“I'm close to giving this five stars. The only reason I didn't is personal: I'm tired of the cocky teenage boy know-it-all voice in young adult fiction. It got in the way of me sympathizing enough with the lead character here.
That said, this is a well-paced, well-thought-through look at the potential of misuse of technology to track citizens in the name of anti-terrorism. It's scary and it's moving as well. It's the story of a teen boy who is playing a game with four friends on the streets of San Francisco when a bomb destroys the Bay Bridge. They're in the wrong place at the wrong time and get hauled in, then threatened by Homeland Security. One of the four doesn't make it home. Marcus, the narrator, becomes the leader in a movement that uses consumer technology to try to thwart the government's ill-conceived spying and authoritarianism.
I'm not sure I entirely buy the ending. Sadly, I'm not convinced that any kid or underground group can put a stop to the use of technology for inappropriate spying on our lives. It's too connected to big business, and corporate spying by insurance companies, marketers, software firms and the like to root out easily. (And sadly, there isn't as much outcry about these uses and they are just as damaging to our privacy and the results are used just as ineffectually by the companies.) OK, that was my two bits. Still a fine novel, more believable than most adult thrillers.”
