The Zenith Angle

by Bruce Sterling

Other authorsDavid Stevenson (Cover artist), Susan Turner (Designer)
Hardcover, 2004-05

Status

Available

Call number

PS3569.T3876 Z88

Publication

Ballantine Books (New York, 2004). 1st edition, 1st printing. 320 pages. $24.95.

Description

"Gleeful, shrewd, speculative, cynical, closely observed . . . The Zenith Angle offers wisdom and solace, thrills and laughter."--The Washington Post "Compelling and important  . . . A darkly comic fable of info-war, the black budget, über-geek idealism, and the politics of Homeland Insecurity."--William Gibson, author of Pattern Recognition             Pioneering computer wizard Derek "Van" Vandeveer has been living extra-large as a VP for a booming Internet company. But the September 11 attacks on America change everything. Recruited as the key member of an elite federal computer-security team, Van enters the labyrinthine trenches of the Washington intelligence community. His special genius is needed to debug the software glitch in America's most crucial KH-13 satellite, capable of detecting terrorist hotbeds worldwide. But the problem is much deeper. Now Van must make the unlikely leap from scientist to spy, team up with a ruthlessly resourceful ex-Special Forces commando, and root out an unknown enemy--one with access to a weapon of untold destructive power. "Great fun . . . A cyberthriller of 21st-century technologies [that] peeps wittily behind the national security scenes of a modern superpower."--New Scientist "A comedic thriller for the homeland security era."--Entertainment Weekly… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member szarka
Like Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling writes science fiction that's not so much about technology as it's about the people who invent and use it. The Zenith Angle updates the themes of Sterling's nonfiction The Hacker Crackdown; but we can hope that this tale of a geek mixed up in the truly fantastic
Show More
world of post-911 politics and law enforcement is "only" fiction. Despite a somewhat unsatisfying ending, it's a great read with a plot that zips along and makes it difficult to put down. [2005-10-23]
Show Less
LibraryThing member defrog
Okay but not great, which is more annoying than it should be because I actually had to buy this book twice. I lost it about two-thirds of the way through and was sufficiently intrigued to buy another copy to see how it ended, and in the end it was a bit of a letdown. Sterling tends to be hit or
Show More
miss with me anyway – this one is his take on post-9/11 Homeland Security, and while it’s got some interesting ideas, it’s hard to sympathize with characters who are pro-Bush.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Wanted to like it, since I had enjoyed hearing him give a Long Now Foundation talk. Wasn't all that impressed with the book.
LibraryThing member skraft001
Really a poorly written book. The plot just kind of wandered -- it couldn't decide if it wanted to be an corporate sci-fi thriller, hard-core geek / tech or about father/som and wife/husband relationships. In the end it did very little of any of the above.
LibraryThing member webhat
Started very good, the end was a little gung-ho.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
I keep wanting to really like Bruce Sterling, but then just - not. The Zenith Angle, is, reportedly, a techno-thriller about computer/Internet security. Sadly, unless you are the Special Adviser for Cyberspace Security to the Bush Administration (who wrote a glowing blurb for this book), Internet
Show More
Security is just not that thrilling.
In this novel, the main character, Van, leaves his corporate job as a computer geek to go work for the government. He finds himself underpaid and broke, trying to convince people that Internet Security really is important, Meanwhile, his wife is doing well, working as an astronomer on land owned by a chacter whom Ted Turner would not be pleased by. This gets tied in to a malfunctioning spy satellite that Van is asked to fix. Of course, Foreigners are Out To Get Us. Which would be OK, if it was interesting or exciting. Maybe it could have been, in the hands of William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. Here, it's not.
Show Less

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2004

Physical description

320 p.; 6.43 inches

ISBN

0345460618 / 9780345460615

Other editions

Page: 1.461 seconds