teamfreak16's Full Review: John Sandford - The Devil's Code: A Kidd Novel
Jack Morrison is dead. A security guard who caught him breaking into company files killed him. Morrison’s sister, Lane Ward, doesn’t buy it, and neither does his friend Kidd (just “Kidd.”) After mourning the loss, Kidd grabs his sometime partner/lover LuEllen (just “LuEllen”) and the trio sets out to not only prove that Morrison was murdered, but tries to figure out why. Such is the plot of author John Sandford’s 2000 novel The Devil’s Code. Jack Morrison works for a software company called AmMath when a shaky security guard guns him down after discovering Jack raiding company files. AmMath is working on a program called Clipper II, a would-be mandatory encryption chip that would allow the government to monitor anyone’s messages.
Jack has stumbled upon something in the Clipper II code and was hacking into the files when he was killed, first managing to wound another security guard in self defense. This all sounds cut and dried, except that the security guard in question had never before drawn his piece, and Jack abhorred guns and would not touch a weapon, let alone fire one at somebody. This fact leads Lane and Kidd to believe that Morrison was murdered.
Furthermore, word hits the Net about a radical hacker group called Firewall. Among the usernames linked as members of the cyber-terror group are Morrison’s and Kidd’s—as well as those of several of Kidd’s associates—and none of them has never heard of Firewall.
Kidd suspects a link between Morrison's death and Firewall, and is determined to learn more. He brings in his part-time lover/partner LuEllen, a master burglar. Together, the pair initiates a few break-ins, and Kidd starts hacking away in cyberspace.
Meanwhile, things become more dangerous as more people involved with Morrison and AmMath start dying. Kidd and his cohorts have to unravel the mystery of Firewall, which has instigated an attack on IRS computers, and somehow seems linked to Morrison’s death.
It has the makings of a good thriller—cybergeeks, gunfire, hot chicks, and corporate espionage—but somehow, The Devil’s Code falls a bit short.
The problem isn’t the characters, although it would not hurt to learn more about LuEllen. Kidd, in addition to his fraudulent duties as a hacker, is an artist whose paintings are good enough to sell. He is also a karate expert (which goes unmentioned here,) and a tarot reader (the titular “Devil” refers to that particular tarot card.) No, Kidd is interesting enough, and so is LuEllen, at least what little we know of her.
LuEllen is a world-class burglar, a sometime cocaine user, and here we learn that she loves golf. Unfortunately, that’s all we know. She purposely keeps her life private, and because the point of view is Kidd's, we only learn what he knows about her; LuEllen remains a mystery, and for the reader, it’s unfulfilling.
Still, the biggest problem is the story itself. It just sort of spins its wheels. Kidd and LuEllen only participate in a couple of break-ins here, Kidd does a little hacking, but the two spend an inordinate amount of time painting and hitting golf balls. It just never seems as though they are in any danger. As I read, I found that I just didn’t care; I just wanted to finish the book.
Sandford is a capable storyteller; he has proven it through the stronger entries in his <a>Prey series. Yet, he’s also fired off a few duds. Thus far, the Kidd series is average, falling somewhere in between.
I root for Kidd, but I don’t immerse myself into him the way I do his Lucas Davenport or Virgil Flowers characters. The Devil’s Code works well enough as a light read, but overall, it lands somewhere in the middle of the pack.
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