Official Review: The Hacker Chronicles by Patrick Oster

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 02 Apr 2017, 08:31

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Hacker Chronicles" by Patrick Oster.]

3 out of 4 stars

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The Hacker Chronicles is an exciting cyber thriller novel written by Patrick Oster.

It is Aloysius Wachter’s first night in his new job as a glorified night watchman in Organization for Emergency Management and Communication watching 10,000 police, community and business surveillance cameras. He sees a pretty girl resembling his ex-girlfriend fleeing what turns out to be a murder scene. For some reasons, Aloysius, also known as Vic, feels a great need to help and save the girl. With his special skill as a hacker and with the help of his two friends, a Russian and a Chinese who are even better hackers than he is, Vic becomes an amateur detective and a crime buster.

This is not just an exciting cyber thriller. It is also an amusing, entertaining and a very informative book. Told in a lively, conversational and realistic tone in the first person perspective of a twenty five year old millennial gamer, the book offers tips or more like gives the readers an idea how easily an account is hacked. It reveals how vulnerable a person is online especially those who need to share everything and post all about themselves on social media.

What I like most about the book is the concept of Vic’s character. He is a school dropout and an unambitious guy with an unfinished graphic novel and still depends on his mother for allowance, on the outside, but a skillful hacker, with even more skillful hacker-friends, who can find an Agrentine who staged her own death, on the inside. Even his manner of talking, funny and a little sarcastic, is quite appealing while his way of explaining online procedures and computer jargons is simplified and apparently meant for laymen.

Descriptions of settings and characters are clear and can be easily visualized while dialogues are informal and realistic. Just like Vic, all the other characters are well-developed and the one I can relate to the most is his mother. Reference to popular celebrities like Chow Yun Fat, Jason Statham and Lady Gaga and popular movies like ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ and video games like ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ makes the book charming and heartwarming probably due to familiarity.

However, though the pacing of the novel is fairly steady, there is some kind of a period of sluggishness and inactivity between the first and the last case which gives the book a feeling of inconsistency. Moreover, some information regarding the internet, hacking and other online activities can be overwhelming to some readers especially the older ones. Furthermore, there are several noticeable errors like missing words but mostly typos (like that instead of than and here instead of her).

I, therefore, rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. It is very interesting, amusing, entertaining and informative. I recommend it to cyber thriller fans especially those who are fascinated with computer hacking. Readers who are not into social media and other online activities may have difficulty keeping up with the terminologies in this book but are not discouraged to have a go at it.

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The Hacker Chronicles
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Post by **kandscreeley** » 03 Apr 2017, 08:20

This does sound like an interesting book. I'm surprised with as prevalent as this is, there aren't more novels out there about cyber crimes. I might have to look into this one. Thanks for the review.

Post by **bookowlie** » 03 Apr 2017, 08:39

Great review. The book sounds interesting with a trendy topic. Like Kandscreeley, I am surprised there are not more cyber-themed novels there. Glad you enjoyed the story despite the noticeable errors.

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 03 Apr 2017, 09:12

kandscreeley wrote:This does sound like an interesting book. I'm surprised with as prevalent as this is, there aren't more novels out there about cyber crimes. I might have to look into this one. Thanks for the review.

You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did

-- 03 Apr 2017, 09:16 --

bookowlie wrote:Great review. The book sounds interesting with a trendy topic. Like Kandscreeley, I am surprised there are not more cyber-themed novels there. Glad you enjoyed the story despite the noticeable errors.

Now that you two mentioned it, yes, I noticed as well that there are too few cyber-themed novels out there

Or maybe they are being written as we are speak

Yes, I enjoyed it a lot and I believe other readers will enjoy it as well.

Donnavila Marie01 · Post by **Donnavila Marie01** » 04 Apr 2017, 01:25

Glorification of drop outs who became rich or who became an accidental hero is now a trend. What is good about this story is the big help brought by hacking. In the military, they call it white hacking. I strongly recommend this book.

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 04 Apr 2017, 03:18

Donnavila Marie01 wrote:Glorification of drop outs who became rich or who became an accidental hero is now a trend. What is good about this story is the big help brought by hacking. In the military, they call it white hacking. I strongly recommend this book.

I think that's thanks to Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg

Anyways, this is a very interesting book and I hope other people will give it a chance and read it.

rssllue · Post by **rssllue** » 06 Apr 2017, 10:36

It sounds like a very intriguing story line and definitely does not sound like a boring read. Thanks for the nice review!

Katherine Smith · Post by **Katherine Smith** » 06 Apr 2017, 13:07

I loved your review especially about the character of Vic. he sounds very interesting and funny. I can easily imagine him as a real person and the pop culture references are great too. I hope to read this book because I love crime novels. I am trying to figure out which one to read next.

LivreAmour217 · Post by **LivreAmour217** » 06 Apr 2017, 14:02

This book sounds highly entertaining, and not to mention a little scary (I deliberately try not to think about how easy it could be for someone to hack into my various online accounts!) For some reason, I could picture a book like this being made into a movie. Thanks for the detailed review!

kimmyschemy06 · Post by **kimmyschemy06** » 06 Apr 2017, 19:02

rssllue wrote:It sounds like a very intriguing story line and definitely does not sound like a boring read. Thanks for the nice review!

You're welcome. It's very interesting and I enjoyed it a lot.

-- 06 Apr 2017, 19:03 --

Katherine Smith wrote:I loved your review especially about the character of Vic. he sounds very interesting and funny. I can easily imagine him as a real person and the pop culture references are great too. I hope to read this book because I love crime novels. I am trying to figure out which one to read next.

I hope you get the chance to read it and enjoy it as much as I did

I think that's always a problem, which book to read next

-- 06 Apr 2017, 19:04 --

LivreAmour217 wrote:This book sounds highly entertaining, and not to mention a little scary (I deliberately try not to think about how easy it could be for someone to hack into my various online accounts!) For some reason, I could picture a book like this being made into a movie. Thanks for the detailed review!

That is so true, about how easy for skillful people to hack into our accounts.