Zero Day: A Jeff Aiken Novel

I write technology and network security books, articles, newsletters and white papers for a living. Reading for fun is one of my guilty pleasures. But lately I've been disappointed in the deteriorating quality of the fiction books that I read. Even many of my long-time favorite novelists seem to have gotten sloppy, and most of the new books are badly written from a technical point of view, fail to bring anything fresh to overused plotlines, and/or aren't able to keep the story moving, make me care about the characters or wrap up the plot elements into a coherent whole.There are, however, a few folks who can still tell a story. The two books I read immediately preceding Zero Day were by Neal Stephenson and Orson Scott Card, old standbys who never let me down. Those guys are tough acts to follow, and as I opened up Mark's book (in the Kindle app on my Galaxy Tab, if anyone cares), I felt a mixture of eager anticipation and a smidgen of worry. Mostly, I was excited to embark on reading a novel written by someone I actually knew personally; that doesn't happen every day.If you don't know who Mark Russinovich is, check out his bio on Wikipedia. Pretty impressive technical creds, huh? I knew that Mark really knows his stuff when it comes to computers, so I was looking forward to (finally!) reading a novel about technology that wouldn't have me stopping every few pages to shake my head and say "no, no, no - it doesn't work that way." (Dan Brown's Digital Fortress is just one example of a technothriller that, despite the author's storytelling skills, I couldn't enjoy because I wasn't able to get past the technical mistakes).The worry? I knew it was a first novel, and I know very well that being very, very smart doesn't necessarily ensure that a person can write in a compelling way. Writing fiction is very different from writing technical papers. And in fact, some of the smartest people I know write some of the most boring material. And I also knew, from my own efforts, that writing a novel is hard work. Writing a novel well is even harder. Would he be able to pull it off?I'm going to be brutally honest here: The opening scene didn't exactly impress me and make me want to read more. Oh, I know starting things off with some gratuitous sex is supposed to be a sure-fire technique for grabbing readers' attention and it probably works just fine with the young male geeks who are likely to make up a large part of this book's audience. But if you aren't a member of that group and you don't really particularly like that sort of thing, hang in there. It's all over in a page and a half and once we get that out of the way, the story starts to take off into the wild blue yonder. Literally. Of course, John Nance is one of my favorite novelists and aviation is one of my special interests so I'm always a sucker for a good barely-averted-air-disaster scene. Scene 2, played out in the cockpit of British Airways Flight 188, had me hooked by the third paragraph. And from there on out, it was a wild and wooly ride.As I made my way through the book, it only got better and better. Many years ago, I devoured all the popular novels written by Arthur Hailey, whose Airport and Runway Zero-Eight were my favorites (aviation buff, remember). His other titles, such as Hotel (about the hospitality industry), Wheels (about the automobile industry), The Moneychangers (about the banking industry), and Strong Medicine (about the pharmaceutical industry) also kept me up late for many nights in the 70s and 80s. Zero Day is written in the same format as Hailey's books, shuffling the scene back and forth between many different localities and characters, with one strong protagonist tying it all together. Great literature? No - but highly entertaining and also informative, thanks to all the research that went into them. Is it a formulaic style? Maybe so, but it's an effective one. It can also be a maddening one if it's not handled just right - I've read more than one book written in this style that fell apart completely because the author couldn't seem to juggle the plethora of subplots or keep all those characters' personalities consistent. I'm happy to report that Mark did a great job of managing this shifting landscape.The plot is built around a rapidly evolving set of incidents involving computer system failures that result in serious situations, some of which are only costly in monetary terms, but many of which are life-threatening. Our emergent hero is Jeff Aiken, mild-mannered computer expert who left the frustrations and bureaucratic red tape of his government job (in the CIA, no less) for the private sector, where he makes lots of money doing damage control and clean-up after corporate security breaches, somewhat akin to the way Red Adair sweeps into town to put things right after an oilwell fire. Jeff and his former government colleague, Dr. Daryl Haugen (the somewhat stereotypical beautiful blonde computer genius who wants to be admired for her brains instead of her body) come to realize that the incidents - ranging from the decimation of a law firm's network to the failure of a 787 jetliner's computerized systems to a "glitch" in a hospital's records system that causes several patient deaths from improper medication - are all related and part of a cyberterrorist attack. The race to track down the bad guys and prevent the worst from happening is on.The story is deadly serious, and it will keep you awake, turning the pages late into the night, as you worry over what's going to happen in the book (and may also keep you awake nights after you've finished it, worrying about just how close we are to a real-life version of these events). There are also moments of comic relief. As the male chauvinist DHS bureaucrat - who's involved in some clandestine activities of his own - watches Daryl walk away, he ruminates over how "these computer types were always getting worked up over nothing" - and how "the few attractive women among them were the worst." As a woman in the male-dominated computer security field, I can't help grinning and thinking I've met this guy before - a few times over.When I read a novel, especially a first novel, and more especially a first novel about computer-related matters written by a computer expert, I can't help wondering how much of himself the author put into his main character. Jeff taught at Carnegie-Mellon; Mark got his Ph.D. from the same university. Jeff is an entrepreneur who has built a successful business tracking down malware; Mark co-founded Winternals Software. They say every first novel is autobiographical to some extent, so it's hard not to see Jeff as a fictionalized version of Mark. But that only adds to the mystique.All in all, it's a great read. If you want to get nit-picky, there are enough typos to be annoying - as is the case with almost every novel I read these days, including those by big name authors such as Stephen King and John Grisham. These are little things, such as "then" when it should have been "than" or missing punctuation. Some are the types of mistakes that get introduced in the editing process. Darn, how I wish these publishers would let me proofread these books before they go to print (hint, hint).I noticed that one reviewer complained about getting bogged down in the technical details. Maybe it's because I'm in the tech industry and already have an understanding of these things, but I thought the technical issues were explained very well, translating the techno jargon to mainstream terms and using analogies that should be easy for anyone, tech savvy or not, to understand. If you're an IT pro, you'll get into it on several different levels - but don't be afraid to recommend it to your friends and relatives who aren't computer professionals (Do, however, be prepared to answer their concerned questions about whether all this could really happen when they find themselves scared to death by what takes place in the novel).At $14.08 for the hardcover or $11.99 for the electronic edition (on Amazon), this book is a bargain, for both its entertainment and its educational value. Don't just buy one; buy a second one for a friend.

As a techie by day and by night, I was looking forward to reading Zero Day. After hearing the glowing reviews of it from Steve Gibson on the Security Now podcast I decided to go ahead and buy myself a copy. I really debated on three or four stars and the remainder of my review should explain why.Mr. Russinovich is well-known in technology circles and I was looking forward to an author who could actually write tech fiction and have it be accurate. In this regard I was not disappointed. While I would have liked it to delve even deeper into the tech side I realize that there are limits to what would be generally (as opposed to vertically) entertaining. He did an excellent job of appealing to the nerds of the world while keeping the story accessible to anyone with an interest in technology. That is a rare gift indeed. The story is engaging and paints a picture of a plausible, credible threat to our technology-laden society. It is eye-opening and frightening to think that this work of fiction could become non-fiction in the pages of tomorrow's newspaper. Mr. Russinovich's experience and contributions to the tech world serve to hammer that fact home.But I titled this review "a good first start" for a reason. While the story and characters were engaging I thought that the character development could have been better for the majority of the major characters. The back story of Fajer is a good example of it being done right; I just wish it was done more consistently. Now, I should point out that I am generally a reader of authors like Neal Stephenson and I had just finished all four volumes of the "Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolf before reading Zero Day, so it could be said that I am expecting far too much in the way of character development and scene-setting. But it wouldn't be an honest review if I didn't say that I'd like to see more in future novels from Mr. Russinovich. I thought the plot, while it had some twists, was fairly straight forward and basic. The solutions to problems were often a variation of the same theme (one all too often used in the tech industry.) There were a few points within the book where there were some contradictions in scene or action, sometimes on the same page - I found that distracting and the editors should have caught them because they didn't have to do with the tech aspects.So I decided on four stars because it is so rare to find accurate tech in fiction, and Mr. Russinovich is a stellar person to ensure that it is indeed accurate. Zero Day is a fast read and it kept me engaged. I look forward to his next literary endeavor.

As a real-life Microsoft guru, Mark Russinovich is in a great position to write an all-too-credible Cyber Thriller. Everybody sort of knows we're becoming far too reliant on computers for everything, but most of us just assume that somehow things will be okay. The experts know what they're doing and they'll keep us safe. In Zero Day, Mark Russinovich gives us a frightening glimpse of a realistic scenario - a concerted cyber attack on Western infrastructure - that's all too easy to believe. Presented as an exciting fiction story, the narrative sweeps you along at a relentless pace, the characters and writing are excellent, and the story itself is great. My only slight criticism would be that the sequences of instant messages where words contain no vowels at all, though maybe true to life, make that part a bit ambiguous. A brilliant book; anyone interested in computers should read it!

I expected a lot worse, not many fiction stories explaining computer security actually inform whilst telling a story. Zero day, whilst occasionally (well perhaps a lot) over estimating threats does get some key messages through whilst providing a relatively entertaining plot. Mark has a lot of history in infosec and that does come through in the book, the problem in this genre is that those with infosec knowledge will always be disappointed with a lack of detail, and those with no background will often get confused by the tech lingo. It's a step in the right direction, but I think Mark could do a better job in the future to keep techies and non techies entertained.

I will recommend to my friends, especially those who are interested in technology and cyber-security, but it is far and away from a perfect book.The technical side of things was great. It was clearly explained, and in a way that non-technical people can understand as well. The overall threat in the plot is a bit stretched, but it is still a chilling account of real threats and vulnerabilities in the world around us. I liked the fact that this part of the book took longer than I thought it would and the author did not quickly jump into action movie land.My critique is mostly focused on the writing and the plot. Firstly, I do not know if this is typical for this genre, but I found very distasteful the fact that every time there was a female character introduced or mentioned, the author would pay special attention to her looks and her sexual characteristics. I guess it makes sense for some characters, but this was literally every female character. Secondly, the two main characters are a drop-dead gorgeous couple - like models - as the author himself puts it. This felt kind of odd to me. Not saying it is impossible, but did they have to be perfect in absolutely every aspect? I also could not shake the feeling that the author was describing himself and (presumably) his wife all the time - which made it all a bit weird to me.I am having mixed feelings about the plot. I like the idea of using real-world events, but it all felt a bit stereotypical to me, like it was just another terrorist story. I am reading Daniel Suarez's  Daemon  now, and I find both the writing style, and the plot a lot more enjoyable.Overall, I did enjoy it, and I think a lot of people will, but I am not sure if I will pick it up again in the future. Daemon

I gave this book one star because there is no option to go any lower. Perhaps half of that star represents the fact that I read it to the end, alas for all the wrong reasons. The plot is worth a fraction of a star and has something of a Dan Brown Junior about it. The writing is abysmal. Quite frankly I'm amazed that Bill Gates and Nelson Demille endorsed it. The author has a very fine pedigree in the world of windows software but that does not translate into novel writing. Sorry Mark.

There's no way I can find to describe as "good" a book about the real life dangers that computer viruses could pose without coming across like I'm setting up a joke. But this is not only a well-written, interesting story, it's also technically competent -- and realistic -- which is no less than you'd expect coming from an author with Mr Russinovich's CV. It's earned its inclusion in the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Canon, which is how I found it.