Look Out for These – Techno Trio #3: Netwars - The Code 1 by M Sean Coleman. A hardcore techno thriller in six bite size chunks

I’ve described this as a hardcore techno thriller which has lots of hackers, technology and the dark net, so if these kind of things are what you look for in a thriller, this book is for you.  Netwars is published as an e-book that comes in six parts and this review based on Part 1.

Scott Mitchell leads a double life.  He’s a specialist consultant at the National Cyber Crime Unit, expert at tracking down some of the most dangerous cyber criminals around.  Mitchell’s alter ego is Strider, who operates through the dark net, “completing” the work Mitchell can’t because Mitchell is constrained by the law.  Netwars - The Code 1 starts with Strider murdering Anthony Prince, founder of PriceSec and inventor of Cryptos security software.  Prince is a paedophile, hence Strider successfully targeting Prince for a fatal accident. 

However, Strider finds that PrinceSec’s security database has been stolen making the whole of the country’s national infrastructure vulnerable to cyber attack.  The culprit is  a hacker called Nightshade, who now has Strider in his sights, thus bringing the two strands of the story together – Mitchell’s work to plug the security leak, aided by the comely Rebecca MacDonald from PrinceSec and the up coming cyber punch up between Strider and Nightingale.

I think that write up shows that Netwars really is a hard core techno thriller.  The writing focuses more on narrative and description, rather than dialogue.  Each of the six parts is only 60 to 70 pages, which makes it relatively easy to digest and I felt comfortable paying only £1.49 to try something I wasn’t certain about.  It’s certainly not something I’d recommend for all The Crime Warp’s readers but if you want to find out what’s happening in the dark net, get hold of The Code.

Romancrimeblogger