BAD MEMORY

Rating:
Summary: Too long. Too much detail. No suspense. ZZZZ
Review: Bad Memory is about Simtec (like Dell); big co. selling network cards and PCs, etc, and a hacker, hektor (spelled w a K, yeah cheesy I know) comes in and goes throug their inventory database and mixes up the orders.

So a client gets the wrong PCs delivered from Simtec and shoots himself. It's stretching credibility a bit. i mean 'excuse me but we're talking wrongly delivered PCs here ok. So the guy's a little loony we're told but still... And this comes in the first 10 pages and supposed to set the pace for the rest of the book.

I flipped through looking for good bits, but there little suspense or tension to recommend this.

No doubt the guy's really into the technical stuff but still prety amateurish to computer literate readers; I mean using Netwrok batch commands to mess up Simtec's system? :-)

No didnt buy the book. Got it from the library.

Rating:
Summary: Convince Network Security Risk Doubters
Review: Bottom line -- a good read, especially if you're in any way involved in company network security or the high tech industry. If you're looking for a tool to help convince people of the need for better security on the company network, this might do the trick. Franklet isn't a great writer, but his prose is clean & readable. The story moves right along, and the characters are pretty believable -- the good guys are not too good; the bad guys are pretty bad, but there's always something to help explain their frailties, too. The plot is complex enough to hold one's interest, and it's a convincing thriller about corporate espionage and sabotage. A week or so ago, we had a Consultant Yahoo make a presentation to our top management. It was ntended to convince them of the need for good network security measures among employees. While the Yahoo appears to be a skilled network security analyst, he's a godawful presenter and wasn't particularly successful in reaching the seminar goal. I'm now recommending this book, as a relatively painless way to raise manager awareness of the scope to which any company can be vulnerable to these sorts of threats. While some readers say they found the book enjoyable without being particularly computer literate, I think it could also intimidate technophobes. Oh, well.

Rating:
Summary: Not only for "techies" - but we have been waiting for it!
Review: First - I'm a computer professional - which will lend a certain degree of bias to this review.That said, I loved the book. It's the first credible fictional account of a company under technological siege that I have read. There's just the right amount of "made for Hollywood" suspense tactics mixed with an entirely plausible computer hacking episode to keep both the non-techie and casual suspense reader engrossed. Not to mention that it should be required reading for the executive management and the Board of Directors of every major corporation in the industrialized world. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad book, if your an IT person.
Review: I can say that if your not an IT person, you may fnd the book utterly boring. Since I am a Network Administrator, I can say there is a lot of terminology in the book that probably a vast majority will not understand. Packets? Modems? Ethernet? ..well if these words mean nothing, drop the book and walk away immediately. Also the technology was dated, and will be mildly amusing to those in-the-know. I had some laughs about it. The author could have easily skipped numbers and just used the name brands -i.e. 32 megabytes of Ram, and just said -add Ram.
I read another review about how how some auther have to give a biography on every person in the book when introducing a new character - Im going to have to agree with that; it's boring at sometimes to read extra pages on someone who isn't in the book much. The book did dry's times but would still make a decent Sunday Night Movie if it contaned a little more action.
Overall a good book and the last 100 pages hold on your hat because it goes fast.
*1 Star lost for not tying up some loose ends
*1 Star lost for massive IT terminology. Not an easy read for those not in the profession at times.

Rating:
Summary: Great fiction for techies
Review: I have to admit Franklet's handling of techno-babble is very good, but I got tired of reading a mini-biography about every character he introduced. Why does every new author think that we need tons of biographical facts for every character? Show, don't tell. Also, I think there was too much technical info, and even though it was well done, not every reader cares how a network works. The book was a bit long, but I had a hard time putting it down. This book is much better than 'Ulterior Motives' which some reviewers had recommended and I thought stunk. A very good first effort, and I look forward to more.

Rating:
Summary: BAD MEMORY IS A BAD BOOK
Review: One of my favorite genres is the techno-thriller. When done well, there is a satisfying feel of surgical precision and great cleverness. "Bad Memory" does not fill the bill. It is a sprawler with a mass of corporate types and thugs. The premise is industrial espionage of a huge computer company.

The characters are flat and uninteresting. So many threads are begun, and then curiously dropped and never explained. The daughter of the hero is very slow in school causing her parents great worry. We never find out if the child is a late bloomer, retarded, or emotionally upset. It is dropped. The number one villain has a father obsession. We never find out why or who the father is. The corporate bad guy might as well wear a sign around his neck that said "I did it." The story line has little coherence.

The book was written in 1996, and seems oddly dated. There are pages and pages of computereeze and most of the strategies seem obsolete. Realize that tremendous changes have taken place in the computer industry, but a techno writer should not inhibit himself to what is 1996 cutting edge. A discussion between two techs endorses the plan to give the big boss 32 mgs of memory. Today 128 mgs is common and 256 mgs is the farsighted choice. The cell phones are primitive and fiber optics are unmentioned. A true computer maestro, which I am definitely not, would find the book frustrating. I did not expect the author to be clairvoyant, but I did expect him to have brilliant solutions and some futuristic capabilities.

This is Mr. Frankjet's first novel, and I don't think he received the editing necessary to tighten up and give his book more focus. I do not recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Truly a novel of suspense
Review: The subtitle ~ "a novel of suspense" ~ says it all; the suspense here was excellent; actually, i had to stop reading a couple of times close to the end to catch my breath, and that doesn't often happen to me. The story of a blackmail attempt at a large computer manufacturing company, this book quickly leads you to wonder just how accurate it is, how likely such blackmailing is to happen ~ where has it happened? ~ and how well protected against such disasters are most companies, computer operations or not. Franklet seems to know computers and operating systems; to my ear nothing rang untrue, which is important for the flow of a complex and specialist plot like this one. Not only did he get his ducks in a row though (has he done this himself?), but he can draw characters in a believable way, suggesting an ability to continue his success here with more works, though perhaps with a different cast and plot. I shall watch for his name again, see if he can repeat.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: What can I say? Exciting plot, good characters, and an accurate ambiance both within the offices and around the sprawling environs of the countries fourth largest but still somewhat provincial city. If Trollope were working for the US Post Office today, I imagine something like Franklet's Bad Memory would be the result.