| Plot Summary of The Blue Nowhere |
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Jeffrey Deaver
Simon & Schuster, May 2001, 24.95, 432 pp.
ISBN: 0684871270
Two brilliant hackers live in the United States. One of them is a killer while the other resides in prison. Phate sees the world as a global computer game searching for difficult targets to kill. He uses his program Trapdoor to enter any computer system he wishes to go into. There he learns intimate details about his intended victim and ultimately murders them.
Wyatt Gillette convicted for hacking currently lives in the Federal Men's Correctional Facility in San Jose. LAPD temporarily frees Wyatt so that he can help them catch the killing hacker. Wyatt agrees to assist because he plans to vanish into THE BLUE NOWHERE (net). Phate leans that his old cyber crony searches for him turning this into a hacker's duel to the death.
Although this is a not a Lincoln Rhyme novel, the story line centers on individuals who prefer to spend their entire life inside THE BLUE NOWHERE even giving up sleep and other sustenance to do so. Jeffrey Deavers portrays these souls as addicts in the same vein as alcoholics. The main character needs to hack because it is there in the sense of climbing Everest or K2. Mr. Deaver has written another winning tale that will send him to the top of the hard copy best-selling charts.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Wyatt Gillette, a convicted hacker serving time in prison, is called upon to help the police catch a hacker that gets into peoples computers, finds out everything he can about them, and then lures them close enough to him that he can stab them in the heart with his big knife. Phate, the killer's screen name, kills because he thinks of it as all a big MUD game, and keeps track of the points he gets for each successful kill. Gillette and the police go through a pulse quenching race to stop Phate from killing, and there are so many twists and turns in the plot, that reading the book is like being on a roller coaster. In the end, it will come down to a deception overlooked by the whole team of police., including Wyatt himself. "
Greg Mahler, Resident Scholar
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"A hacker, Wyatt Gilette, is exempted from prison to assist the police in tracking down another hacker. The other hacker is using computers to spy on people and kill them. "
Nicolas Lalonde, Resident Scholar
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"A computer wizard is killing people in reality using the rules and point scoring of a computer game. In an attempt to solve the crimes Andy Anderson of the Computer Crimes Unit enlists the help of Wyatt Gillette, a young man serving a prison sentence for a computer crime, he broke into the Department of Defence computer files. Gillette is good, he soon finds a lead and Anderson goes off to arrest the wizard, unfortunately he becomes the next corpse, stabbed in the heart which is Phate's way of gaining the maximum scores for his kills. Detective Frank Bishop takes over the investigation though he doesn't have a vast knowledge of computers, he keeps Wyatt on the case despite fierce opposition. There is little doubt that there is a spy in the investigation, though who it is Deaver does not let you know and you can guarantee if you think you know you will be wrong. Although this book is very technical for the uninitiated the computer gurus explain what is happening to the team of cops who don't belong to the info. tech. world. The climax becomes a battle of skills between the killer, Phate, and the hacker from jail, Gillette. "
Penny, Resident Scholar
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"On the anniversary of a major breakthrough in computers, a hacker who has lost touch with the real world kills innocents to the rules of a macabre fantasy game, the Knights of Access. The killer, Phate, is a brilliant computer programmer - a wizard. The computer crimes unit tracking him are not so brilliant. They need someone on the level of Phate to help catch him, so Wyatt Gillette is brought in at the price of a laptop computer. Gillette also a computer programmer, jailed for cracking a top military incription program, and a once confederate of Phate in the virtual game he is now playing for real. So begins the chase through the virtual world of the “blue nowhere” with move and countermove by the wizards, mostly in bytes where something might be a mistake but its most likely to be social engineering. "
WebSiteAnubis, Resident Scholar
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"Real lives are stored in the Blue Nowhere. It's convenient to our 20th century lifestyle. Our expectations are that those lives are safe.... and they are, until they meet Phate, a computer programmer with a warped sense of reality, and his elusive accomplice, Shawn, who use the machine world as a tool for murder.
Unable to match the killer's skills, authorities recruit another programmer, convicted hacker, Wyatt Gillette to track down the killer, along with an Internet industry specialist, Patricia Nolan, who has motives of her own.
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Dave Navarro, Resident Scholar
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" This story begins with the brutal murder of a young woman, Lara Bigson. The Californian police think it was just any murderer that killed random targets, but soon realized that it was not a random murder with the average murderer behind it all. There was a genius behind it, a mind that knows how to infiltrate and seize control of any computer. The police know that he has crossed a boundary; he is using his skills now, not just for amusement, but to lure victims to their deaths. They know he has an agenda and their aim is to get to him before he kills again.
Phate is the maniacal genius hacker that has set his gaze on Silicon Valley. He sees the world as a global computer game searching for difficult targets to kill. He uses his program Trapdoor to enter any computer system he wishes to go into. There he learns every detail about his intended victim and ultimately murders them. He then goes through a lot of elaborate disguises to meet and kill these people. To Phate, each murder is like a big, challenging computer hack: every time he succeeds, he must challenge himself by taking his methodology to a higher level, and aiming at bigger targets. However, Phate cannot do it alone, his accomplice, the mysterious Shawn helps in these devious crimes. Deaver, as a result of scrupulous planning, and pure unbridled literary talent, makes the appearance of even the most minor character potentially portentous. He could be anyone, anywhere
The police cannot track down Phate and in a desperate attempt; the Federal Men's Correctional Facility in San Jose. LAPD for the time being frees Wyatt so that he can help the police catch the hacker. Gillette, along with an Internet industry specialist, Patricia Nolan, and Detective Frank Bishop, an old-school homicide cop who's accustomed to forensic sleuthing, team up to crack this homicidal maniac¡¦s code. Gillette zealously attempts to trace Phate's insidious computer virus back to its source. Then Phate delivers a huge blow, murdering one of the division's computer wizards and the search takes on a zealous intensity. But with a merciless and luminous killer like Phate reaching the fever pitch of his twisted game, they must utilize every ounce of their talents to stop him. Gillette and the police go through a pulse quenching race to stop Phate from killing, and there are so many twists and turns in the plot with a lightning pace, that reading the book is like being on a roller coaster! It is a duel to the death between two geniuses. It does not take Wyatt long to track the killer down.
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Jenny J. , Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Blue Nowhere |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 24.3%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 37.1%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 15.7%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 22.9%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
- 1980's-1999
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
The crook is....
- stalking/killing innocents
Crime Thriller
Yes
Mostly a criminal POV story
Yes
General Crime (including known murderer)
Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here?
- finding a known killer
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- accused criminal
Age:
- 20's-30's
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- killer
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a substantial amount
Motive of antagonist
- insanity
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
How many deaths?
- 3-4
- 5-7
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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