Internet Kill Switch

by Keith Ward

You can't text.

Can't Snap.

Can't Instagram.

No YouTube, no Twitter, no Facebook.

Your worst fear has come true: your phone doesn't work anymore.

What would you do?

If you're Tony Carver, nearly-invisible high-schooler, you wonder if the world's coming to and end. And you might be right.

Tony's safe, normal life is rocked when the world of social media suddenly shuts down. An apocalyptic madman has wrecked the Internet, and plunges America into chaos.

In a strange twist of fate, Tony stumbles across a smartphone like none he's ever seen before. It has a human-like personality -- it’s cocky, insulting and rude. But this amazing phone can also hack any network in the world with childlike ease.

That means Tony’s phone -- which has become a friend -- can fix the Internet and get America back on its feet, before it’s too late. If Tony has the courage and determination to do the right thing.

Tony’s not alone, though: risking it all with him are his best friend Rick, who has a taste for fast driving and rule breaking; and Scarlett, so stunning and smart that Tony knows she’s out of his league.

The Internet’s down. Armageddon will follow. Unless Tony and his friends -- and his phone -- can stop it.

You won't forget this dystopia that feels like it could happen tomorrow.

Because it could.

275 pages, ebook

First published January 12, 2014

About the author

For me, writing is an exploration. I put on my virtual pith helmet, grab my machete and start hacking through my mind, trying to find stuff that's interesting. Mostly, I just want to tell a good story -- I don't have grandiose ideas about changing the world through my prose (that would be nice, but nah -- it ain't happening).

I write mostly in the fantasy genre. I've loved fantasy since discovering Frodo, Gandalf and Smaug when I was still Hobbit-sized. For me, "The Lord of the Rings" represented how I wanted the world to be (heck, I'd still pay a lot of money for a ticket there, if anyone has one to sell). After that, it was "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", "Sword of Shannara" and any other fantasy novels I could get my hands on. The local library was my favorite place to be. I did more traveling there than anywhere else.

I've written in many other genres over the years (mostly during my unprofitable screenplay-writing days), including historical fiction, mystery, thriller, western and contemporary drama. But I always seem to come back to fantasy. As a genre, it's difficult to do, since you have to make up *everything* you write -- when a character walks somewhere, you have to decide what "somewhere" is -- but that's part of the appeal for me. I get to explore much further than the confines of this reality.

Ultimately writing is part of my soul. I do it because I must. I don't write to feel alive. I write because *I am* alive. I hope you'll come along on the journey with me.

Reviews

[Mererid Evanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went along for the ride on this one and found it enjoyable and engaging. I wanted to know what would happen next and was quietly confident it would turn out all right in the end – which made some shocking events even more shocking. So that's pretty good. Okay, I did find it a little preachy in places – even though I broadly agreed, even the choir shuffles a little during the preaching! Now I am an uncritical reader, but I could easily imagine a editor muttering "Where do I start!" and bringing out a big blue pencil. For the first quarter of the book it is a bit of a Disney teen drama, with a genie-like phone using its awesome powers to improve the life of a Texan high schooler, then it changes to a domestic terrorism techno-thriller, and next a road trip through a mini-apocalypse with the occasional idyllic interlude. Tony is a quietly enduring, soundly principled type of hero; his friend Rick is a taking-action, having-ideas type of hero; and the girl – what was her name again? – is really very pretty, apparently. The villain is clearly crazy, heartless, ruthless, a criminal, an atheist and even a racist, the swine – but might he be right??? The author rather seems to think so. So what is the message? Technology is a dubious benefit and some technology is sadly just so dangerous it shouldn't even exist? Is this thought-provoking or just baffling? I couldn't decide. It was one of those rides that make you feel dizzy and as if the world is wobbling.

[Mandy Walkden-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great message, well written and I'm so very pleased that I picked this one up, it was a delight!

Geek extraordinaire and thoroughly nice person, Tony somehow hits the jackpot when he stumbles upon the most extraordinary and definitely the snarkiest, smart phone on the planet, (obviously bears no relation to mine whatsoever - it won't even admit that snarkiest is a word) comforts a girl in tears who at first glance appears to be way out of his league, but inexplicably he finds himself going on a first date with her. And that's when it all falls apart. Or does it?

Absurdly, in retrospect, I was more than a little leery of reading this book so as to review it. Thought it was going to be the usual, all too frequent, angst-ridden YA novel full of whining teens. I've head-butted quite a few of those lately and have given up before reaching the halfway point. This was SO not one of those! it's clever, insightful, the young people intelligent, if a little naïve at times and there's no lack of action, drama (not the irritating kind) or suspense.

I received an e-ARC of this book and had absolutely no hesitation in writing a review; this was a terrific story!

[Daniell Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn’t sure what I really wanted to write here as just finished the book. Thinking over all the possibilities that this book represents. What would happen if we lost the internet? I know I text my kids, order online, connect with Facebook and look up things on the internet all the time. Connecting on the internet is how I got this book. Some of it wouldn’t be bad in the sense that people might actually talk, play board games or such and not be doing everything on a screen in front of their face. Yet so much could and probably would go bad also. Thought it was a story that made you connect with the characters, fall for a funny phone and question your everyday life. I did like how the author used teenagers as his main characters and not really strong ones at that. Yet you can see how they work with the problems facing them and try to do the best they can. There were a couple areas where it slowed down but overall a good book that I would recommend to others. I did receive an ARC from Hidden Gems for an honest review.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did. Unfortunately, Internet Kill Switch is a great idea bogged down by an extremely slow start and a main character who doesn't seem to have much of a personality beyond awkward-teenage-boy. This teenage boy has next to no technological expertise (especially when it comes to smartphones), yet discovers an incredibly technologically advanced phone and manages to befriend it. And to save the world, with the help of his hacker friend and very attractive female friend (who somehow falls for him when your average girl would go running for the hills).

Basically, the characters just didn't seem all that realistic or engaging, except Max (the phone). Unfortunately, even a super-sassy ultra-smart phone couldn't rescue this book for me. In the end, this book was a DNF for me.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

[Candy Robosky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Internet Kill Switch was an interesting read. I liked how it showed how even the bad guys who are out to destroy something can be doing it for a pretty good reason. We are truly too attached to technology. Alsonotall “good” guys are doing it for the right reasons. Just because one group or person hurt you does not give you the right to condemn all people based on similar race, religion, or the such. I loved Sani and loved the message she had. The trio were great protagonists and were great together despite the occasional problems. They were true friends. Just like with Max, love and friendship may come in the most unlikely forms or situations. Overall was a good read.
I'm giving this honest review after receiving a free copy of the book.

[Valery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat slow, but decent read. Needs some editing as there are several missing or added words throughout the book.

For my clean readers: language-everything short of the f-bomb. Violence-murder, gore, etc. Romance-kissing, discussiom of sex, borders on graphic.