The Year 2000 Killers: Terrorism by Computer - Hardcover

Morrone, Wenda Wardell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312206224 ISBN 13: 9780312206222

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, 1999

Synopsis

A computer troubleshooter working on the Y2K problem in New York City, Lorelei Muldoon hires a hacker who is murdered, leaving a dangerous floppy disk, which could end the world on January 1, 2000, in questionable hands

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Ordinarily, Rudy Persichs murder wouldve rated at least half a column on an inside page of the New York tabloids. But computer-expert Rudy, whose job was creating Y2K bridges that would help corporations cross safely to the new millennium, has been upstaged by one of his own practical jokes gone murderously awry: a few lines of code he sneaked into the bridge he'd built for the George Hotel that shut down the George's computers for five minutes has been adapted by an enterprising cabal of terrorists to blow up another Manhattan hotel. Rudy's boss, Lorelei Muldoon, is one of the few people who recognizes the link between Rudy's death and all the other fatalities that have crowded it out of the papers. But before she can track down Rudy's errant disk, last seen in the hands of ten-year-old COBOL student Natalie Cordoniu, Lorelei is kidnaped by the conspirators, who think she's just as computer-savvy as Rudy and can help them de-bug the disk so that they can plant more bombs, make illicit wire transfers, etc. Unfortunately, Lorelei knows just enough about the program to give away more information about its broader possibilities to spread chaos than she ever meant to. The result is that rare breed: a thriller whose high conceptcomplemented by a confusing plot, offscreen action sequences, and unconvincing villainsis most exciting in its most technical passages. Scariest of all is the prefatory Author's Note, which indicates just how great the odds are for Y2K screwups even if terrorists aren't trying to hack into your system. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Booklist:

Lorelei Muldoon, who helps businesses adapt their computer systems to avoid crashing in the year 2000, learns that her recently murdered partner and best friend created a program that may be responsible for a hotel explosion. And this program may be in place in dozens of computers, ready to trigger countless explosions on January 1, 2000. She barely has time to recognize the danger before she's kidnapped by terrorists who mistakenly believe she can correct a glitch in the program. Lorelei's choice is clear: help the terrorists or die. This novel succeeds where many Y2K thrillers fail: on the strength of its characters, on the cleverness of the plot, and on Morrone's decision not to dumb down the technical material. A smart, fast-paced thriller. David Pitt

About this edition

• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312206224
• ISBN 13: 9780312206222
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342