyn McCray book a try because I do like the way she makes everything real in the way she words it. While I recommend Encrypted a lot more than this one, this is not a bad story and the ending will have you anxious for the next one.ZEROESThis short bridge really had me going. It takes place during a hack on a casino cruise ship. This short story keeps up the internal backlash in Zach's mind between sides and having to hide communications with Quirk from Warp. While there is a submersible, this is a much more brute force low-tech story; mainly because it is more Zach than anyone else. I thoroughly enjoyed this one much more than the other short stories and it had me guessing what the real situation was right until the end. After Cipher I was really looking forward to the next one in the series, Zeroes makes the 2 month wait for release seem way too long!