Reamde by Neal Stephenson

About the book

Across the globe, millions of computer screens flicker with the artfully coded world of T’Rain – an addictive internet role-playing game of fantasy and adventure. But backstreet hackers in China have just unleashed a contagious virus called Reamde, and as it rampages through the gaming world spreading from player to player – holding hard drives hostage in the process – the computer of one powerful and dangerous man is infected, causing the carefully mediated violence of the on-line world to spill over into reality. A fast-talking, internet-addicted mafia accountant is brutally silenced by his Russian employers, and Zula – a talented young T’Rain computer programmer – is abducted and bundled on to a private jet. As she is flown across the skies in the company of the terrified boyfriend she broke up with hours before, and a brilliant Hungarian hacker who may be her only hope, she finds herself sucked into a whirl of Chinese Secret Service agents and gun-toting American Survivalists; the Russian criminal underground and an al-Qaeda cell led by a charismatic Welshman; each a strand of a connected world that devastatingly converges in T’Rain. An inimitable and compelling thriller that careers from British Columbia to South-West China via Russia and the fantasy world of T’Rain, Reamde is an irresistible epic from the unique imagination of one of today’s most individual writers.

Reviewed by Bookwombs

Too long to read in one month! Lots of excess detail, but once it gets going, really gripping. Would have made a great film

star rating **

 

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Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman

About the book

After a long and murky career with the FBI, Brigid Quinn is trying to move on. She’s got a nice house. Dogs. A husband who knows nothing of her past. But the abduction and murder of a young female colleague still haunts her.

So when the girl’s body is finally found, and a man confesses to the murder, Brigid is desperate for answers. Yet the more she learns, the more convinced she is that they have the wrong man. Following leads that the Bureau ignored, she’s propelled straight into the path of a ruthless serial killer. One who has evaded the law for decades, and will stop at nothing to keep her quiet…

But Brigid Quinn is a woman to be reckoned with.

Reviewed by Dilkusha

“Quite graphic but on the whole quite a good read. Most of us enjoyed the last few chapters

star rating *** ½

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