Zeroes

A Novel

By: Chuck Wendig

Narrated by: Ray Chase

Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

An exhilarating thrill ride through the underbelly of cyber espionage in the vein of David Ignatius' The Director and the television series Leverage, CSI: Cyber, and Person of Interest, which follows five iconoclastic hackers who are coerced into serving the US government.

An Anonymous-style rabble-rouser, an Arab Spring hacktivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll are each offered a choice: go to prison or help protect the United States, putting their brains and skills to work for the government for one year.

But being a white hat doesn't always mean you work for the good guys. The would-be cyberspies discover that behind the scenes lurks a sinister NSA program, an artificial intelligence code-named Typhon that has origins and an evolution both dangerous and disturbing. And if it's not brought down, it will soon be uncontrollable.

Can the hackers escape their federal watchers and confront Typhon and its mysterious creator? And what does the government really want them to do? If they decide to turn the tables, will their own secrets be exposed - and their lives erased like lines of bad code?

Combining the scientific-based, propulsive narrative style of Michael Crichton with the eerie atmosphere and conspiracy themes of The X-Files and the imaginative, speculative edge of Neal Stephenson and William Gibson, Zer0es explores our deep-seated fears about government surveillance and hacking in an inventive, fast-paced novel sure to earn Chuck Wendig the widespread acclaim he deserves.

©2016 Chuck Wendig (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Interesting idea -way too slow

The story was too long. It failed to hold my interest in some places
I was drawn to the major characters ,but after a while I just wanted them to get on with it.

Action, Humor, & Sharp Commentary on Technology

Any additional comments?

Enjoyable near-future SF, with the focus on cyber issues and AI/IA. Wendig has taken a slice of life and built the plot around five characters who represent common hacker stereotypes but manage to become more than mere caricatures. You have a white hat hacker/hacktivist, a black hat, an old school cyberpunk turned conspiracy theorist/prepper, classic social engineer, and an internet troll. They all have layers and secrets, and strengths that compliment one another. The story has plenty of action and uses the characters and their interaction to poke fun at and highlight the dangers of our interconnected society. The book is not perfect and the penultimate climax/resolution feels a little pat, though not exceedingly so. Nonetheless, I look forward to other books by Wendig, including the well-reviewed follow-up to this book, Invasive.

Holy crap!

This is a *good* book! John Clancy meets Neil Stephenson by way of Scott Siegler and Rob Reid.

I thought this was going to be one more "let's get a bunch of unlikely misfits to clean up our mess" stories. Actually, that is exactly what it is, but it's so well done I couldn't put it down.

Cliff hanger after personal crisis after setback after yet another cliffhanger. I kept thinking the book was building to a climax, then things kept on getting worse.

In case my point isn't clear, I really, really like this book and strongly recommend that you read it.

It would make a fantastic movie. I hope there are plans for that.

Heavy Sci-fi comes out of no where

First half of the story is good, then gets really sci-fiy. Unexpected shift in the story line. I was hoping it would be more about hacker and computer stuff and not so much sci-fi action.
Narrator was really good though.

A little too out there

Picking this up I thought it would be a normal cyber thriller, but turned into a really wacky sci-fi story. It's interesting but I wish it was grounded more in reality.

frighteningly real fast paced entertainment!

great characters couldn't put it down, listened to the whole thing in a weekend. exciting and horrifying and REAL.

A mashup of other better cyberpunk

Like Neuromancer meets some YA adventure but just a bit weak. Plucky crew of hackers vs AI but not convincing.

Hackers come of age.

Zer0es is a piece of sci-fi that taps into the fears and possibilities of AI. Wendig assembles a group of characters that grow with the story, reflect and complement each members feelings, needs, and fears. All of them start a little lost and alone. Through the journey together they find belonging and purpose. I think readers will find something of themselves in theses characters. #Sci-fi #AI #Prophecy?

Decent

The narration was good, kept me entertained, a little monotonous. The story was okay, left some questions and parts of the story were severely under developed.

Rough start but becomes enthralling

Didn’t care for first few chapters, the introductions of the main characters. Once “The Zeroes” were assembled though, the book became excellent. Add to this the great performance by Ray Chase and it made for one of the most enjoyable books this year!

Brilliant!

This was such a good story. I had a little idea what it was about, but couldn't put it down once I started. It's fast-paced and brilliantly crafted. My favourite thing about it were the characters; there are many, but they are all so believable and unique. I loved the Blackbirds series, but, for me, this topped them (although Miriam Black will always be my top anti-hero). I haven't checked, but I really, really hope there will be more books to go with this one. Please???

Magnificent performance

Fantastic narration of an excellent story.
My only complaint is that the large cast of characters had confusing similar identities and I had to buy the book to reread and check who was who during the first third of the novel. Well worth it though as it's such a good book.