Yzabel / April 11, 2014

With Zombies by Michael F. Stewart

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

The final book in the Assured Destruction series!

Jan Rose may already be expunged from the police department’s High Tech Crime Unit. Her mother’s hospitalized, and Assured Destruction’s on the cusp of bankruptcy. But Jan doesn’t wait on anything, she seeks out the customers who used to keep the family business afloat. That’s when everything starts to go wrong.

A computer virus–aka the Zombie Worm–threatens not only her school and Shadownet, but the entire city. A skull with a chain running through its socket links a powerful gang to her former customers, and holds the secrets to why her father left and the identity of her mother’s boyfriend.

To save her family and the business, Jan must determine who is friend and who is foe. And decide what type of hacker she wishes to become: Gray, white, or black. Not only her life hangs in the balance.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

This third installment in the “Assured Destruction” series was a little different from the previous ones, in that it didn’t follow their format; on the other hand, it tied a lot of things together, and I’d definitely advise reading all books close to each other, otherwise you may miss a few relevant details. In any case, I appreciated the care put into giving answers to several questions (what happened to Jan’s father, who’s actually Peter)… as well as to others I hadn’t envisioned at first.

I enjoyed the trilogy as a whole, and I enjoyed this last novel, too. Once again, it managed to deal with technical and computer-related aspects in such a way that even a layman would easily understand what was going on. I know “techno-babble” can rebuke people, but here, even if internet and networks aren’t their forte, as a reader, they won’t be lost. Jan’s uses of her favourite tools are always explained in a short, efficient manner. Don’t know what a DDoS attack is? Now you’ll know.

I admit I was slightly tempted to call a “too stupid to live” on Janus a couple of times, because some of her decisions were rash and not that well-informed. I would’ve done it if she had been any other teen, with a regular family life and not that many struggles. However, it was also clear that she was at the end of her rope, what with her mother being sicker, having to find more customers, juggling work and school with the spectre of failing her semester looming close, trying to find her father, trying to find money to pay for the mortgage, wondering about Peter’s motives, not to mention the Zombie virus and the problems she got because of that… Since people in general aren’t known for making the best decisions in such cases, her overall attitude was easily explained. (There was a specific turning point in the story, where her behaviour made me frown and wonder if maybe something fishy was going on; that, too, was explained later. Actually, it’s a wonder it didn’t happen sooner.)

Jan’s friends were also wonderful, for sticking with her, devising the Kickstarter[Kickstarter (hide spoiler)] plan, and helping her the way they did at the end. Her being struggling so much, she probably wasn’t there for them as much as one would expect—but everytime I thought that, I also found myself thinking, “Well, would I be a good friend if I had to tread in her shoes? Not so sure.” (I guess this is one of the reasons why I like this character. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of who I am, with all my shortcomings, and this prompted me to question a few things as well.) Janus can be a really good friend, too—e.g. what she did for Hannah in book 2—but there’s also so much you can do for others when you’re overwhelmed. Can she be blamed for sometimes being oblivious? Perhaps, perhaps not.

One thing wasn’t too clear for me, though, and that was Shadownet’s role, especially at the end. Considering who the “villain” was, and that said “villain” would’ve known about it by now, I was a little surprised the Twitter accounts weren’t monitored at the end, when all hell was breaking lose at the mansion, and it was clear Janus might have had a hand in that. [Considering who the “villain” was, and that said “villain” would’ve known about it by now, I was a little surprised the Twitter accounts weren’t monitored at the end, when all hell was breaking lose at the mansion, and it was clear Janus might have had a hand in that. (hide spoiler)] Or is this my paranoid self talking? Because monitoring it would definitely have been on my list.

To conclude on this review (and this trilogy): really enjoyable—and, for once, with a female protagonist who is quite tech-savvy and doesn’t spend her time pining after boys. (Did I say we share a few common points? Yes? Thought so.)