THE BLUE NOWHERE

By: J.A. Hitchcock
Date: Friday, August 31, 2001

My husband listened to this novel first and when he was on the first side of the first cassette, he frantically called me from his car. "You're killed in this book," he told me. I laughed my butt off...until I listened to the book myself. Then when I got to the part he mentioned, I called him and told him, "I wouldn't be that stupid." Now you're curious, eh?

Jeffrey Deaver is a whiz at thrillers and THE BLUE NOWHERE is his best so far. It begins in the Silicon Valley, where a woman who trains people how to protect themselves is murdered. Yep, that's the one my husband thought was me, but when you read or listen to the book, you'll know why I told him I wouldn't be that stupid.

The killer is a man nicknamed Phate - a hacker who has taken a MUD a giant step too far. For those of you who don't know what a MUD is, it's a M U Domain - an online role-playing game that can include anything from creatures and humans fighting each other to complete fantasy role-playing. Death is usually involved. A group of hackers loved playing it, but Phate wanted more than just the online thrill. That's when he took it to another level - playing the game offline.

Phate social engineers his victims, meaning he learns everything he can about them so that they trust him implicitly - then he kills them. Since he's a hacker, it's not hard for him to break into his victim's computers via a program he co-wrote with his hacker buddy, Shawn, called Trapdoor. This allows him to enter the victim's computer every time they go online, watching everything they do while they do it; they have no clue Phate is watching them.

After the first murder, another hacker who is currently in jail, Wyatt Gillette, is brought out temporarily to try to track down the murderer for the California State Police Computer Crimes Division. Temporary becomes longer when one of the CSPCCD's own is murdered by Phate and the chase is on.

Even if you're not a techno or net geek, Deaver does a great job of simply explaining Internet and computer terms. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Deaver took a twist, then a turn, then another twist. I was convinced I knew who was the culprit at the end, but the last ten minutes of the tape proved I was wrong.

This is a must for anyone who enjoys a good thriller, murder mystery or anything by Deaver. Boutsikaris, who reads the book (he's been in THE X-FILES, CROCODILE DUNDEE II, BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED, among others), does a great job with the voices and definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. I can't wait for the next book by Deaver!

THE BLUE NOWHERE

Grade: A

Author(s): Jeffrey Deaver; audio book read by Dennis Boutsikaris

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Price: $26.00