The one part of the plot which seems unlikely, if not impossible, is the program used by Phate to target the victims, which is named Trapdoor. (The style, by the way, is similar to Michael Connelly.) The actual crime plot is pretty hackneyed, but the computing background means that the novel is more than just a run of the mill police procedural. The basic plot of The Blue Nowhere is a computerised version of the Eddie Murphy film 48 Hours a hacker is let out of prison to help the LAPD Computer Crimes Unit track down another hacker, who has the screen name Phate, who has turned serial killer. Jeffrey Deaver may usually be a writer of traditional thrillers, but with The Blue Nowhere he joins the small group of authors who can convincingly depict the world of the computer hacker ( Neal Stephenson and William Gibson being the best known of the others). Originally published on my blog here in October 2002.

It never fails to amaze me how today’s science fiction often becomes tomorrow’s science fact. On the downside, there’s a fair bit of technical computer talk, which for the uninitiated, might be a bit boring.Īlso, what the author was proposing to happen was, at that time, impossible but ten years later this was not the case.

There is so much subterfuge going on that there are red herrings everywhere, enough to keep most readers on their toes. What makes this such an interesting read is that both of the hackers are constantly writing code to lure their opponents into make a mistake that will either find the killer or, in the killers cases, create even more death and destruction.

Wyatt, of course, jumps at the chance to be (A) out of gaol and (B) to be doing what he lives for, hacking the internet. The only major problem is that Wyatt is in gaol, serving time for cyber crimes. At their wits end the police decide to ask Wyatt Gillette, another brilliant hacker, to help. The police know that the killer is a master computer hacker and no one in computer crimes comes anywhere near to his level of brilliance. No matter what they do the killer always seems to be able to predict their every move. There is a vicious serial killer on the loose and the police are always a step behind the killer. Given that the book is now 19 years old the computer language is a bit dated, floppy disks and dial up modems, but that apart it holds up really well as an entertaining read. A stand alone cyber thriller by Jeffery Deaver published 2001.Īll in all, a pretty good cyber thriller.

The blue nowhere book