What do you think?
Rate this book
Rex Corvan #1
Matrix Man
Rex Corvan is the World's Greatest Reporter. It's not the video camera implanted in his right eye. It's not his popularity with news audiences everywhere. What makes him a great reporter is his determination to run toward the story. With a killer on his tail, hopefully Rex can run fast enough. With his video technician Kim, Rex unravels the mystery of Matrix Man, a dangerous program controlled by a secret group looking to subvert the government. They've already infiltrated the White House with deadly results. Now, they're coming after Rex and Kim. If Rex can break the story, it'll be the scoop of a lifetime. As long as his lifetime lasts long enough to get it done....
Mass Market Paperback
First published October 3, 1990
9 people are currently reading
80 people want to read
About the author
William C. Dietz
124 books450 followersNew York Times bestselling author William C. Dietz has published more than fifty novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the Navy and Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Washington, and has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, and television news writer, director and producer. Before becoming a full-time writer Dietz was director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company. He and his wife live near Gig Harbor, Washington.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 21, 2022
I came upon this book via The Portalist which recommended the sequel to this so I had to begin at the beginning. The second book is set on Mars but I figured getting the origin story was probably a good idea first in this duology.
There are quite a few typos that a rigorous edit would fix. Especially annoying was the instance of "die" popping up where "the" should be far too many times not to annoy. I didn't highlight them all but it was very distracting and did affect my overall enjoyment and cost this a star.
But I have to give this story great credit for the setting. The world here is in some serious ecological turmoil and there are more people than can be sustained. This has led to a number of factional conflicts, including a group that wants to coalesce a one government system for all nations (all the better for the economic markets the corporations say) and there's a group that basically is all about that Earth exodus. This world has deep fakes (a major plot point), remote work for White House staffers who live all over the country, a maglev where the interstate used to run from Seattle to San Francisco and billionaires sending rockets into space on the regular on any day that ends in Y.
This book was originally published in 1990. There are company names mentioned as being on the cutting edge of technology that made it feel dated but honestly, it was a minor thing because other technology in the story is a part of daily life now and one could see how there may be more to come. Particularly interesting was the level of merging of people with technology. Characters thought nothing of plugging themselves into it via jacks in their temples. Corporations paid an entire lower class of people to implant chips in their brains that surveilled everything they saw in a given day passively to rate all sorts of things and target marketing more effectively. Of course, that's not all it was used for. The use of disinformation here was thought-provoking as well and provided disturbing and all to relatable moments as I read. The main characters were serviceable for this story and even though I didn't buy their insta-love, there wasn't enough of it to weigh down the rest. They did work well together as a team to get the truth out to the masses. The villains are interesting and I liked how their perspectives were given a thorough examination. I also appreciated how the "good" side can be just as self-serving and villainous as the "bad" side and that proved to be a worthy challenge for the main characters to have to navigate. There's a lot of well done action also.
I'm glad I read this and look forward to reading the second but given that I'm typoed out right now (though I've no way of knowing if the second book is similarly plagued), I'm going to read something else next.
There are quite a few typos that a rigorous edit would fix. Especially annoying was the instance of "die" popping up where "the" should be far too many times not to annoy. I didn't highlight them all but it was very distracting and did affect my overall enjoyment and cost this a star.
But I have to give this story great credit for the setting. The world here is in some serious ecological turmoil and there are more people than can be sustained. This has led to a number of factional conflicts, including a group that wants to coalesce a one government system for all nations (all the better for the economic markets the corporations say) and there's a group that basically is all about that Earth exodus. This world has deep fakes (a major plot point), remote work for White House staffers who live all over the country, a maglev where the interstate used to run from Seattle to San Francisco and billionaires sending rockets into space on the regular on any day that ends in Y.
This book was originally published in 1990. There are company names mentioned as being on the cutting edge of technology that made it feel dated but honestly, it was a minor thing because other technology in the story is a part of daily life now and one could see how there may be more to come. Particularly interesting was the level of merging of people with technology. Characters thought nothing of plugging themselves into it via jacks in their temples. Corporations paid an entire lower class of people to implant chips in their brains that surveilled everything they saw in a given day passively to rate all sorts of things and target marketing more effectively. Of course, that's not all it was used for. The use of disinformation here was thought-provoking as well and provided disturbing and all to relatable moments as I read. The main characters were serviceable for this story and even though I didn't buy their insta-love, there wasn't enough of it to weigh down the rest. They did work well together as a team to get the truth out to the masses. The villains are interesting and I liked how their perspectives were given a thorough examination. I also appreciated how the "good" side can be just as self-serving and villainous as the "bad" side and that proved to be a worthy challenge for the main characters to have to navigate. There's a lot of well done action also.
I'm glad I read this and look forward to reading the second but given that I'm typoed out right now (though I've no way of knowing if the second book is similarly plagued), I'm going to read something else next.
July 19, 2018
Dietz, William C. Matrix Man. Rex Corvan No. 1. Roc, 1990.
Matrix Man is essentially a Columbo-style mystery in which we see the crime early, know who did it, and then watch our investigative reporting team and their faithful computer Martin figure it out. This is more fun and has more action than one might suspect. There are three science gimmicks here: (1) an AI with enough common sense to make ethical decisions on its own; (2) a reporter who has had one of his eyes replaced by a video camera; and (3) holography so good that it allows someone to conceal the murder of the president of the United States until the killer has a chance to reconstruct the crime and provide a convincing alibi. Real Fake News.
Matrix Man is essentially a Columbo-style mystery in which we see the crime early, know who did it, and then watch our investigative reporting team and their faithful computer Martin figure it out. This is more fun and has more action than one might suspect. There are three science gimmicks here: (1) an AI with enough common sense to make ethical decisions on its own; (2) a reporter who has had one of his eyes replaced by a video camera; and (3) holography so good that it allows someone to conceal the murder of the president of the United States until the killer has a chance to reconstruct the crime and provide a convincing alibi. Real Fake News.
March 21, 2023
Cheesy '80s Sci-fi written by local author. Good escapism.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews