Rating: 
Summary: A real mess
Review: This book is real mess. I say this as a big Jeffery Deaver fan who is very disappointed with The Blue Nowhere. For example, I challenge anyone to read the first 100 pages and tell me who the protagonist is. That's because the original protagonist disappears (I won't reveal how) after about 90 pages, leaving a void that never quite gets filled. Even toward the end of the book I was still not sure whose story this was supposed to be. Deaver also has fallen into the terrible "more must be better" trap. His earlier books worked well because of his clever plot twists - lead the reader one way, only to discover something else was really happening all the time. But one can only do this so many times before plot twists become boring and predictable. I didn't always know where Deaver was going in this book, but I stopped experiencing any tension because I knew the "threat" was going to disappear in another page or two. By overdoing this device, Deaver sacrificed his greatest skill.Add to the above complaints problems with computer facts, geography facts (Sunnyvale only 10 minutes from the SF airport?) and just plain silly stuff (cop gets beaten senseless with a hammer, but an hour or two later he's back on the job; sensitive child is attacked and witnesses vicious murder, then runs off to have fun at a concert). I used to buy Deaver's books as soon as they arrived. Now I'm not so sure about the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this book! Fantastic!!
Review: This is the first book I read by Deaver, and he's a fantastic writer, I'll be getting more of his books. He has what others wrtiers lack...the ability to keep the reader glued to every page, untill the end! This is the story of a killer. What makes this killer so special? His name is Phate, and he uses computers to help kill people. Phate sneaks in your computer, finds everything about you, and uses it aganist you. How do you catch a computer killer? You need to get an excellent computer hacker to help you. This is where Gillette comes in, he's a computer hacker, with strong skills. Where did Gillette come from? You'll have to read and find out. What I liked about Gillette is that for most of the book, it's the readers job to decide if Gillette is a good or a bad guy. For most of the book the reader will be flip floping trying to figure out who Gillette really is. Deaver did an excellent job with his computer references. Granted the computer program in this book isn't real...it could be real in the near furture. Deaver did his homework on the early computers. Deaver keeps the reader hooked to the book through the *entire* book. He has wonderful characters that are believable and a lot of plot twists. This is a fantastic read and I highly suggest this book, you won't be sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: An informative and entertaining thriller
Review: This story is a real page turner - despite what the previous reviewers might have implied. You'll learn a lot about compu-speak, sure, and there's quite a few inside jokes that only nerds and geeks will pick up on a first reading, but that aside, this is a clever story, well written with lots of pace and a great way to kill a few spare evenings.
Rating: 
Summary: The blue bore...
Review: I found this I book a bit of a bore. I have read 4 of Deaver's other books, the three Lincoln Rhme novels, The Bone Collector, The Empty Chair and The Coffin Dancer as well as the The Devils Teardrop where Lincoln makes a guest appearance. I really like his Rhyme novels, I find them a rare twist on the forensic investigator genre, and I think Lincoln is a really unique and interesting character, but maybe if I was a forensic scientist myself I would react to those novel's as I did to The Blue Nowhere. This novel is about comupters, hacking, the Internet and is set in Silicon Valley and the greater Bay area. All of which I know more about than the average reader. a) I live in the Bay area. b) I work for a software company that builds software used to build applications many of which are internet based. c) While not a hacker by any stretch of the imagination I am a programmer by profession. Deaver took great literary license in his terminology, description, and attitude towards computers. To the laymen I suppose this would all be accepted, however it grated against me as exaggerated untruth. I couldn't get past the ever present phony context to even appreciate the story of the mystery. I plowed through it with not much anticipation or excitement. The big revelation at the end was very disappointing, so I quickly finished and got on to the next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Sold on Deaver
Review: I am a normal person in a normal world. I grew up before computers were in every home and class room. I found the book very tense. I could feel my heart rate increase numerous times. Had a hard time putting it down. Freaked me out, that I didn't get on the internet for over a month. Logically I know the odds of something like that really happening is very low...but still...I guess people say there are tech/terms problems in the book. I suppose that would bother me also if I really understood what gigabytes really were. All I know is how to make software work to its fullest.
Rating:
Summary: A (not-so)techno-thriller
Review: Jeffery Deaver actually has a pretty good plot and story buried deep down in this novel somewhere, but he spends so much time explaining the most basic of computer terms throughout the novel - and stopping mid-story to do it - that the reader loses focus. The book originally came out back in 2001, and even then most individuals did not need THAT much explanation about computers to get what was going on (was there really anyone out there in 2001 that had never heard of "the internet"?). If you know absolutely **nothing** about computers, you might enjoy this novel more but even the most basic computer knowledge turns this book into a bore at times. Readers shouldn't have to keep moaning to themselves "yes, I KNOW that, move on!" Even with that criticism, when the story did move it was captivating. A hacker sent to prison for cracking the wrong computer system is recruited to help the police catch another hacker that is using his skills to work his way into people's lives and kill them. Great story. If Deaver had focused more on that, he'd have had a real winner here.
Rating: 
Summary: Huh?
Review: The only way someone can read this novel is if they know almost nothing about computers. Deaver really needed a technical editor to go over the manuscript. He takes real terms and applies them incorrectly and the technology isn't realistic at all: example PHATE is on a cellphone modem connection for 52mins and downloads "gigabytes" of data -- ah, no...you'd be lucky to download a few megs. Also Gillette "hears" pings when tracing PHATE. When connected to supercomputers PHATE "dials" into other supercomputers -- huh? Also, Deaver mixes up the Internet and the Web as if they are the same thing. If you are doing a medical novel, you have to get the medical details right, and if you're doing a book on hacking, you have to get the tech details right as well or it's just silly.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable...pretty fun
Review: If you're a true hacker, it's if course got some fakey parts, but for the not-so tech savvy, this is a good read that keeps you interested till the end...
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Exciting Thriller With Twists A-Plenty
Review: The Blue Nowhere is one of my favourite books. It is thrilling all the way through and jam-packed with so many twists and turns and surprises that it leaves you stunned. The general plot is that a computer hacker has developed a programme to read all the files on someones PC. Therefore he can find out personal information about his target and then use this to plan an ingenious way to kill them by 'social engineering'. The police, with the help of a convicted computer hacker (a.k.a A Wizard), have to hunt the bad guy, and his accomplice Shawn down. The characters are great because they are three dimensional and believable. The hero is Wyatt Gillette, a computer hacker who ended up in jail and lost his wife because of his obsession with computers and hacking (though never for his own gain, just because he is driven to crack the hardest codes for his own satisfaction). Deaver makes us live and breath this guy's obsession, so much so that you end up feeling sorry for him although what he does with computers is, technically, a criminal offence. Some of my favourite parts were where Deaver cut into the text with chat-room style sections where the police and Gillette tried to track down the bad guy, code name Phate. I felt that I learned so much from this novel, especially about computer jargon and terminology which Deaver, miracle of miracles, managed to make as interesting as the plot twists (I wish he was running my computer classes). I would recommend this to all lovers of thrillers. I particually loved the terrifying showdown at the end which is not dissapointing at all. Finally, there is a little glossary in the front of the book where all the computer terms are explained. You can easily refer to this from time to time if you forget what a particular word means. In other words, don't let the fact that this is a cyber-thriller put you off because Deaver makes the technology parts fun and explains all the jargon well. Enjoy! JoAnne
Rating:
Summary: Fails to do honor to the true blue nowhere.
Review: The characters in this one make for a pretty exciting story, but I was hoping for something more based on the true Blue Nowhere. This is your typical thriller murder mystery novel with a few high-tech terms thrown in there every now and again. To me it was thoroughly disappointing. And the story was kinda rediculous, especially towards the end of the book.
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