Kirkus

A riveting tale of an innocent family on the run. Gavin and Lisa Brinkley have had an easy life; they and their two daughters live a life of affluence and privilege in Pleasanton, Calif., a wealthy suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Brinkleys are looking to move to Boston, where they hope to offer their daughters superior schools—and superior sports teams. Gavin’s fluency in security codes lands him an opportunity to give a presentation at a high-powered corporation—a seemingly innocuous afternoon that leads to a dark and threatening future almost immediately. First, the Brinkleys are tailgated to and from a family outing by an unfamiliar car; later, they find that two of the tires on their car have been tampered with. When Gavin and Lisa are then warned by an FBI agent that their lives could be in immediate danger, they set about re-creating themselves: The entire family changes their names and personal information—Gavin becomes “John,” Lisa becomes “Cindy”—and they undertake the first of many moves which eventually lead them to Montana. Gavin and Lisa—together with Cate, Gavin’s beautiful and somewhat suspicious associate—spend their new lives looking over their shoulders, and soon, the plot shifts to a story of high-stakes hacking. The Stuarts, a father-and-daughter team, create a fast-paced and gripping tale of intrigue and suspense, heightening the tension as the storyline advances. Their no-nonsense, straightforward prose also contains frequent moments of insight and charm (“Fear snaps on like a light at the moment the anxious wake up”; “Halloween approached New England dressed in autumn’s natural splendor of orange and gold.”).

An all-too-realistic tale of cyberterrorism.