Fatal Error

by Michael Ridpath

Book Overview

In the dotcom boom it was easy to make millions ... and then lose them. And some people are not good losers. The year is 1999 and Internet companies are springing up everywhere. Anything seems... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140295917
• ISBN13: 9780140295917
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 1.2" x 4.5"

Customer Reviews

Fatal Error - a thriller in four parts

"Fatal Error" is a thriller built up in a rather special way. Part 1 (chapters 1 and 2) takes place in London in Sept. 1999. An unknown assailant kills the chairman of the dot-com startup company featured in the story. Part 2 (chapters 3 - 23) takes place in France (July 1987), Scotland (June 1992) and London (April - Aug. 1999). In other words, this part of the book consists of flashbacks that provide background information for what happened in Part 1. But the 1987 and 1992 flashbacks are interwoven with the 1999 flashbacks, so you are kept on your toes all the time. As expected (this is a thriller), a dead body turned up in both 1987 and 1992, and in neither case was the killer identified, let alone apprehended. Part 3 and Part 4 (chapters 24 - 40) take up the story where Part 1 ended, i.e., London, Sept. 1999. Is the new killing related to the killings in 1987 and 1992? Who is sending the anonymous threatening e-mails? Will there be more killings? The fact that almost half of the book consists of flashbacks and that the flashbacks are not presented chronologically actually heightens the excitement. However, I did find myself compelled to go back and reread Part 1 after finishing Part 2 in order to reestablish the flow of recent events in my mind. The story is based in the heady dot-com entrepreneurial days in the late 1990's. New companies are going from zero to a stock market valuation of billions of pounds in the space of a year or so. The youthful employees are becoming millionaires and the bosses are willing to do whatever it takes to crush the competition and get a successful IPO (Initial Public Offering, i.e., getting on the stock market). Note, however, that although "Fatal Error" is a story based on the building up of an Internet company, that the technology aspects are not the most important. Similarly, even though the financial implications of starting a company and getting venture capital financing and going to the stock market are important sides of the story, they are not the most important factors. Instead, "Fatal Error" is basically a traditional thriller about a psychopath who has killed and is willing to kill again, and the danger this person represents to the people around him/her. I found the book quite intriguing and enjoyable, especially due to my own background in the IT business. Surprisingly, I did not find any errors in the author's descriptions of how IT companies function and how web sites are built up. The discussions of the financial aspects also sounded correct to me, and they should be since the author has a background at an international bank in the City of London. This added to the overall credibility of the whole story. In addition, the characters in the book seemed quite believable, with perhaps one exception. Incidentally, the story is told in the first person, but it is very well done so you hardly notice this normally problematic style. My only major complaint is that the ending seemed too cont