Virtually True

by Adam L. Penenberg

True Ailey is a journalist in a strange land, exiled by his network to a damp Southeast Asian republic gouged out a war-ravaged peninsula weeping monsoon tears. When his friend is murdered, True sets out to find the killers, and in the process untangles a vast conspiracy that threatens to upend the global balance of power. Set in the near future, Virtually True takes readers on a wild ride through a world where nothing is what it seems, corporations rule, technology has been woven into the fabric of people's lives, and information can be both weapon and life-saver.

Award-winning journalist Adam Penenberg, whom Slate called "one of the best-known technology writers in the world," has peopled a literary thriller with unforgettable characters and crafted a plot worthy of Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Martin Cruz Smith.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Dystopia

334 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Adam L. Penenberg is a journalism professor at New York University who has written for Fast Company, Forbes, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Wired, Slate, Playboy, and the Economist. A former senior editor at Forbes and a reporter for Forbes.com, Penenberg garnered national attention in 1998 for unmasking serial fabricator Stephen Glass of the New Republic. Penenberg’s story was a watershed for online investigative journalism and portrayed in the film Shattered Glass (Steve Zahn plays Penenberg).

Penenberg has publishedseveral books that have been optioned for the movies and serialized in the New York Times Magazine, Wired UK, and the Financial Times , and won a Deadline Club Award for feature reporting for his Fast Company story “Revenge of the Nerd,” which looked at the future of moviemaking. He hasappeared on NBC’s The Today Show as well as on CNN and all the major news networks,and been quoted about media and technology in the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, Wired News, Ad Age, Marketwatch, Politico.

Reviews

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penenberg tries very hard to hip this up, with ingenious play of language, exotic environs, high-tech gadgets, and almost, dare say, virtually, succeeds. Unquestionably, the trip to the author's endpiece is entertaining, inventive, unpredictable, and makes one wish to stay in that idyll for just a while longer, but alas, eventually, it is time to wrap things up, and there finds ...

Penenberg's writing reminds me of the science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany in the way he makes up words and phrases that I take to mean one thing but turn out to be something else entirely. To my dismay, the story I thought headed in one direction had in fact taken a different turn a chapter or so back. And some discipline to stay the course and re-read sections is needed. (This, the reason I never finished Dhalgren.) But it does make for a unique and memorable reading experience.

This is a book that tries to be many things, a wry commentary on Japan Inc. and the brown republics, a cyberpunk movie played on VHS tape, a mad look at the oh-to-gritty world of cutthroat journalism. For sure, there is craziness all around, and nothing ever is as it seems.

I enjoyed the effort, notwithstanding some rough spots on the ride.

[Kim (Wistfulskimmies Book Reviews) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of True Ailie. He is recovering from a Virtual Reality addiction and in danger of losing his job as an ace reporter. Then a friend of his along with an eleven year old shanty orphan are killed with a futuristic bomb that tracks DNA to assure success. Now he must put together the pieces and find out why they were killed and how it ties in with an earthquake in Japan. Hampered by a corrupt police chief, it's not going to be as simple as it looks.

This was an interesting idea. Set within a dystopian future, the world has changed from how we know it. Some countries have gone and others have been created. True is interesting as the damaged hero, still lingering after his ex wife, recovering from a Virtual Reality addiction and trying to crack open a worldwide news scoop. This is a lesson on becoming too reliant and therefore ending up hooked on VR. In places it was confusing and the different strands were hard to keep up, but don't let that put you off as it all comes together rather nicely at the end and you will go 'Ohhh yeah!'. It is a little bit like 'Inception' in its approach and I rather liked that, it made it seem a little different to the books I normally read. This was a good techno thriller and I will be happy to read more of this genre and more from the author.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book's plot reminded me of Total Recall, which is why I read it to the end. I hoped that it would all suddenly make sense when everything was explained and resolved. However, the author's writing style was very hard to follow with lengthy (mostly unnecessary) descriptions and sentences bordering on "run-on." The twists and turns of the plot kept me reading, but never really came together coherently. I love tech drama and fantasy thrillers, but this book was just too technical and too extreme to suffer from the wordy writing style of the author.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Ailey is a journalist in a not too future world of high tech and world fragmentation. There are a lot of new countries around and their corruption level is high. As True tries to solve the murder of his friend, and stay alive while doing so, he gets deeper into vast corporate conspiracies.

There's a lot of technology thrown about and a good puzzle. I wouldn't want to live in True's world but I enjoyed visiting the dystopian future.

[Alannah Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across this book by accident and I'm glad I did, to be honest, I didn't think I would enjoy this high-tech dystopian novel but I was proven wrong very quickly. I felt like I was really immersed in the dystopian universe that the author was trying to create, I could very easily imagine it in my head while I was reading the book. I didn't give the book five stars as I still found it a bit confusing in some places but it ties together towards the end.

[Carly Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me

I'm all for exploring a dysfunctional dystopian future, but this one didn't capture me like others have. I finished it, but kinda wish I hadn't wasted my time. I wasn't a fan of the main character - even when in the middle of a war he felt cut off from everything, like he was viewing life from behind a panel of glass

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun cyber-thriller with a groan-inducing name. The characters are sometimes less-than-believable and the attempts to describe a compelling virtual reality world fall a bit short but at the end of the day it's a very entertaining thriller.

[Carla JFCL]

This is not in any way a bad book; it just failed to capture my attention. I decided after reading just over half of it that it just wasn't my cup of tea. (No stars given, because I think it's not quite fair to rate books I didn't finish ... )

[The TBR Pile *Book review site* · Rating 4 out of 5]

CONTEST: http://thetbrpile.weebly.com/1/post/2...

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun cyber thriller with a wild plot depicts a not unbelievable dystopian future. I can foresee today's tawdry journalism continuing to devolve into this virtual mess.

[Ankur Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I liked this book, but I did. I think it has to do with the descriptions of the seedy places where many scenes take place and the pidgin English - quite authentic.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Greg Otto · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pacing is slow, story failed to grab me, characters have bizarre names, writing is groan-worthy. Pass on this.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is too sci-fi for my taste. I couldn't get into it and quit after chapter 3.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hated it....

I could not get past 12%. I could not put together a visual that made sense.
Even science fiction can create a good visual to keep going. True,
was to weird for me.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wild ride with a journalist in virtual reality. Interesting concept, well told.

[Jean-marie Heard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it's just my genre but I couldn't finish it.