The God's Eye View

Finished September 9
The God's Eye View by Barry Eisler, performed by the author

This thriller builds on the Snowden story. Theodore Anders is the director of the NSA and he wants to know everything about everyone, so he can "keep America safe". But he is so used to having control that when he finds he has lost it, he will take extreme measures to regain it.
Evelyn Gallagher works as a computer analyst at the NSA and has been the primary creator of a program that draws images from cameras around the work and applies biometrics to them to look for patterns and anomalies. When she sees two people together who shouldn't be in normal circumstances, she reports it. But when something happens to those two people shortly afterward, she begins to wonder if the director has taken steps beyond legal limits. She also wonders what she can do, and who she can tell, and if she herself is in danger. These are all good questions, She is a single mom, struggling to make a good life for her deaf son Dash. When she meets Manus, a kind man at a baseball game, and he is deaf, she finds herself drawn to him. Is she thinking of Dash or is something else attracting her.
Manus has his own issues, including an extremely difficult childhood, and an unswerving loyalty to the person who took him out of the negative trajectory he was on and sent him in a different direction. The feelings he begins to have for Evie and Dash are new to him, and he isn't sure how to interpret them.
As Anders grows more desperate and takes more and more extreme actions, we also learn just how much access he has to people's lives and their secrets. This is a scary view of the world of security and intelligence and one that seems increasingly possible.
This book offers scenarios that are terrifying, and there is lots of violence in the plot. But the people and their motivations are well drawn, and I was both mesmerized and horrified as I listened.

The Rule of Three

Finished March 17
The Rule of Three by Eric Walters

This teen novel is set in Mississauga in the near future. On an ordinary spring day, computers across the world suddenly stop working. That means that anything that uses a computer also stops working. Adam's father is a pilot and should be flying back home from Chicago later in the day. His mother is a police officer in charge of a local division and will be busy dealing with the emergency situation. Lucky for Adam, he has an older car, one that predates the use of computers, and his is one of the few on the road still working. He and a couple of his friends swing by the elementary school to pick up his younger siblings, and make their way home.
Adam's next door neighbour Herb is retired from a federal government job, and immediately sees the potential for the situation to get worse. He and Adam's mother turn into the leaders in their community, as they put together a group of people to defend, supply and assist the whole neighbourhood to move forward with hope. Adam turns out to have skills useful to the community as well, and as his character develops, he learns some hard lessons and teaches others to value community as he does.
This is a novel with an interesting dystopian situation, and these novels that seem rooted in the possible always seem the scariest to me as they can be so close to our reality. This novel begs for a sequel, and I'd like to see how this community survives and how the characters move forward as well.

Library Technology Companion

Finished February 23
Neal-Shuman Library Technology Companion by John J. Burke

This is the 4th edition that I read, and it provides history on technology in general as well as library-specific technology and then moves in the basics of technology knowledge including tips on information sources and evaluation.
Part II takes the reader through computers and other computing devices; general applications; communication from email to wifi, integrated library systems, discovery layers and OPACs; storage devices both current and obsolete; databases and electronic resources; the internet, and web 2.0.
Part III covers using technology, whether supporting patron needs, including accessibility; using 2.0 tools in furthering the library's mandate, or teaching others.
Part IV covers the technology environment from security to troubleshooting, ergonomics to gaming.
The last section takes a peek at the future and how things might develop also covering the elements of a good technology plan.
We all know the problem with books is that they are out of date by the time they make publication and so a few of the future developments are also happening, but that is a minor item. This book has good coverage of the technology side of libraries and is a useful addition to the professional collection.

Bedlam

Finished August 22
Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre

I picked this up when I saw it in a bookstore as I'd really enjoyed his A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil a few years ago. Since that was a mystery, I'd assumed this was too, and I suppose it is in a sense, but really it is much more science fiction.
Ross Baker works as a scientist developing medical technology for the large corporation Neurosphere at their Stirling offices. He works hard, but doesn't feel appreciated, and his work drive has put a strain on his relationship with his girlfriend Carol. This particular Monday, he is feeling down in the dumps, and when he overhears a conversation that tells him his girlfriend is pregnant, he feels even worse. Why would they know before him, and what does that mean for his relationship? He decides to accept an invitation from a fellow scientist to be a test candidate for a new scanner to get out of his office.
But when he emerges from the scanner, he finds himself apparently in a video game, one he eventually recognizes as a favourite from his youth, Starfire. As he struggles to find a way, he gradually learns more about this place where he is trapped. When he is asked his name, his mind reverts to that young boy, and he gives his childhood gamer name, Bedlam.
With his emotions reaching back to his life with Carol, he follows any trail he can to find his way through various video game worlds, hoping to find an escape.
As this book progressed I was drawn into it more and more, and the ethical message that Brookmyre embeds here is one that doesn't seem that futuristic. Rooting for Ross, I found myself in a pageturner that I had trouble putting down. Very different from the other book of his I've read, this book is just as good if not better. A new favourite.