Former DOJ cybercrimes prosecutor Chris Bruen walks into a dark apartment in Amsterdam to confront a hacker known as Black Vector. The hacker has stolen the source code for the world's most ubiquitous operating system, which powers everything from personal computers to the NSA's data centers. This should have been a routine assignment for Bruen, but instead of obtaining a confession, Bruen finds the hacker's dead body and uncovers a hidden flash drive that contains the code for a remarkably sophisticated computer virus known as Lurker.
Upon his return home to San Francisco, Bruen finds himself the target of a shadowy group of hackers who plan on unleashing Lurker, which will bring a major US city to its knees in seven days. Bruen doesn't know why he's the target, but the answers seem to lie somewhere in his troubled past. Suddenly, Bruen is framed as the planner of the cyberattack, making him the top suspect in an international manhunt. Bruen must stay ahead of the FBI and CIA in a race across Europe while he tries to decode the virus, find the hackers, and clear his name. With the lives of tens of thousands of people hanging in the balance, and his own life about to be destroyed, Bruen must go beyond the brink to stop the hackers.
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"Reece Hirsch is both a great stylist and a cunning storyteller, and The Adversary is his best work yet. This is a first-rate thriller that grabs you from the first pages and doesn't ever let up. I defy you not to stay up late finishing it."
—David Liss, Edgar Award-winning author of The Twelfth Enchantment
"I thoroughly enjoyed this international thrill ride! Chris Bruen is a dynamic and multifaceted hero who had me cheering out loud. The Adversary hooked me from page one and never let go. This one's definitely for your keeper shelf!"
—Andrew Peterson, author of First to Kill
"In The Adversary, Hirsch has created a compelling hero in Chris Bruen, a onetime hacker turned cyber crimes attorney fighting a brilliant network of hackers. Their goal? Committing a massive act of cyberterrorism that will plunge the world into chaos. I stayed up late, face bathed in the glow of my Kindle, holding my breath and wondering if I would ever feel safe on an airplane, in a subway, or on the Internet again. A first-rate cyberthriller!"
—Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times-bestselling author of Innocent Blood
"Reece Hirsch brings the fear of cyberterrorism to life in a taut, gripping novel filled with mysterious hackers, shadowy government agents and those who are caught in the middle. In a world where everything is run by computers, everything is vulnerable and no one is safe. Read it as top-notch entertainment, but never forget this book is also a red flag, snapping in the wind, telling us all we've been warned."
—Graham Brown, New York Times-bestselling author of The Storm
"The Adversary is a page-turning brew of technology, murder, mayhem, sex, romance and revenge, spiced with several surprising twists. This is a compelling thriller novel that will appeal to all readers. Readers will clamor for more adventures of Chris Bruen."
—Tallahassee Democrat
"A very frightening story that really hits home. It will be interesting to see where Chris Bruen goes from here."
—Suspense Magazine
"The Adversary is a satisfying hard-boiled mash of pop novel genres: a cypherpunk, lawyer-detective, conspiracy-theory, blow-up-Manhattan thriller with furious pacing and compelling characters and scenarios. Reece Hirsch's second novel is dizzyingly, compulsively readable."
—Electronic Privacy Information Center Alert
Thomas & Mercer, ebook, August 2013, ASIN: B00DMAQQJE
Thomas & Mercer, paperback, September 2013, ISBN: 978-1477849026