Imagine yourself in a bar. A man approaches you. He doesn’t seem familiar but he knows your past, your job, your hobbies, and your ex-boyfriend’s name. You go for a drink.
This is your first—and last—mistake. You’re the latest victim of the latest killer. A man who can rip away the thin carapace protecting the secrets of your life—before ending it.

This is the setting of Jeffery Deaver’s new computer thriller—The Blue Nowhere. The story is about brilliant hackers and crackers (hackers who are criminals) and how vulnerable we are when are online. In this Internet age, with every household connected to the Internet, no one is safe. Computer criminals can hack into the computers and steal data, erase or manipulate records, transfer funds from your account, and do more damage than most people can imagine.

The story opens with the killer targeting a woman in California, who runs a website that provides other women with information on how best to protect themselves in modern times. She lives by her own guidelines and he uses them to trap and then kill her. The California State Police Computer Crimes Unit, headed by computer expert and onetime hacker Detective Andy Anderson, starts investigating the crime. But the members of the CCU are no match for the killer. So, they enlist Wyatt Gillette, an extraordinarily brilliant hacker who is serving his three-year term in prison for breaking into a software organization’s computers and stealing the programs. Gillette may be the only person who can match the killer in knowledge and skill and warn the investigators about how the killer’s mind works.

The rest of the story is how the killer continues his murdering spree and how Gillette with the help of his team manages to catch up with him and finally hunt him down. The story is full of unexpected twists and turns as the deadly duel between two brilliant minds try to outsmart and outthink each other. Whether or not you are interested in computers and Internet, you will be fascinated by this novel.

Even though this book was written several years ago—in 2001—it is very relevant today. The possibilities this book presents are frightening; all the more so when you consider the current barrage of viruses from hackers aimed at your computers. The number of Internet users have grown by 380% in the last eight years. So the people affected by the malicious programs and viruses have increased. The number of victims of social engineering, financial fraud and other dangers from the Internet have grown. The computer crime prevention and security have become an important topic of study, but the problem is that the hackers are always a few steps ahead of the cops and hence difficult to catch. This book will serve as a warning to individuals to tread carefully while online and take preventive measures to protect them. As Frank Bishop says in the novel: “Watch your back and don’t trust another living soul—even people you think you know. Go on this assumption: nothing is what it seems to be.”

The story is brilliant, very well written and moves at a very fast pace. This book will keep you riveted to the page irrespective of your interest in and knowledge about computers. A must read, especially if you are a computer lover.

Book Details:

• Author: Jeffery Deaveri
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2001
• ISBN: 9780684871271
• Cover & Page Count: Hardcover, 432 pages