Not bad, but not great. Too many "convenient" plot points that assist the main character. I still like the plot and general overall story, but character development was weak. ( )

I received a free copy through Goodreads.
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Wow! I had no idea hacking could be so fascinating. At first glance I thought the book would focus on too much hacker and computer terms, thus leading to a story where I am left lost and bored. But man I was proven wrong!!

This book was such a thrill to read from start to finish! Betrayal, secrets and deceit are just the tip of the iceberg. The computer/hacker terms were explained in a way that was relatively easy to catch on and did not dominate the story as much as I had thought. I really enjoyed everything Chris did in order to clear his name and how he used every resource to his advantage to get from places to places while being hunted by every single agency on the USA and Europe.

That final twist at the climax and in the end was definitely worth it. I hope to read more of the hunt for Lurker 2.0.

Overall, a very thrilling read from start to finish. ( )

"The Adversary" is a very well written techno-thriller reminiscent of the movie "Die Hard," where computer hackers try to take over a city and cause widespread death and destruction. Trying to stop this mayhem is ex-hacker Chris Bruen, who gets involved whether he wants to or not.

Chris was a former Department of Justice attorney working on cyber crimes. He decided to take his skills private and joined a law firm where he basically did the same thing, only he could offer offenders with options other than going to prison. Since he was previously a hacker, Chris sympathized with many of those he was sent to corral. The book delves a little into Chris's background and tells the tale of a simple prank gone bad. But Chris turned his life around, went to law school, and never went back to hacking. The same can not be said for others in his position.

The book starts out with Chris traveling to Europe to retrieve the source code for an operating system used by almost everyone. Chris's client (think Microsoft) wanted the code returned because if it became widely available, hackers could find holes to insert viruses and this would in turn impact the trust of those using their product. But someone had beaten Chris to his target and as he stands knocking on the door, he hears a gunshot. Upon gaining entrance to the apartment, he finds the hacker dead, but also finds a copy of the source code along with a virus they called LURKER.

Upon returning to San Francisco, Chris finds himself in the middle of the attempt to find those responsible for the Lurker virus. Enlisting the help of Zoey. a local hacker, they return to Europe in order to follow up a lead. It is then they find out that the mastermind behind the virus has targeted a major city for the virus and that he has implicated Chris in the conspiracy. Believing he needed to remain free in order to clear his name, Chris and Zoey must evade Interpol, the CIA, the DOJ, and the real hacker as well.

I thought this was a very good book. The pace was steady, picking up toward the end and the final climax. It was written in a way that non tech savvy readers would understand what was going on and gave a little insight into the world of hacking. I hope Mr. Hirsch includes Zoey in his subsequent novels as I thought she made a good companion to Chris. I am looking forward to reading more about Chris Bruen and his future exploits. ( )

Good thriller, with enough realism to make anybody nervous about the multitude of computers that run practically everything in our lives...and what can go wrong when someone nasty and intelligent hacks in to make a shambles of things. We follow the main character as his life comes down around his ears and he runs from law enforcement (persuaded by clever manipulation into thinking he is the terrorist) while trying to figure out who is behind the attacks, what the "big" terrorist attack will be, and how to stop it. Unfortunately, old sins have long shadows, and he discovers his own unwitting part in how things are playing out.

There are a couple of minor weaknesses, but nothing that should seriously mar the reader's enjoyment. Plenty of twists, turns, and shattering revelations add to the already fraught with danger scenarios. It will make you stop and think how safe you really are, and what cyberterrorist attacks can do to shatter your peace of mind. Definitely a book worth picking up. ( )

Reece Hirsch's first book hooked me on Tech Thrillers. I have been fascinated by the Internet ever since my son guided my toe into cyberspace. But Reece Hirsh opens the world of hackers for all of us.

In The Adversary, Chris Bruen, a former DO prosecutor works for a law firm that specializes in date security laws. He was sent to Amsterdam to retrieve all stolen copies of a source code from a hacker known as the Lurker. The settlement papers were a good deal for the hacker since he could avert criminal prosecution. But when Chris arrived at the hacker’s apartment, someone had beaten him to the hacker. He heard a shot ring out and found the hacker tied to a bicycle rack with a bullet hole through his head. Usually this type of assignment did not end that way! He thought that would be all the excitement for a while but he was wrong.

When he arrived back in San Francisco, he found him pursued by a truly evil black hat hacker group. They were determined to set him up as the designer of computer virus that could spell death for thousands of people in New York in so many ways.

With flashbacks into Chris Bruen’s childhood and easy to understand explanations hacker terminology, Reece Hirsch lead me on a thrilling adventure that kept me turning the pages. I am really looking forward to the next book in this series. I want to know more about Chris Bruen, what happened during his DOJ career, what about his wife who died of breast cancer, what about the background of any characters carried over from this book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Tech thriller and want to read the next one in the series. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Tech thrillers or hacker culture.

I won this book from GoodReads but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review. ( )