Looking Glass is set in the not too distant future, in a gritty, unrefined, shattered North America, torn apart by civil war and terrorism. Hackers and IT security technicians fight a different kind of war in cyberspace, the global network we know today as the Internet. A serial killer appears in this deadly game of mouse, and the killer has found a way to use the network to reach inside his victim's brains, and use these brains as his weapon. Death is painful and swift, and there is no defense. "Shroud" is the online name of Dr. Catherine Farro. She is a security network team leader for a large retail company. Shroud is a paraplegic, but in the realm of cyberspace, inside a sensory deprivation tank and "jacked in" to the network, she is fast, nimble, and ruthless. She is self-described as "frosty" when she is busy bringing the fight to the hackers. Shroud is just beginning her shift when the killer strikes for the first time. She survives, but her entire team is dead or missing. She is exiled from her corporate resources while the company to which she has given so much has turned against her in a tempest of crisis management. Despite the obstacles in her path, she is bent on vengeance, and her search for the mysterious, anonymous killer is fraught with peril and overwhelming odds.
Looking Glass
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By G. Mennie
Format:Paperback
Looking Glass was recommended by a friend, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was not disappointed! Once I started reading I didn't put it down until it was so late that I knew I'd be sorry in the morning.
Right away we jump into the main character Catherine Farro's work life. Office politics and corporate greed apparently haven't changed in this not-too-distant future, but computer security sure has. The security pros are plugged right into the network via jacks in their heads. They fight their battles with the bad guys in a virtual space with fancy crypto for defence and custom built attack hardware/software as their weaponry. Farro is one of the best in the security business, which is a good thing because she wouldn't have survived more than a couple of chapters if she wasn't. The bad guys didn't read her résumé, so once the killing begins she's a target just like the rest of her team. And it's real killing -- not just the virtual kind.
Throughout the rest of the action, Farro struggles with her demons and fights to find the truth about what's happened. She's the vengeful type, so somebody's gotta pay for what they did to her friends. There's plenty of excitement, a bit of romance, lots of nifty gadgets, and plenty of cool technology both in the real world and in virtual space.
For those of us who are a bit new to this genre, the author was thoughtful enough to provide a glossary in case you need to know what something is. I didn't find the glossary until the end (because that's where glossaries are) but there's plenty of context to help you figure things out so you probably won't need the glossary too much. (I didn't know what "ice" was, but I had a pretty good idea after reading how the characters used it. Guess I need to read more William Gibson?)
I really enjoyed Looking Glass. Irreconcilable Differences (also by Strickland) is next on my reading list!
Right away we jump into the main character Catherine Farro's work life. Office politics and corporate greed apparently haven't changed in this not-too-distant future, but computer security sure has. The security pros are plugged right into the network via jacks in their heads. They fight their battles with the bad guys in a virtual space with fancy crypto for defence and custom built attack hardware/software as their weaponry. Farro is one of the best in the security business, which is a good thing because she wouldn't have survived more than a couple of chapters if she wasn't. The bad guys didn't read her résumé, so once the killing begins she's a target just like the rest of her team. And it's real killing -- not just the virtual kind.
Throughout the rest of the action, Farro struggles with her demons and fights to find the truth about what's happened. She's the vengeful type, so somebody's gotta pay for what they did to her friends. There's plenty of excitement, a bit of romance, lots of nifty gadgets, and plenty of cool technology both in the real world and in virtual space.
For those of us who are a bit new to this genre, the author was thoughtful enough to provide a glossary in case you need to know what something is. I didn't find the glossary until the end (because that's where glossaries are) but there's plenty of context to help you figure things out so you probably won't need the glossary too much. (I didn't know what "ice" was, but I had a pretty good idea after reading how the characters used it. Guess I need to read more William Gibson?)
I really enjoyed Looking Glass. Irreconcilable Differences (also by Strickland) is next on my reading list!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.4 out of 5 stars
34 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book & won't upset the techies.
Mar 24 2008
By S. Granger
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
________________________________________
This book is full steam ahead cyber punk goodness. I think there is a misstep at 3/4 of the way in. At that point some of the reveals felt more like tricks to me and I started to get disappointed. Before I could flip the off switch, "Looking Glass" revved back up. I really enjoyed the ending. A tough-as-nails female protagonist, secret conspiracies that make sense, and a future world that I can almost touch. Wonderful debut by James Strickland.
The story is basically about a female network administrator who fights hacking of the worst kind. If you fail, you die. And if you succeed then you wipe someone's mind away. It's a terrible case of job burn-out. Everything is going normally, burning the baddies until one day someone appears that can read their minds. At least it seems that way. Jump left, get burnt. Jump right, already waiting there for you. What do you do? And the worst part is that it's hard to tell what/who is real anymore.
It might seem like a retread of older cyberpunk novels if you're looking just on the surface, but "Looking Glass" is not. This reflection goes much deeper.
Overall one of the most satisfying reads in a long time. I really do recommend this book, even to non-techies.
This book is full steam ahead cyber punk goodness. I think there is a misstep at 3/4 of the way in. At that point some of the reveals felt more like tricks to me and I started to get disappointed. Before I could flip the off switch, "Looking Glass" revved back up. I really enjoyed the ending. A tough-as-nails female protagonist, secret conspiracies that make sense, and a future world that I can almost touch. Wonderful debut by James Strickland.
The story is basically about a female network administrator who fights hacking of the worst kind. If you fail, you die. And if you succeed then you wipe someone's mind away. It's a terrible case of job burn-out. Everything is going normally, burning the baddies until one day someone appears that can read their minds. At least it seems that way. Jump left, get burnt. Jump right, already waiting there for you. What do you do? And the worst part is that it's hard to tell what/who is real anymore.
It might seem like a retread of older cyberpunk novels if you're looking just on the surface, but "Looking Glass" is not. This reflection goes much deeper.
Overall one of the most satisfying reads in a long time. I really do recommend this book, even to non-techies.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read cyberpunk
July 2 2007
By Thomas Dye
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
James, R. Strickland and Scott Humphries have just been added to my `must read list'. Apparently this book is from a startup publisher called "Flying Pen Press". I rather like their tagline of "Giving flight to great books." I went through their web site and found that their intent is to only publish the best of the best, so if it says 'flying pen press' it has been vetted by multiple editors and found not just print worthy, but damn good. (and it WAS!)
I read it in three days flat! Great book that I could not put down. This is an excellent first publication from this press. I will certainly buy the next few books that they publish, in the hope that they are even remotely as good as this one. I found this book to be fast paced action throughout in the cyberpunk genre' and loved it. An absolutely wonderful future look at where our technology is going and what eventually will happen when the line between technology and our brains blurs.
It took me a bit to realize that the lead character was a wheelchair bound paraplegic! The author gives us snippets and bits of background to help develop his world as he tells the story, rather than the huge information dump up front of which I am familiar. (And which I detest!) I gather this is also James Strickland's first novel; and that too is hard to believe. This would be a great novel from someone who is well established in the field. I sincerely hope that these two people have more stuff in the pipe for me soon.
This is a very well-told story with plenty of action and good character interactions as well. The back and forth play between the online virtual world and the real world I found to be quite entertaining, and while I did have an inkling of what the finale was going to be by about halfway through the book, I was not at all disappointed in how it turned out and how the author brought it to a climax.
This book is easily worth reading more than once, (and I like to read a lot!) My only pause in thought through out the book was the 6 by 9 format. How are you going to get shelf space with something that is slightly larger than the normal 'pocket book' of the mass media addition?
Great read though; I am absolutely sure you're going to find this book fun.
I read it in three days flat! Great book that I could not put down. This is an excellent first publication from this press. I will certainly buy the next few books that they publish, in the hope that they are even remotely as good as this one. I found this book to be fast paced action throughout in the cyberpunk genre' and loved it. An absolutely wonderful future look at where our technology is going and what eventually will happen when the line between technology and our brains blurs.
It took me a bit to realize that the lead character was a wheelchair bound paraplegic! The author gives us snippets and bits of background to help develop his world as he tells the story, rather than the huge information dump up front of which I am familiar. (And which I detest!) I gather this is also James Strickland's first novel; and that too is hard to believe. This would be a great novel from someone who is well established in the field. I sincerely hope that these two people have more stuff in the pipe for me soon.
This is a very well-told story with plenty of action and good character interactions as well. The back and forth play between the online virtual world and the real world I found to be quite entertaining, and while I did have an inkling of what the finale was going to be by about halfway through the book, I was not at all disappointed in how it turned out and how the author brought it to a climax.
This book is easily worth reading more than once, (and I like to read a lot!) My only pause in thought through out the book was the 6 by 9 format. How are you going to get shelf space with something that is slightly larger than the normal 'pocket book' of the mass media addition?
Great read though; I am absolutely sure you're going to find this book fun.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book
July 4 2007
By T. Miller
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have been disappointed by a number of new authors who have clearly used some sort of formula to write their book. This book is not like that - it has its own style. It's absorbing reading: it draws you in effortlessly. Details appear where needed, and not as a "scene setting" first chapter. I have reread it twice now, and it gains more depth with each reading. It's going to be really hard to wait for James' next book! I highly recommend this book.
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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