The Fool's Run [Large Print] (Hardcover)

The plot may also seem a little dated, but only because it's been used as recently as the big-screen version of Charlie's Angels. Sure you can see things coming chapters ahead of time, but that's due as much to foreshadowing (Kidd's use of the Tarot comes in handy here) as predictability.

Despite the presence of a lot of then-current computer equipment, the book glosses over how it's used in Kidd's crime spree. Of course, it's really hard to keep a reader's interest if you include everything in great detail (who wants to listen to the horrible screeching of a Hayes modem or get into arcane DOS commands or hear the expletives following a ***carrier dropped*** or BSoD message?). Suffice it to say that you'll learn a lot more about how to break into suburban homes through the front door than through a firewall.

There's a lot of bed-hopping going on between the covers of the book. Granted, AIDS wouldn't have been big in the national consciousness at the time the book was written, but STDs in general would have been an issue. Then again, a book told from the criminal's point-of-view really can't moralize overmuch (there's also a bit of drug use, sniper-style executions, and the aforementioned housebreaking to add to the mix of kids-don't-try-this-at-home activities performed by Kidd and LuEllen).

I found The Fool's Run an enjoyable read, slightly more enjoyable than The Devil's Code. If you're looking for a fast-paced novel with a retro-tech angle, this one ought to fit the bill.

"The Fool's Run" passes most of my tests for a good thriller. I found the book quite exciting and I did feel captured by the story - I read the book in only two sittings.

And yet, here I am giving it only two stars.

After I finished reading "The Fool's Run" I sat back and realized that I didn't particularly like the "good guys". In fact, it can be argued that this story does not include any "good guys".

The hero, Kidd (who has no first name), is a Vietnam veteran who paints pictures, practices karate, consults tarot cards and is a computer programming wizard. He accepts a job to basically smash a company by infiltrating their computer system and slowly but surely destroy the company's ability to function. Payment? Two million dollars!

Our hero recruits several others to help him in this endeavor. LuEllen (who has no last name) is a cocaine-snorting cat burglar. But she's OK, because she only steals from rich people. She and Kidd have a loose relationship because neither of them is capable of committing themselves to a real relationship.

The other two team members are Dace, a down-and-out journalist who admits that the only reason he isn't a drunk is that he's allergic to alcohol beyond a threshold amount, and Bobby, a hacker and phone phreak who is able to exploit the telephone lines and network connections and break into any computer system.

The first part of the book tells how first Kidd is recruited, and how he then recruits the three others, and how the four of them then go to work to destroy the company that has been targeted. Then the story gets more complicated and even more exciting.

But this can't really be considered to be a "good guys" vs. "bad guys" story. Instead, what we have is simply "us" vs. "them".

The fact that Kidd and Co. are willing to destroy a company in order to obtain a lot of money just doesn't appeal to me, even though they justify the project in various ways. I'm guessing that the fact that the targeted company is fairly large makes the crime seem more acceptable to many people. It's not like Kidd is trying to put a mom and pop grocery store out of business - or is it?

In addition to my lack of sympathy for the "good guys", I also have a problem with the lack of realism in the descriptions of how the hacking was carried out and how the targeted company reacted to the hacking. Kidd's device for taping telephone lines is not viable, descriptions of how all the data files that the team received were promptly printed out on paper is ridiculous, and in reality a company that was attacked as described would have sooner or later simply restored their entire system from the backup tapes.

One thing to be aware of is that this book was first published in 1989, and this makes the descriptions of the computer technology very dated. The Internet isn't mentioned (although it did actually exist at that time) and there aren't any mobile telephones or e-mail or CD-ROMs or Windows, etc. PC's are all IBM AT's or Kaypro IBM-compatibles, they communicate with mainframe computers using Hayes modems and dial-up telephone lines, and Lotus 1-2-3 is mentioned. To me this doesn't detract from the story in any way; in fact it made me feel very nostalgic. But if you weren't involved with PC-based computing in the 1980's you may find these descriptions rather strange.

A final point that should be mentioned is that this is the first Kidd/LuEllen book in what has become a series. Warning: For some strange reason there is incorrect information on this subject in various editions of this book. For example, in the edition that I read it says on the page inside the front cover that the author (whose real name is John Camp) has written "two previous Kidd novels." There are apparently other editions of this book where on the jacket it says that "Kidd and LuEllen return" in this book. But on John Sandford's official web site he makes it very clear that this IS the first Kidd/LuEllen book.

Rennie Petersen