Zero Day

A Jeff Aiken Novel

By: Mark Russinovich

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A technothriller for the malware and Stuxnet era

An airliner’s controls abruptly fail mid-flight over the Atlantic. An oil tanker runs aground in Japan when its navigational system suddenly stops dead. Hospitals everywhere have to abandon their computer databases when patients die after being administered incorrect dosages of their medicine. In the Midwest, a nuclear power plant nearly becomes the next Chernobyl when its cooling systems malfunction.

At first, these random computer failures seem like unrelated events. But Jeff Aiken, a former government analyst who quit in disgust after witnessing the gross errors that led up to 9/11, thinks otherwise. Jeff fears a more serious cyber terrorism attack targeting the United States computer infrastructure is already under way. And as other menacing computer malfunctions pop up around the world, some with deadly results, he realizes that there isn’t much time if he hopes to prevent an international catastrophe.

Written by a global authority on cyber security, Zero Day presents a chilling “what if” scenario that, in a world completely reliant on technology, is more than possible today - it’s a cataclysmic disaster just waiting to happen.

©2011 Mark Russinovich (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Decent

Story is engaging but a little flimsy. Narrator could be a bit more expressive and consistent with each character's affect/personality.

Good concept, bad narration

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Narration... Narration... Narration...
I couldn't believe my ears when the narrator kept pronouncing malware as mailware... are you serious? I also hear ICQ pronounced IQC.... just horrible narration. I didn't want to take a star away from overall but the narration really take away from the overall experience.

honeypots so easy to avoid

overall story was good I was surprised they didn't mention virtual honey pots. E-gold?

Decent book, but not fantastic.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed the book. It is not one of my favorites, but it was worth listening to.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

While much of the story seemed plausible, the ending seemed to be more Hollywood Action movie, than realistic ending.

Did Zero Day inspire you to do anything?

I would be interested in continuing with the next book in the series.

All too possible

Where does Zero Day rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Above average.

What other book might you compare Zero Day to and why?

Trojan Horse continues on the same theme, I really don't know any direct comparison outside the Jeff Aiken series.

What does Johnny Heller bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Atmosphere

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me more conscious of the cyber threats.

Brilliant Book for Anyone who likes Technology

The plot in the book is relatively simple, but the technology behind the story is not simple at all. But the explanation of the technology is both educational and somewhat scary. The story tells of the malicious release of computer malwear and hypothesises the possible impact.

Simple plot, but the characters are real and believable. The background behind the main characters is comprehensive and adds to their actions. Probably there best thing about the main characters, is there are no super men or women, or ex special forces. They are easy to relate to because they are normal, real people.

Also the story is not around one person, there are many involved with equal standing. There is no real lead through the plot. This to me is another plus to the story, but there are not too many characters that the story is hard to follow.

Johnny Heller narrates the story brilliantly with one exception. The characterisation of the female characters seems to be lacking in comparison to some narrators. But this is the only negative of the delivery, but it doesn't detract from the story telling, its just that in my opinion, I think it could be better.

Loved it!

Loved the story and all his books. Very entertaining. Fun story and interesting story line.

Entertaining and wonderful story.... Action pack

Loved it. listen 3 different times . one of my favorites. Never ending thrills

Awesome

I love his story. The writing and performance are worth revisiting many times. Definitely well worth adding to your library.

Good book for people who don't understand my job

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book is a good book for someone who likes tech but doesn't fully understand it. Russinovich tech is solid and explained in a way that anyone can understand. As a full time geek I thought the book was telling me a bunch of things I already knew. I recommended the book to my boss who loves thrillers. I knew he would be blown away with the tech. I know he will enjoy the book and maybe he will understand why I spend so much of my day applying security patches to our network.