This taut thriller will reinforce your paranoia about big government, big data, and that big, nerdy barista who just seems to know too much.” — Wall Street Journal
“[A] high-octane blend of nervy characters, dark humor and bristling dialogue... smart, timely, electrifying.” — NPR
“Highly cinematic.” — Library Journal
“With complex characters and feverishly paced action, ZEROES is a sci-fi thriller that won’t stop blowing your mind until the last page. ... It left me rooting for the hackers!” — Daniel H. Wilson, bestselling author of Robopocalypse
“ZERøES turns ones and zeroes into pure gold - Wendig hacks the action thriller.” — Scott Sigler, New York Times bestselling author
“A sci-fi surveillance thriller with a twisted heart of creepy horror. It grabs you by the throat on page one, and never lets go.” — Ramez Naam, author of The Nexus Trilogy
“A Matrix-y bit of old-school cyberpunk updated to meet the frightening technology of the modern age...An ambitious, bleeding-edge piece of speculative fiction that combines hacker lore, wet-wired horror, and contemporary paranoia in a propulsive adventure that’s bound to keep readers on their toes.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Wendig wields the tools of suspense and tension with skill. His large cast of characters is entertaining, the moments of horror are sharp and chilling, and the story races to a breathless conclusion.” — Publishers Weekly
“Wendig’s second novel is a splendidly profane slice of urban fantasy—hard, dark and fast. Slick one-liners and laugh-out-loud descriptions pepper the prose, macking Blackbirds a black comedy that even the Grim Reaper could smile at.” — Financial Times
“Wendig writes hard and fast and this is a slick noirish thriller.” — The Independent, on Blackbirds
“A gleefully dark, twisted road trip for everyone who thought Fight Club was too warm and fuzzy. I loved it, and will be seeking professional help as soon as Chuck lets me out of his basement.” — James Moran, Dr. Who writer, on Blackbirds
“ZEROES is a very powerful development of the idea of science as magic, with a cast of unwitting sorcerors’ apprentices. It asks a lot of real-world questions, both moral and practical.... It might make you nostalgic for Mr. Gibson’s “Neuromancer”: Life was so much simpler back in the ‘80s.” — Wall Street Journal
A sci-fi surveillance thriller with a twisted heart of creepy horror. It grabs you by the throat on page one, and never lets go.
Wendig’s second novel is a splendidly profane slice of urban fantasy—hard, dark and fast. Slick one-liners and laugh-out-loud descriptions pepper the prose, macking Blackbirds a black comedy that even the Grim Reaper could smile at.
With complex characters and feverishly paced action, ZEROES is a sci-fi thriller that won’t stop blowing your mind until the last page. ... It left me rooting for the hackers!
ZERøES turns ones and zeroes into pure gold - Wendig hacks the action thriller.
This taut thriller will reinforce your paranoia about big government, big data, and that big, nerdy barista who just seems to know too much.
[A] high-octane blend of nervy characters, dark humor and bristling dialogue... smart, timely, electrifying.
Wendig writes hard and fast and this is a slick noirish thriller.
A gleefully dark, twisted road trip for everyone who thought Fight Club was too warm and fuzzy. I loved it, and will be seeking professional help as soon as Chuck lets me out of his basement.
This taut thriller will reinforce your paranoia about big government, big data, and that big, nerdy barista who just seems to know too much.
Wendig’s second novel is a splendidly profane slice of urban fantasy—hard, dark and fast. Slick one-liners and laugh-out-loud descriptions pepper the prose, macking Blackbirds a black comedy that even the Grim Reaper could smile at.
2015-06-07
A group of co-opted hackers discovers a secret government experiment gone terribly wrong.Prolific sci-fi novelist and games enthusiast Wendig (Under the Empyrean Sky, 2013, etc.) whips up a Matrix-y bit of old-school cyberpunk updated to meet the frightening technology of the modern age. Government agent Hollis Copper is a tough old guy who's been seconded to the National Security Agency to round up a bunch of hackers for a secret project. [They're an odd bunch. Chance Dalton is an Anonymous poser who uses dark Web tactics to out evildoers. DeAndre Mitchell uses ATM skimmers to pay for his mom's house. Aleena Kattan uses her wicked code-breaking skills in the name of hacktivism in support of the Arab Spring. Reagan Stolper is a foulmouthed, ill-tempered troll who ruins lives in the name of "lulz." Finally, there's Wade Earthman, a Vietnam vet skilled in the dark arts of phishing and phreaking. They're promised clean records if they devote a year to the NSA's secret lodge, where pods of hackers work together to penetrate high-security networks. Things go awry when they're charged with disrupting Iran's nuclear program by co-opting an Iranian drone and accidentally discover a secret NSA program called Typhon and the disappearance of 13 prominent theorists. The "Zeroes" find themselves pawns in a conflict among their government captors, a renegade hacker called The Widow of Zheng, and Typhon, a sentient artificial intelligence which is growing in power and influence with every passing minute. "Because they have to be willing to accept us," it says. "Because sometimes the child has to touch the hot stove to learn why he shouldn't do it again. Because in chaos, there is opportunity." This is an ambitious, bleeding-edge piece of speculative fiction that combines hacker lore, wet-wired horror, and contemporary paranoia in a propulsive adventure that's bound to keep readers on their toes. An action-packed yet cerebral thriller that lives in that murky nexus between today and the future.
