The Last Hack: A Jack Parlabane Thriller

By Christopher Brookmyre

Book Overview

The Scottish crime master dishes out "equal parts adrenaline and empathy" in a thriller featuring a woman hacker and online intrigue (Diana Gabaldon).

Sam Morpeth has had to grow up way too fast. Left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison, she is forced to watch her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online. Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane seems to have finally gotten his career back on track with a job at a flashy online news start-up, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. Thrown together by a common enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realize--and might be each other's only hope.

(Published in the UK as Want You Gone)

"Pure literary dynamite." --Lorenzo Carcaterra, New York Times-bestselling author of Sleepers

"Tremendous fun, with superb characterization, gripping moral complexity, and no shortage of clever villainy." --Chris Pavone, New York Times-bestselling author of The Paris Diversion

"A revelation . . . The computer is the scariest tool since the invention of the buzzsaw." --Thomas Perry, New York Times-bestselling author of The Bomb Maker

"Works exceptionally well as cybercrime fiction, but it's the human element that makes it tick." --Kirkus Reviews

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802126944
• ISBN13: 9780802126948
• Release Date: July 2017
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.2" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Fun Technological Thriller

This is the eighth book by Brookmyre featuring reporter Jack Parlabane. Expect a spoiler or two for the previous books in this review. On the other hand, if, like me, you’ve never read the previous books, then rest assured that this book can be read as a standalone. ______________________________________________________________________________ Sam Morpeth is unstoppable. Really, she’s pretty much a superhero (or supervillain), able to go where she wants and do what she wants. Unfortunately, that super-powered persona only exists online. In real life, she is simply a 19 year old whose mother is in jail on drug charges, and who struggles to keep food on the table for herself and her little sister Lilly, who has Downs Syndrome. But someone has connected to two halves of Sam’s life. Someone with a devious agenda, and proof of Sam’s past hacks. Blackmailed into performing an act of industrial espionage, Sam in turn forcibly recruits journalist Jack Parlabane, recently returned to the UK, to help her with the heist. As the two come to an uneasy truce, they delve into the underside of the internet in a desperate attempt to discover who is behind the sinister plot. As I said above, this book can be read as part of its series or as a standalone novel. I was conscious of missing out on a few references here and there, but all in all not much went over my head. Perhaps it helps that the book is less about Jack Parlabane and more about the hacker Samantha Morpeth. What is really striking about the book is the breathtaking contrast between Sam navigating her real life, and Sam, as her hacker alias Buzzkill, navigating the web. Sam in real life is meek, seeking more than anything to disappear into the background. Her life is horrible, stuck in an impossible position of needing to care for her little sister while her mother is in prison, and being denied at every turn the ability to do so. But online, Sam, as Buzzkill, can use her intelligence, imagination, and anonymity to effect real change in the world around her. The story itself is fast-paced and technologically terrifying. I found myself getting legitimately paranoid even time I experienced any lag time on any of my electronics. While certainly a work of fiction, the book serves to remind us of how vulnerable we are now that we are all inevitably connected via the internet. So, if you’re looking for an intelligent technological thriller (with a woman of color as the protagonist, yay!), then this book is a good fit for you! An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.