Rating: 
Summary: Deserves to be Read a Century From Now
Review: Sandford surely did not intend it, but this book may make good reading a century from now. As it certainly does right now.The reason is that by describing a technologically adept hero and his travails, Sandford inadvertantly captures a zeitgeist. Turn of the millennium, fin-de-siecle etc. This period that we are now in will one day seem suffused with the warm glow of nostalgia. Well, one of the things characterising NOW is the current state of technology. Most prominent of which is the partial, fragmentary deployment of a pervasive net. Just as one example, when Kidd goes wardriving, and he describes how some warehouse districts are good territory, because they have wireless networks for inventory, which are often left open to outsiders, that will be totally PERIOD, of right now. After all, why should he have to drive anywhere to get onto the net? Such primitivism. How quaintly archaic. A good analogy is if you want to get the flavour of a 19th century poorhouse. Read "Oliver Twist" by Dickens. While it is fictional, historians of that era typically accord it well for an accurate description of its times.
Rating: 
Summary: A great computer hacker crime novel...
Review: Since there wasn't much one could do with the snow outside, I decided to finish up a novel I started yesterday. It is The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford. I like Sandford's Prey series with Lucas Davenport, but I don't think I've read any of his Kidd novels. Kidd is a painter and a hacker who lives pretty much on the wrong side of the laws when it comes to computer crime. In this installment, an uber-hacker known as "Bobby" is murdered and his laptop is stolen. When incriminating stories about government officials and programs start hitting the news, it becomes obvious that the person who stole the laptop was able to break the encryption codes and unleash the attacks until he gets what he is after. Kidd needs to stop him in order to prevent his own life from coming to an end if there is damaging information about him contained in the files. The writing is tight and realistic, and if you're at all into computer crime novels you'll enjoy this one a lot.
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Summary: VOICE PERFORMANCE PAR EXCELLENCE
Review: Television actor and voice performer par excellence Richard Ferrone has recorded eleven of John Sandford's "Prey" novels. One would be hard pressed to find a more articulate, compelling performer to bring these thrillers to life. With "The Hanged Man's Song," fans will welcome the return of Sandford's popular protagonist, Kidd. This man can do anything - he's an accomplished computer hacker, an artist and a Tarot card reader. Unlike Sandford's other hero, Minneapolis police detective Lucas Davenport who is found in the blockbuster "Prey" series, Kidd isn't completely law abiding. Inside or outside the law he does whatever it takes to get the job done. And, this time out he has quite a task cut out for him. Bobby, the world's foremost computer hacker, has been brutally beaten to death and his laptop is missing. Big trouble for Kidd as there are secrets hidden there that he doesn't want revealed. Enlisting the comfort and support of his sometimes lover, LuEllen, Kidd sets out to track down the deadliest of villains - those who kill with a few taps on a keyboard. Sandford never disappoints, so brace yourselves for an action-packed listen. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: VOICE PERFORMANCE PAR EXCELLENCE
Review: Television actor and voice performer par excellence Richard Ferrone has recorded eleven of John Sandford's "Prey" novels. One would be hard pressed to find a more articulate, compelling performer to bring these thrillers to life. With "The Hanged Man's Song," fans will welcome the return of Sandford's popular protagonist, Kidd. This man can do anything - he's an accomplished computer hacker, an artist and a Tarot card reader. Unlike Sandford's other hero, Minneapolis police detective Lucas Davenport who is found in the blockbuster "Prey" series, Kidd isn't completely law abiding. Inside or outside the law he does whatever it takes to get the job done. And, this time out he has quite a task cut out for him. Bobby, the world's foremost computer hacker, has been brutally beaten to death and his laptop is missing. Big trouble for Kidd as there are secrets hidden there that he doesn't want revealed. Enlisting the comfort and support of his sometimes lover, LuEllen, Kidd sets out to track down the deadliest of villains - those who kill with a few taps on a keyboard. Sandford never disappoints, so brace yourselves for an action-packed listen. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: --The edgy world of computer hackers--
Review: THE HANGED MAN'S SONG is a fast-paced story of a murder investigation of a computer hacker by the name of Bobby.
The author, John Sanford, brings back a favorite character, simply known as Kidd. He appears to make his living as an artist, but he's actually a computer whiz and criminal. Kidd has appeared in several of the author's previous mystery stories. When Kidd discovers that his friend Bobby has been killed, he wants to find the killer to avenge Bobby, but also for himself. Since Bobby's laptop computer was taken by the murderer, Kidd knows that he and a lot of other hackers can be incriminated by what may show up in the computer's files. LuEllen, Kidd's cat-burgler girlfriend, joins him in the investigation, which leads them to some powerful men in Washington, D.C.
This is a terrific mystery with lots of intrigue and action. I listened to the recorded book performed by Richard Ferrone. Ferrone is a great reader and I'm always happy to find his name on the front of book tapes!
Rating:
Summary: It Was Nice To Meet The Author -- John Sandford
Review: The Hanged Man's Song, $7.99 US, written by #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sanford, is told in twenty-one exciting chapters. Those of you not familiar with this author should be made aware that this particular novel is the fourth and latest in a minor series known as The Kidd Novels. The writer is more well-known, however, for his major series The Prey Novels, of which there are fourteen titles concerning Minnesota cop Lucas Davenport. Frankly though, I think Sandford should more aggressively concentrate on fleshing out his anti-hero Kidd -- an accomplished artist, 1337 hacker, and career criminal who lives by a moral code of his own making.
How many books will be generated by The Kidd Novels? That depends entirely on how many different major arcana cards there are in a standard Rider-Waite tarot deck. All the books in this series happen to be named after tarot cards. An interesting enough premise if you think about it.
How shall I begin? Sandford drops us right into the action. Within the first few pages, a major character is killed in the doorway of his Mississippi home -- his skull bashed in horrifically. Of course, this isn't just any person either. This just happened to be wheelchair-bound Bobby Fields, a super hacker with the notoriety of a Kevin Mitnick, and the reputation of a digital Robin Hood. Fields was Kidd's online accomplice in a hacking ring. A quick recon of the Fields residence turns up no computer, and this alarms Kidd. Kidd knows what kind of information is likely kept on Bobby's IBM -- the kind that could incriminate him and others in the ring! So now he's on a mission -- to recover Bobby's laptop, dispose of any incendiary data, and gain some form of justice for his murdered pal.
After Kidd and his friend John examine the crime scene, they visit a nearby E-Z Way, buy some rudimentary supplies, and improvise a clever way to draw the FBI into the investigation. Then they monitor the FBI's inquiry into who murdered Bobby, through an electronic back door. Curious to note, their "off the shelf" plan later creates some havoc when some of the data from Bobby's stolen laptop is deciphered and someone starts to leak it out selectively to the cable news networks. One leak destroys the career of the Head of the NSA. Another leak implicates the U.S. government in releasing a fatal virus, called the Norwalk Virus, on cruise ships in California. Bobby's laptop holds a myriad of other such secrets.
Carp is the nemesis here -- Jimmy James Carp to be exact. He's a fired thirty-something tech support guy from something called the DDC Working Group, which is connected to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Carp was snooping around the residence of Bobby's caretaker, Thomas Baird. Kidd and his friend John were able to pick up Carp's trail through both good old-fashioned footwork and a little creative networking with friends. Before they realize they've stumbled upon him though, he's firing a pistol at them repeatedly while making a clean getaway in a Carolla from a mobile home park in Slidell, Louisiana.
Kidd and John are joined by LuEllen, then the trio have an additional problem to deal with after that Slidell shootout. They have to protect an impoverished girl, age 13, that can connect Jimmy James Carp to Bobby. So they travel to New Orleans to find Rachel Willowby before Jimmy James Carp does. Rachel has been abandoned by her mother, and the girl has been sneaking in and out of her mostly empty apartment. The girl is one of Bobby's hacker proteges, and she knows too much for her age. Kidd and his crew arrive just a little too late, because Carp is already there, and then he shoots John in the triceps only to flee once again.
Ergo, John is then taken out of the equation. The four retreat to John's hometown of Longstreet, Mississippi to deal with his arm wound, where he's then castigated by his wife Marvel, and basically told that he can't pursue Carp any further. John and Marvel agree to "take in" Rachel Willowby until her mother can be found. Two days later, Kidd and LuEllen head for Washington D.C., because that's where Carp's credit card usage leads to. As they travel to D.C., more secrets from Bobby's laptop are leaked to the press, the latest incident resulting in the destruction of the career of the Senator from Illinois.
Right about the time Kidd and LuEllen have Carp's D.C. apartment staked out, they briefly cross the path of two government agents that almost discovered them inside Carp's mobile home in Slidell. Kidd and LuEllen had burgled that place to find out more about whom they were pursuing. One of the two agents tracking Carp was black, one was white. Just like John and Kidd were. Carp doesn't realize that two distinct sets of people are pursuing him, and he kills the two government agents at the door of his apartment, and on the door stoop and sidewalk on the street down below. Right in front of Kidd and LuEllen.
Kidd and LuEllen end up at a French cafe in Georgetown later that evening, after getting over the trauma of the brazen daylight execution they had witnessed near Carp's Meridian Park apartment. They discuss how various people figure into the DDC Working Group scenario, and what that might mean. The next day, through some phishing, Kidd gets into the Working Group's email and finds out why Carp was fired, but little more than that. Kidd and LuEllen then make a jaunt to Philly for burglary equipment that will allow them to look inside a door lock -- and then cut their own key.
Immediately after their jaunt North, Kidd and LuEllen return to the D.C. area, and gain unauthorized entry to the apartment of Michelle Strom, who also worked for the DDC Working Group, and who'd initiated the complaint that had gotten Carp fired. Once inside, Kidd finds her Dell desktop -- does a data dump to a small USB device -- then hooks his laptop to her desktop and starts dumping every document he can find into his Sony Vaio. With LuEllen's assistance, he finds Michelle's passwords buried within the text of a Janet Evanovich e-book. Shazam! Suddenly Kidd has access to every known document about the DDC Working Group.
Do you think I should stop here? I think I should stop here. Sketching out the juicy last half of the book would not be a good idea. I've revealed just enough to get you interested in the author and his book, without destroying the pleasure of reading it, or the satisfaction of the outcome. To wit, I've disclosed a few minor details so far -- but have avoided entire major swaths of the story arc. The conclusion of this volume nicely deepens the relationship that Kidd and LuEllen share, and we're lead to believe that another entry in the Kidd series may be available sometime in the next four years. I think it's safe to say that in John Sanford, I've discovered an author that writes the kind of books that I'm interested in writing myself, and whom I actually enjoy reading just as much as Stephen White.
Did I fail to mention how Sandford blends in current events? With sometimes eerie effect? That's something really special that I like about John Sandford's writing. At one point, Kidd is musing about a photo of John Ashcroft he's recovered from some of Bobby's files -- when he notices that Ashcroft has no reflection. That's really quite a wicked sense of humor there John, I must admit... I've had the same thought before too. And in yet another CNN inspired moment, an American soldier in desert camouflage shoots an Arab man in the head. Sandford can be strangely prophetic at times. Since something like that just happened in Fallujah, about a year after this particular book was written.
In conclusion, The Hanged Man's Song is one of the best books I've read this year. I once had the pleasure of meeting both John Camp and his son Roswell at 7925 Abercorn St., where I used to work, and they are both uber intelligent people whom I really enjoyed talking to. Thanks to the both of you for keeping America entertained through The Kidd Series. Would it be too much trouble to ask though, if maybe the two of you could churn out the titles in this minor series a little more swiftly? You know -- technology changes rapidly -- and the first two books in this series seem technologically dated now. At the very least, the next Kidd book should be chock full of references to the emerging Wi-Fi culture and 802.11b, 802.11g, or Wi-Max, and Kidd shouldn't be running off dramatically to pay phones anymore. Instead, he should be operating out in the open. Right in front of your nose.
Now, if Amazon.com readers like this particular volume, I highly recommend going back to 2000's The Devil's Code which I believe to be an even more intricate novel. It has a spookier villain in corporate killer St. John Corbeil. That novel's complexity is beautiful, it's length about twenty pages longer, and in that tome we get to peer into what's going on in the bad-guy's head. That didn't happen so much in The Hanged Man's Song. Hollywood would do well to adapt the four books in this series -- they could be turned into a highly lucrative franchise.
Rating:
Summary: Always a favorite with me John Sandford has gone over
Review: the top with this cyber thriller. Crooks and spies and burglars oh my! There is truly nothing this novel does not have. Starting with a brutal, seemingly senseless murder this book careens us through a sub-world of sleaze and mayhem. The fascinating fact is that you cannot help but attach yourself to Kidd and LuAnne in their quest for the murderer of Bobby. Bobby who himself was a conundrum..shrewd and secretive.. he held many lives in his hands or rather in his computer.And now that computer itself was gone; floating around perhaps in cyberspace itsef. In the wrong or maybe even the right hands, it could destroy or end other lives. I loved this book. The narrative is fast-paced and compelling and it is a crime/action scenario. It sling-shots you from one chapter to the next. Very 'today'! Clear in what it has to say and why it has to say it. If you like your heart to speed up and your brain to seek out solutions...read this one. Thanks for a very enjoyable read,JS!
Rating: 
Summary: Hackers, Whackers, What?
Review: This is a very slow moving story, in which criminals (hacker Kidd and his burglar friend LuEllen) are trying to catch another criminal and fail lousy. The other gangsters in the story are politicians; this part is somewhat in sync with Fahrenheit 9/11 with the only contrast that one is a documentary and this one is fiction. I was trying to be entertained by this book, but fell asleep over and over again. The story is very nerve soothing. In case you need a tranquilizer read this book!
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Summary: John Camp/John Sandford sets the standard
Review: This is an excellent book if you like action/mystery fiction. My recommendation is buy it, read it and enjoy it. If you're new to John Sandford novels there are three previous books in this series featuring the computer hacker named Kidd and his friends. I'd say read the previous books in the series before you read this one. You'll get a lot of enjoyment and by then this one might be out in paperback or on sale. In my opinion ALL John Sandford/John Camp books are clever and well written. This is one of his best. The 'Kidd' series features stories that have a background of computers and technology. You don't need to be a technophile to enjoy them but if you are you'll like them just that much more. One point, since computer technology is changing so fast the tech points in the older Kidd books may seem dated, don't worry though, when the books were written the points were valid and the stories hang together nicely. In this latest book the author has his main character acknowledge the fast changing nature of technology and how some of the things they are doing will very soon be outdated. Once again though, this is a good story and will continue to be so even after the tech points in the book are outdated. I think the author had fun writing this book. I certainly enjoyed reading it. I find it absurd that the Kidd series is less highly regarded then the 'Davenport' series written by the same author. Both series are well-written engrossing tales and well worth reading. I'm sure if you like one series, you'll like the other series.
Rating:
Summary: Must Read TV
Review: This is my first Kidd novel that I have read. It is was excellent. I can't wait to read the other series. This novel had everything fantastic plot,characters,great ending.
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