Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Marcus considers himself an average teen, if a bit on the tech-savvy geeky side, until a horrific terrorist attack in California (and an unfortunate misunderstanding about his role in the event) changes his life forever. After he and his friends are questioned for days without official charges, decent treatment, or even notification of their families, all but one are released and warned that they will now be under constant surveillance. The remainder of the volume is primarily a well-written and edgy radical technology how-to about all the ways teens (or adults) can resist governmental and police efforts to trample and abuse freedom. Marcus embarks on a quest to save his still detained friend, falls in love with an equally intelligent and progressive girl, and becomes the anonymous online leader of an underground movement to rein in the increasingly dictatorial powers that be, but his story is essentially background to the elaborate and clear descriptions of the individuals, technology, and methods that could all be researched and used by readers themselves. The hybrid of fiction and instructional guide could be an uncomfortable fit, but Doctorow makes it all so compelling, whether explaining how to hack an Xbox or waxing poetic on two otherwise brilliant teens negotiating the inevitably awkward but endearing pursuit of first love, that readers will be captivated by the whole complex mix. And if readers aren’t inspired to direct action by the book itself, then the intriguing and passionate afterwords by the original Xbox hacker, a security technologist, and Doctorow himself, who offers an informal annotated bibliography of important works, may nudge a few away from political apathy or measured, organized protests and into some radical acts of their own. [End Page 113]