First written by John Camp, John Sandford’s real name. It features Kidd and LuEllen as the two protagonists. Kidd is an artist, a software designer and a computer hacker. His specialty is getting into corporate computer systems and looking around. LuEllen likes to get into homes and look around. She's a high end burglar. The story holds up pretty well considering it was written in 1989. The technology is dated as one would imagine. If you can get past the references to IBM AT, PS2 and Kaypro computers with Hayes modems, you’re off to the races. The story centers around an attempt by one corporation to hack into another corporation with the intent of destroying its ability to produce a fighter for the military. It wouldn’t be a thriller if there weren’t some pitfalls along the way and some double crosses as well. But the story moves along and doesn't bog down at all. Classic early Sandford prose, keep the reader interested.This was the first of four Kidd novels written by Sandford (Camp). Camp moved away from the Prey series with the Virgil Flowers series instead of continuing with Kidd. I thought back when the Kidd series was still being written that it was a offset, good guy (Davenport) and criminal/con man (Kidd). Apparently Camp or his publishers didn’t think it was a good mix. Too bad.
Most crime fans will be familiar with Sandford’s Davenport and Flower books, but how many have sampled his earlier Kidd series? I hadn’t, until a Goodreads friend posted a favourable review – so, this was my first.Initially it felt a little dated, as the hired computer wiz kid (Kidd) wrestled with old technology to infiltrate a defence industry corporation - well, the book was written in 1989, so technology has moved on. And I couldn’t escape the feeling I was reading a variation of a Bernie Rhodenbarr adventure by Lawrence Block: our hero was a suave woman friendly guy who was only partially interested in his chosen field of crime – being much more intent on dragging out an easel and setting up for a protracted painting session at every opportunity. It had that same whimsical feel about it as the Block books.Once into the story, however, an interesting scenario and an equally interesting set of characters quickly ensured I set aside any reservations I had. Typical of the author, I found the tale to be fluidly told with one or two nice twists and a decent ending. Sandford has written better, but this wasn’t too shabby. I’ll most likely be back for the rest of the series at some point.
I decided at some point to read all of John Sandford's mysteries, however, I wasn't smart enough to start at the beginning and have just read his books as I found them. I have now read 20 of his thirty some novels and find myself reading many of his early books now. I have enjoyed them more than the recent efforts. He originally published this book under his real name John Camp, but has republished all his books under his pseudonym. John Camp was a Pulitzer Prize winning author and must have had his reasons for this change. In any case, this book was written in 1989 and is a little dated when dealing with computer hardware and software, but it is still relative with the way computers have since taken over our lives. This book is not politically correct. It has very casual sex, innocent people killed, computer hackers, drugs, a hero and heroine that are criminals and no one comes to justice. Probably why I enjoyed it so much.
—Chuck
Understanding that I've read a lot of John Sandford books in the Prey Series and Virgil Flowers series, and that this book is his first (I believe this to be true), then John Sandford started out great and gets better with experience. The computer references are a bit dated now, but considering that the story was late 1980's, it is a very good read. If you're new to John Sandford, this isn't a bad place to start, but don't stop here if you are put off by the dated computer information. The more he writes, the better his stories.
—Pete Grondin
Kidd is a Vietnam vet and an artist, not successful enough to support himself he supplements his income with a little computer hacking on the side. He also trains regularly doing karate and has a cat. His closest friend is a burglar named LuEllen who sometimes is more than just a friend, depending upon her mood. Kidd is hired by an attractive corporate executive to help with an alleged hack of their systems that has resulted in the theft of high value defence system information.This is an enjoyable fast paced computer hacking story with a number of twists. The book was released in 1989 and it was interesting reading the book and reviewing how old the technology was that the author was referring to given the leaps and bounds in development IT the last 25 years.I'm definitely going to read the next book in the series.
—Graham
