Tangent by Robert G. Ferrell

Ok, this is going to be a tough one. Let me attempt to set aside the fact that I have a special place in my heart for the following subjects that the author manages to cover in this book; Texas, San Antonio, ale, geeks, computers, and that my significant other just happens to be named Melody. The "heroine" of this story is named Melody and she shares many traits with the lady I share my life with. And let's not forget to mention that he donated a signed copy of the book to this site (and another copy for me personally). But, setting all that aside *ahem*....

While I could tell that this was a sophomore effort (and OMG! I hope it was!), the book is incredibly enjoyable, especially for gadget geeks like myself. It was full of humor, suspense, and bad guys. And the central character sure knows his ales. If they ever build a time machine, I'm gonna have to go back to 17th century London, just to check.

The main character in this story is Ashley "Ash" Dunleavy, a computer security consultant and erstwhile hacker, who simply takes advantage of a better than average awareness of how computers and people work - which basically defines hacking. All of the terms were there; grokking, social engineering, and etc. The author has definitely been there and done that. He meets a lady stewardess, Melody,  who is actually a hero in the story line, since she and another stewardess manage to save most of the passengers from a plane crash caused by an electro-magnetic pulse. Fascinating tech behind the pulse. That alone makes it worth the read.

I did have a couple of problems with the book, and they may be inherent to the subject matter. The science of quantum mechanics is far, far beyond my understanding, but the author evidently has a pretty good handle on the way it works, even if he doesn't understand the math behind it. I got the explanations, but the applications of quantum mechanics sometimes left me wondering what the heck was going on. The explanations of the science sometimes occurred several chapters after the effects took place in the story, leaving me wandering  how did this guy go from a proper English country home to an underground cave by walking through a door - and why is he invisible? The answers came, but WAY after the events in the story when they really weren't relevant to the story line any more. My reaction was " Well, that's good to know, but get on with the story now, that was 4 chapters ago!"

And the transitions were a little rough in spots. Some of them are just a tad convenient. Like the very British physics professor turns out to belong to the Quantum Police and saves the day. There was some foreshadowing of that, but it still kinda hits you from out of left field. This may have been the author's intention. If it was, it worked. If not, I'm sure the next book will be better, and this wasn't a major setback to the enjoyability of the story.

All in all, what makes this a great story is that Ash is incredible easy to identify with. You instantly like this guy. He's funny, witting, charming, a thorough but lovable rogue, damn smart, and thinks incredibly quickly on his feet. And he's right, invariably, in his choices of ale (Wicked, Pete's). How can  you not like that?

Now here's the real kicker: I want to read whatever else Mr. Ferrell has written or will write. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Its not going to be nominated for best science fiction by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun and entertaining - and made me think. To me, in science fiction, that is the ideal recipe for a book. There can be no higher calling. All that's left after that are minor points of style - and who really cares?

"And on the 3rd day, the Lord created chaos, which came to be called the Universe due to bad press..."

-Robert G. Ferrell with apologies to Douglas Adams