Blue Nowhere

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeffery Deaver, best-selling author of The Empty Chair and The Bone Collector , now turns to the labyrinthine world of cyberspace - a world where the most powerful can lose their wealth, their minds, their lives with a hacker's touch of a button.

When a sadistic hacker, code-named Phate, sets his sights on Silicon Valley, his victims never know what hit them. He infiltrates their computers, invades their lives, and lures them to their deaths. To Phate, each murder is like a big, challenging computer hack: every time he succeeds, he must challenge himself anew - by taking his methodology to a higher level, and aiming at bigger targets.

Desperate, the head of The California State Police Computer Crimes Division frees Wyatt Gillette, imprisoned for hacking, to aid the investigation - against the loud protests of the rest of the division. With an obsession emblematic of hackers, Gillette fervently attempts to trace Phate's insidious computer virus back to its source. Then Phate delivers a huge blow, murdering one of the division's own - a "wizard" who had pioneered the internet - and the search takes on a zealous intensity.

Gillette and Detective Frank Bishop - an old-school homicide cop who's accustomed to forensic sleuthing - make an uneasy team. But with a merciless and brilliant killer like Phate in their crosshairs, and his twisted game reaching a fever pitch, they must utilize every ounce of their disparate talents to stop him.

©2001 Jeffery Deaver (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"A gripping high-tech page turner." ( San Francisco Chronicle)

"A terrific thriller." ( USA Today)

"High-tension wired." ( People)

Very good!

I really liked this book. I had to work this weekend and this helped me get through it.

The book was published in 2001 so that explains some of the tech being a little outdated, but the story is timeless.

good read

We take long trips at least once per month, and look forward to our "reads". We hadn't listened to Jeffry Deaver in at least 2 years, and were happy to find another book of his on Audible. We were not disappointed. The trip went by in a flash. Well developed characters, suspenseful and not too dark, although Deaver comes right up to the edge, and several surprises along the way.

Surprises galore

What made the experience of listening to Blue Nowhere the most enjoyable?

Jeffrey Deaver can craft a story and create characters. This book is as good as the Lincoln Rhyme series. If I’d read this in 2001. I would have found it hard to believe that hackers could penetrate all the places they did in this book. Now, we know that this is a fact of life in the 21st Century, so the book is entirely believable. It was written before the smartphone and before routers and modems were terms we all understood. I’m not a techie, so the outdated ins and outs of hacking were as new to me as these methods are old school to the techies of today. I enjoyed the characters and the suspense. The narrator was not the best I’ve heard. He had a few mannerisms I found annoying, but not so much that it detracted from the story. I bought this at a two for one sale, and thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Good But A Couple Flaws

Note that this book about super-hacking was written in 2001 so some of the tech has changed. Also, there were a lot of red herrings and a few plot twists that were pretty far out. Still I enjoyed the book, especially the main characters, Frank Bishop and Wayne Gsomebody (how quickly we forget!).

At least one of the voices used by the narrator was annoying, but the rest was fine.

So I marked 4s because it was better than average. But minor flaws kept it from being great.

Great Listen!

Just as good or better than when I read the book some years back. My favorite Deaver book. Performance was excellent.

Good listen for cyber folks

Well written, with a good plot, and some unexpected twists. I enjoyed this one & will get more from this author.

A hackers dream

Well that was complicated. All the computer lingo lost me. Where the heck is my rolodex? I think there were too many "this guy did it!" , " no, this guy did it" moments. Too many loose ends unless there'll be a sequel which I wouldn't buy.

Average

It was good but not up to Jeffrey Deaver's usual high level. He usually has me guessing up to the very end; but not with this one.

A good story made better by the reader.

I tweeting subject matter but somewhat fantastic in places. Scary if at all true. The twist in the plot around Sean were interesting, but the truth was a bit disappointing.

Juvenile

Too many unrealistic twists and turns. No continuity. Weak characters. Boring reading of screens makes book unsuitable for audible application.