The Hanged Man's Song
Kidd 4
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
The ultimate con game thriller from the internationally bestselling master of suspense, John Sandford
A super-hacker friend of Kidd's named Bobby suddenly disappears from cyberspace, and Kidd - artist, computer ace and professional criminal - knows that isn't a good sign. Going over to his house, he finds Bobby dead on the floor, his head bashed in and his laptop missing.
The secrets on that laptop are potent enough to hang Kidd and everybody else in Bobby's circle - just to start with. But before Kidd and his partner LuEllen can get very far in their attempts to track the laptop down, the secrets start coming out anyway - and they're much more staggering than even Kidd imagined. Because it's not just about the lives of a circle of friends and colleagues now - it's about something much, much bigger. And much, much more terrifying . . .
***Praise for John Sandford***
‘One of the great novelists of all time’ Stephen King
‘A series writer who reads like a breath of fresh air’ Daily Mirror
‘Delivers twists to the very last sentence’ Daily Mail
‘Crime writer John Sandford is one of the best around’ Sun
'John Sandford knows all there is to know about detonating the gut-level shocks of a good thriller' The New York Times Book Review
'Sandford is consistently brilliant' Cleveland Plain Dealer
‘Perfect entertainment’ Kirkus Reviews on Escape Clause
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This series of techno-suspense novels featuring artist, computer wizard and professional criminal Kidd (The Fool's Run; The Empress File; The Devil's Code) and his sometime girlfriend, cat-burglar LuEllen, are far fewer in number and less well-known than Sandford's bestselling Prey books. In this entry, Bobby, Kidd's genius hacker friend ("Bobby is the deus ex machina for the hacking community, the fount of all knowledge, the keeper of secrets, the source of critical phone numbers, a guide through the darkness of IBM mainframes"), goes offline for good when he is hammered to death by an intruder. Bobby's laptop is stolen, which is bad news for Kidd as several of his more illegal transactions may be catalogued on the hard drive. Kidd needs to find the computer, break the encryption and revenge Bobby's death. The trail leads from Kidd's St. Paul, Minn., art studio to heat-stricken rural Mississippi and on to Washington, D.C., where Kidd uncovers a government conspiracy that threatens the reputations and livelihood of most of the nation's elected representatives. One of the joys of the series is learning the tricks of computer hacking and basic burglary as Kidd and LuEllen take us to Radio Shack, Target, Home Depot and an all-night supermarket to buy ordinary gear, including a can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew, to use in clever, illegal ways. The action is as hot and twisted as a Mississippi back road, but the indefatigable Kidd eventually straightens it all out and exacts a sort of rough justice that matches his flexible moral code. The early entries in this series have aged badly because of the advances in technology, but this latest intelligent and exciting thriller proves a worthy addition to Sandford's overall body of work.Forecast:Sandford's fans have shown a willingness to embrace the Kidd series in the past. The author, who will make only limited personal appearances for this book, is working on the 15th in the Prey series.
