Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: This is my first Pineiro book and it will certainly not be my last one. I picked it up after reading the great reviews it has received and I have to add my own to this growing list.Think of this book as The Firm meets The Matrix. You have excellent and sympathetic characters like Stanford computer whiz Mike Ryan and FBI Agent Karen Frost, the heroes going up against a ruthless Cuban-American billionaire who has puppets everywhere, including one senator he plans to put in the White House next year. The book does start like the Grisham tale but quickly departs from it in a roller-coaster ride that takes you both through the unexpected twists and turns in both the real and cyber worlds. While Mike Ryan surfs the Internet using virtual-reality hardware reminiscent of The Matrix to fight against a well-hidden but powerful criminal empire in America, Karen Frost carries out her own battles against formidable foes in the real world. Together they form an alliance that takes them through enough excitement and nail-biting scenes to keep you turning pages at a furious pace, until . . . well, I'm not going to say. To make it even more interesting, the IRS is involved in more ways that the reader might be led to believe by just reading the book jacket. If you want to read a thriller that's impossible to put down, you want to read this one. In fact, buy two and give one to a friend.
Rating: 
Summary: Author of $oft Money Recomeends this....
Review: This is the first Pineiro book I have read. Now I will have to go back and read his other work. This books title is what caught my eye, with two elements I love, conspiracy and technology. Pineiro does a marvelous job blending the two elements together and weaving a taut tale of mystery and intrigue. A fast pace is maintained as we see an every day man try and stay one step ahead of the IRS, they know he knows too much. If you like action, intrigue and suspense, you will enjoy this book. I recommend reading this one.
Rating: 
Summary: So derivative it should have been printed on a photocopier
Review: Warning -- this review contains plot spoilers, so if you intend to read this piece of pulp, do not read the indicated two paragraphs. It is fairly clear to me that this author had copies of "the firm" by John Grisham and "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson right beside him for various parts of this purported "thriller" as well as some derivative work from the realm of "V.I. Warshawski". Thankfully, I checked this book out of the library, so I did not waste any hard-earned $$ or further line the pockets of this "author". The plot revolves around a brilliant young computer programmer who races thru undergrad, a masters, and apparently a PhD (although this is unclear) in near record time from Stanford. Despite this young man's intelligence, he lacks enough common sense to see that the offer he has received from the software firm recruiting him is clearly too good to be true (a'la "The Firm"). This brilliant young genious has developed a Virtual Reality simulation for surfing the internet and supporting private and public networks. This system revolves around the use of virtual "planets" with building like nodes of information from various sources (see "Snow Crash" for a better description). Using his nifty system he is able to penetrate the deep dark secret of the company he works for and determine the inner workings of, among others, the IRS. ******Spoiler Alert******** Add to this the proliferation of supporting characters so two-dimensional that they are virtually invisible when turned sideways. The uber-villan, a Cuban multibillionare who is secretly supporting the Castro regime in trying to score nukes from the Russkies for lots of cash funneled off from the IRS through a mechanism that is never made clear. The political hack senator who will sell his soul for the Oval Office. The righteous "rouge" FBI agent. The only interesting thing is that the IRS gets to be the good guys and the bad guys at the same time. *********End of Spoilers******* Aside from the obvious dissapointment with the derivative nature of the story, I was also dissapointed in the ending which was clearly rushed and glossed over a lot of the details that may have redeemed this story a lot. On the whole, I'd easily recommend either "The Firm" or "Snow Crash" over this novel.
Rating:
Summary: The Firm meets The Matrix in a book that deserves six stars
Review: What a terrific read. I devour thrillers of all kinds, legal, high-tech, military, medical, etc, and this one ranks among the best of Ludlum, DeMille, and Morrell. In the begininng the plot seemed all too familiar (The Firm), but it soon takes off in a different and very exciting direction. The hero, Mike Ryan, is a terrific and very sympathetic character, as is his wife, Victoria, and the FBI agent on the case, Karen Frost. Together they go up against a Cuban-American billionaire who is about to send his own puppet to the White House. There is plenty of action in both the real world as well as the cyber world, as Ryan surfs the Internet through Matrix-like virtual-reality hardware. If you enjoy the kind of thriller that you just can't put down, with memorable characters and a twisting plot, you can't pass up this one.
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