Reviews

The Blue Nowhere is my fourth Jeffery Deaver read, and it has confirmed my belief that I will have a love-hate relationship with Jeffery Deaver’s work. My first Jeffery Deaver read, Mistress of Justice, was a big disappointment. Retrospect has me believing I was too kind with my three-star rating, yet at the time I was feeling generous and gave it such a rating because it promised potential fun Jeffery Deaver reads. My second Jeffery Deaver read, Edge, was much more enjoyable. I devoured Edge, finding myself addicted to the story and in need of more. My third Jeffery Deaver read, Speaking in Tongues, was another disappointment. Like my first book, I was generous with my three-star rating, yet it could have just as easily been a two-star rating if my mood had been different. At this point, I was questioning how willing I was to dive into more Jeffery Deaver – but with more of his books on my shelf (I brought a handful in a sale) I decided it wouldn’t hurt to give him another try.

From the very start, I knew The Blue Nowhere was going to follow the path of Edge. This story sucked me in instantly, and I found myself more than willing to keep turning the pages to see how everything came together. In fact, I found myself desperately turning the pages, so sucked in that I was willing to finish this story in a single sitting.

It was one of those stories that kept you guessing, throwing out a lot of information that left you with notions in your mind of what was to come. I worked out some, but not all of the details, and I loved the way things came together with this one. There was so much we got to watch unfold, so many elements to watch come together. The crime had me hooked, and so did the characters, leaving me more than willing to keep turning the pages.

That is not to say this book was perfect, but it was a really enjoyable read. I think the biggest issue I had with this one was in relation to the explanations. I know not everyone will understand all the computer speak that occurs throughout this one, but I feel as though some things were explained needlessly. This may be a reflection of this book now being a bit dated – I think we can all agree, people are better educated in regards to technology than they were fifteen or so years ago – or it could just be that Jeffery Deaver felt it was necessary to explain every single detail. Either way, this was the main thing that I had trouble with, but it wasn’t enough to stop my enjoyment of the story.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read. I’m hoping my next Jeffery Deaver read proves to be as enjoyable, yet a part of me fears the emerging pattern foretells of a less than enjoyable read. Whatever the case, at least I enjoyed The Blue Nowhere.

amyb24's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

It's not The Blue Nowhere's fault.

If I'd read this in 2001, around when it was published, I would have given it a higher rating. The plot is the type of action-packed mental popcorn you expect from Jeffrey Deaver (although I did notice his character development is better in his more recent work). It's also got some interesting ideas about privacy and data that are incredibly relevant today.

However, the book aged very badly with respect to the technology it describes. Very, very badly. Almost everything described in the book as cutting edge is either low level today, or obsolete (hello, floppy disks--and even the hacker's "state of the art" Zip disk). The technology is such a part of the plot that having it be this out of date is distracting.

I wish I'd read this book 15 years ago.

ericwelch's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

The " nowhere" represents online space, that world of electrons that hackers and unline freaks lose themselves in. It' a nifty metaphor and Deaver handles the technical details of this novel very well — at least as far as I could tell. A brilliant programmer, a cracker (someone who breaks into another computer to do damage as opposed to a hacker who just breaks in to poke around for the thrill of beating the system) is killing people and the Computer Crimes Unit relaizes they are in way over their heads. They enlist the help of Wyatt Earp — oops, Wyatt Gillette — another brilliant hacker currently in jail for having broken in to some defense department computers — to help them find Phate. Phate (there are many spelling related puns) was a former associate of Wyatt' who has so confused reality with a computer game he was playing that he has mixed up the real killing with that of the computer game. By accessing linked computers he is able to " engineer" his identity (changing grades, occupation, references, ownership, etc.,) and track down an ever-increasing set of targets, giving himself additional points as the difficulty inceases. Of course, if you' paranoid, this book will really get you going, because Phate has created a program called Trapdoor that permits him to enter your computer and collect all the information stored therein and then use that data to his own nefarious purposes. Of course, if you never go online, you would have nothing to worry about. Throughout the story, Phate has an ally, one who keeps revealing the police plans and actions so Phate can stay one step ahead of the authorities. The identity of this ally, Shawn, comes as a complete and very satisfying surprise. Good story.

beevimes's review

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

cheri_maci's review

Go to review page

3.0

Difficult to get into but was a satisfactory read. Would have rated it higher if there were less history lessons that just slowed down the story.

More...