Kill Process by William Hertling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Most excellent! My favorite Hertling book thus far.
My introduction to William Hertling’s writing was Avogadro Corp (book one of the Singularity series), a speculative fiction novel set in the near future that postulates on the rise of true Artificial Intelligence and the impact on humanity.
What I really enjoy about Mr. Hertling’s books is the authenticity of the technical material that provides the backdrop to his stories and makes his books so captivating to me. Kill Process is an excellent example. Set in the present day, the novel explores how technology, social media, and big data analysis leads to abuse and the loss of privacy. While it may be tempting to paint the issues raised in the book in black and white terms, the author doesn’t take that approach, allowing the reader to consider the issues and come to her or his own conclusion.
Narrator Jane Cramer does an outstanding job breathing life into Angie “Angel of Mercy” Benenati, a brilliant and complex protagonist whose PTSD both drives and hinders her.
There is a lot happening in the plot including flashbacks to Angie’s past, her introduction as a teenager to private forums & white-hat hacking, coping with PTSD, tackling online bullying & spousal abuse, how it is possible for someone to obtain an insanely large amount of personal information about someone, and even the pitfalls of obtaining funding for a start-up.
If you love a good techno-thriller that doesn’t leave you asking yourself, “How can this ever happen?”, I think you will enjoy this one.
Recommended.