Havoc - Hardcover

Pineiro, R. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765308339 ISBN 13: 9780765308337

Publisher: Forge Books, 2005

Synopsis

When CIA Officer Tom Grant was pulled out of early retirement to investigate a recent high-tech robbery at United States Nanotechnologies, America's government-run agency for the development of nanoweapons, he had no idea that he would be propelled into the middle of a conspiracy that could threaten the survival of our species.
Teaming up with young Rachel Muratani, a rising star in the agency, and Karen Frost, an old hand from the FBI, Grant tracks the cyber thieves to CyberWerke, a German conglomerate run by Rolf Hartman. Hartman has stretched his high-tech empire across Europe, and now plans to use the newly acquired nanotechnology to take his empire global.
Among the stolen USN hardware is a prototype nanoassembler, a highly intelligent and self-propelled machine with the capability of creating and destroying any object allowed by the laws of physics, including itself---though it needs access to radioactive material in order to mine the fuel required to power its clones. When the nanoassembler breaks free from its relatively unsophisticated captors, it finds itself no longer restricted by the software shackles imposed on it while at USN. While the megalomaniacal Hartman races to recapture it, Grant and his team must not only stop Hartman, but find away to combat the nanoassembler as it embarks on its own mission to ensure the survival of its species---even if that means the eradication of the human race!

About this title

About the Author

R.J. Pineiro is a computer engineer working on leading edge microprocessors at Advance Micro Devices. He is the author of Retribution, Ultimatum, and Breakthrough, as well as the millennium thrillers 01-01-00 and Y2K.

Reviews

Despite some pedestrian prose and stilted dialogue, this near-future thriller shows that veteran Pineiro (Cyberterror) still knows how to plot. Fueled by the author's years of experience as an engineer, the book contains enough moments of plausible techno-horror to make up for a collection of characters that might have wandered in from other thrillers. CIA star Tom Grant leaves early retirement to join two female intelligence officers investigating the theft of some top secret weapons from United States Nanotechnologies, a company that makes deadly little implants that appear to have a life of their own. Grant's former boss (thought to be dead) may have teamed with a megalomaniac German magnate in a plan to use these nasty little killers to conquer the world. But the centerpiece of the story—much more frighteningly credible than any of the humans pursuing it—is a prototype nanoassembler with a mind and an agenda all its own. Pineiro's fans will no doubt turn the pages of his latest with uncritical energy. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A retired CIA agent is lured back to active duty by a case that tests his rusting skills to their limit. During a robbery at a high-tech company, a prototype self-aware machine was inadvertently set loose. Now, Tom Grant, teaming with an ambitious CIA agent and a determined FBI investigator, must not only bring the thieves to justice but also find and stop the wayward machine before it completes its primary mission: ensuring its own survival. As usual, the author, an engineer at Advanced Micro Devices, packs the novel with plenty of high-tech gimmickry and keeps events moving at a breathless pace. But readers familiar with Pineiro's work will also note a welcome development: his characters are more human, his dialogue more realistic, and his narrative altogether smoother than ever before. Looks like Pineiro's storytelling abilities are catching up to his big ideas. Michael Crichton can start looking over his shoulder, if he hasn't been already. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765308339
• ISBN 13: 9780765308337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400