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Jeff Aiken #1
A nulladik nap
Egy utasszállító gép műszerei váratlanul felmondják a szolgálatot az Atlanti-óceán felett. Egy olajszállító hajó megfeneklik Japán partjainál, miután a navigációs rendszere hirtelen leáll. A kórházaknak le kell mondaniuk számítógépes adatbázisaikról, mert a nyilvántartott adatok alapján több beteg meghal gyógyszer-túladagolás miatt. Az USA közép-nyugati részén egy atomerőműben csaknem bekövetkezik a következő csernobili atomkatasztrófa, amikor a hűtőrendszerek meghibásodnak. Első pillantásra ezek véletlenszerű eseményeknek tűnhetnek, amelyeket nem lehet egymáshoz kapcsolni. De Jeff Aiken, a volt kormányzati elemző, akit mélységesen felháborítottak a 2001. szeptember 11-i terrortámadáshoz vezető súlyos hibák, másként gondolja. Jeff gyanúja szerint egy jóval komolyabb támadás fenyegeti az Egyesült Államok számítógépes infrastruktúráját. Ahogy a világ több pontján egyre vészjóslóbb meghibásodások keletkeznek, amelyek közül néhány halálos áldozatokat is követel, Jeff felismeri, hogy nincs vesztegetni való ideje, ha szeretne megakadályozni egy nemzetközi katasztrófát. A világszerte elismert kiberbiztonsági szakértő tollából származó A nulladik nap lebilincselő mi lenne, ha forgatókönyvet vázol fel, amely a mai, teljes mértékben a technológiára támaszkodó világban bekövetkezhetne – talán küszöbön áll egy világméretű katasztrófa? Mark Russinovich a Microsoft Windows Azure csapatának főmunkatársa ez a Microsoftnál a legmagasabb szakmai pozíció. Mark a Carnegie Mellon Egyetemen szerezte doktori címét A Microsofthoz akkor lépett be, amikor az felvásárolta a Winternals Software céget, amelyet Mark másokkal együtt 1996-ban alapított. Mark a szerzője a Windows felügyeletét és diagnosztikáját segítő népszerű Sysinternals programoknak is. Társszerzője a Microsoft Press Windows Internals könyvsorozatának, szerkesztője a TechNet Magazine szaklapnak, és vezető szerkesztője a Windows IT Pro Magazine folyóiratnak is. Mark Washington államban él feleségével és lányával.
350 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2011
231 people are currently reading
4112 people want to read
About the author
Mark E. Russinovich
47 books365 followersMark Russinovich is a Technical Fellow in Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud operating system group. Russinovich is a widely recognized expert in Windows operating system internals as well as operating system architecture and design.
Russinovich joined Microsoft when Microsoft acquired Winternals software, the company he cofounded in 1996 and where he worked as Chief Software Architect. He is also cofounder of Sysinternals.com, where he wrote and published dozens of popular Windows administration and diagnostic utilities including Autoruns, Process Explorer and Tcpview.
Russinovich coauthored "Windows Internals" and "The Sysinternals Administrator's Reference," both from Microsoft Press, authored the cyberthriller Zero Day, is a Contributing Editor for TechNet Magazine and Senior Contributing Editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine, and has written many articles on Windows internals. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences around the world, including Microsoft's TechEd, IT Forum, and Professional Developer's Conference, as well as Windows Connections, Windev, and TechMentor, and has taught Windows internals, troubleshooting and file system and device driver development to companies worldwide, including Microsoft, the CIA and the FBI. Russinovich earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Russinovich joined Microsoft when Microsoft acquired Winternals software, the company he cofounded in 1996 and where he worked as Chief Software Architect. He is also cofounder of Sysinternals.com, where he wrote and published dozens of popular Windows administration and diagnostic utilities including Autoruns, Process Explorer and Tcpview.
Russinovich coauthored "Windows Internals" and "The Sysinternals Administrator's Reference," both from Microsoft Press, authored the cyberthriller Zero Day, is a Contributing Editor for TechNet Magazine and Senior Contributing Editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine, and has written many articles on Windows internals. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences around the world, including Microsoft's TechEd, IT Forum, and Professional Developer's Conference, as well as Windows Connections, Windev, and TechMentor, and has taught Windows internals, troubleshooting and file system and device driver development to companies worldwide, including Microsoft, the CIA and the FBI. Russinovich earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 542 reviews
January 26, 2013
This is the second of the technology themed first novels that I listened to this month. Russinovich is a fairly well known programmer at Microsoft, which is to say that he is very well known in the tech community but not so much in the "real" world. This book has been raved about among techies and was reputed to be "timely". I feel bad for the guy. Really. However, you really should read an actual novel before you decide to write one. I don't mean a graphic novel or something by Elmore Leonard, although I like both. I mean something by say, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Melville. You know, a real book.
The novel is not so much written as assembled, like pieces of computer code. It has all of the narrative cohesion and literary quality as compiled basic. He doesn't understand concepts like climax, epilogue, verb
OK, so first you have your handsome studly (you don't look like a geek) former CIA security specialist still pining over his dead girlfriend killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center despite his urgent warning because he saw the whole thing coming but his stupid boss wouldn't listen.
Then you have your beautiful Asian OK half Asian IT director at major law firm sleeping with the managing partner there only to get murdered on account of the..
One true love (after the dead girlfriend, of course) beautiful (of course) blond (of course) brilliant (of course) government agency director/former colleague who teams up with our hero and finds the time to make him forget his dead girlfriend while they dash around the world trying to save us from the mother of all malware attacks scheduled to strike on YOU GUESSED IT 9/11.
Then there are the "She is no danger. After all, she is only a woman" Arab terrorist bad guys. No seriously and love scenes that made me want to cover my eyes while I was driving.
Don't get me started on the Russians.
This isn't a novel. It is a train wreck like Windows ME. I'm peeping through my fingers.
The novel is not so much written as assembled, like pieces of computer code. It has all of the narrative cohesion and literary quality as compiled basic. He doesn't understand concepts like climax, epilogue, verb
OK, so first you have your handsome studly (you don't look like a geek) former CIA security specialist still pining over his dead girlfriend killed on 9/11 at the World Trade Center despite his urgent warning because he saw the whole thing coming but his stupid boss wouldn't listen.
Then you have your beautiful Asian OK half Asian IT director at major law firm sleeping with the managing partner there only to get murdered on account of the..
One true love (after the dead girlfriend, of course) beautiful (of course) blond (of course) brilliant (of course) government agency director/former colleague who teams up with our hero and finds the time to make him forget his dead girlfriend while they dash around the world trying to save us from the mother of all malware attacks scheduled to strike on YOU GUESSED IT 9/11.
Then there are the "She is no danger. After all, she is only a woman" Arab terrorist bad guys. No seriously and love scenes that made me want to cover my eyes while I was driving.
Don't get me started on the Russians.
This isn't a novel. It is a train wreck like Windows ME. I'm peeping through my fingers.
November 30, 2019
4 stars.
Will read it again.
Maybe do a review down the road. This book is that good. One part is far fetch which is why I gave it 4 stars. However, considering what happen, anything is possible. The author knows his technical stuff. He writes so a non techie can follow. I am still learning the world of IT. It is a lifelong learning journey. Read the author bio. Do Google search with respectable resources and see for yourself.
🇺🇸💀
Will read it again.
Maybe do a review down the road. This book is that good. One part is far fetch which is why I gave it 4 stars. However, considering what happen, anything is possible. The author knows his technical stuff. He writes so a non techie can follow. I am still learning the world of IT. It is a lifelong learning journey. Read the author bio. Do Google search with respectable resources and see for yourself.
🇺🇸💀
October 1, 2011
A little disappointed. I've heard a lot of hype about this book, but it had some issues. I found the flow awkward and some of the characters seemed silted. Is the premise believable? Yeah. Did the solution make sense? Not really sure. [return][return]The technology descriptions also seemed out of place and didn't flow well. I'm not sure they would have done much for someone who didn't know the lingo, and those who did would find some of the descriptions strange and over-simplistic.[return][return]And the irc/im talks gave me a headache. I'm a regular on several irc channels and how people communicate on there is quite varied. However, I've never seen anything approaching what this book has. The dialog in the book is all in abbreviated painful style regardless of what character is typing. I've never seen anyone chat like that outside of cruddy movies and tv shows. [return][return](In a related note I wouldn't recommend using the word cum for come in a chat channel.....just don't. The fact so many different characters used that abbreviation...just weird.)[return][return]Not a bad read, but not a great one either. Maybe the second book by this author will be better.
August 28, 2012
A singularly bad novel. The writing is unbearable. The plot is predictable and unoriginal. The entire book is technically inaccurate. Russinovich is a respected expert in the field of windows operating system internals, but he clearly has no real idea about real malware, exploitation and the underground. It seems that his perspective is completely skewed, and he attempts to write with technical confidence about areas which are clearly outside his field of expertise. I honestly believe that any halfway decent thriller writer with an ounce of research ability would have written this story far better than Russinovich did. It would probably have been an excellent Clancy or Ludlum novel. But then, those guys can write.
The writing itself is terrible. It is so inept that it seems clear that the author is either a non-native speaker, or an American. Cliches are everywhere, and the whole thing has the feel of a high-school creative essay gone awry.
Bringing Muslim fundamentalism and 9/11 into the novel was a uninspired choice. It felt like a cheap tactic, especially when the protagonist 'discovers' information which could have prevented the attacks, but was unable to do anything due to bureucratic issue. It felt somewhat disrespectful.
Worse than all the above is that because of Russinovich's supposedly excellent technical credentials, the average reader will think that this is an accurate depiction of the state of affairs, which may well leave him unable to face or accept the real dangers out there.
The writing itself is terrible. It is so inept that it seems clear that the author is either a non-native speaker, or an American. Cliches are everywhere, and the whole thing has the feel of a high-school creative essay gone awry.
Bringing Muslim fundamentalism and 9/11 into the novel was a uninspired choice. It felt like a cheap tactic, especially when the protagonist 'discovers' information which could have prevented the attacks, but was unable to do anything due to bureucratic issue. It felt somewhat disrespectful.
Worse than all the above is that because of Russinovich's supposedly excellent technical credentials, the average reader will think that this is an accurate depiction of the state of affairs, which may well leave him unable to face or accept the real dangers out there.
April 24, 2011
I used to dream of writing a thriller. I bought and read dozens of how-to books, and from years of practiced study have an eye and ear for the genres of adventure and mystery. Eyes and ears which have been royally abused by "Zero Day" by Mark Russinovich.
You see, if you took the shallowest plot ever ("signs of trouble show up in specialist's field; he and beautiful women investigate; bad guys are scheming; the hero and his harem are not believed; bad guys threaten the hero and (importantly) harem; hero and harem vanquish the bad guys!"), set it in the field of computer security (Russinovich apparently was a big schmeckel at Microsoft), and do nothing else--tada, you've written "Zero Day"! Now garnish with cover quotes from Bill Gates, White House cybersecurity coordinators, and other thriller authors, and you've got yourself this smelly festering unflushable turd in Literature's toilet bowl.
"Surely," you say, "it can't be that bad!"
"Ha!" I snort, "and stop calling me Shirley." It is that bad. Take, for example, the female characters. Women are, exclusively, universally, and apparently unthinkingly, described in terms of their attractiveness.
"A certain shine in her eye?" Is this asshole meeting a potential client or is he judging a dog show?
Russinovich's prose is also stunning, but sadly not attractive.
Ok, I could go on but I won't. The highly-sexualized writing is just unpleasant, as though one were reading a computer manual on manipulating text where every example sentence was about "big tits" and "anal sex".
More offensive to my tastes than the crotch-shot prose is the shallowness. I have come to realize that I like three things in my books: I like the plot to drive the story forward energetically, I like the writing to work on multiple levels, and I want realistic characters who change over the course of the story. Of those, I get 0.5: the story does move forward, and sometimes the author achieves an "I wonder what happens next?" feeling. But for the other two, we're short a meaty mind meal and instead left with literary bones to gnaw on.
Let's take writing on multiple levels. Well, other than the groin level and the computer security nerd level (yes, he DOES show an assembly language section, and I can only assume his long-suffering coauthor or editor removed the line-by-line explanation of what the assembly language does that I expected) there's little here for you. No insightful commentary on modern society (the villains are Arabs, the Asian chick is fuckable, and computers are all hackable) and certainly no parallels. I like "Knife of Never Letting Go" because you see one thing and hear echoes of another: men can't read women's minds, and the teenage boy protagonist makes you realize it's exactly the same for us--men struggle to figure out women. But there's no parallels here, no analogies, nothing to make you think anything other than "how many pages to go, again?"
And do characters change? Well, some of them die. And the protagonist does change: he gets over his pining and guilt for his fiancee who died in the World Trade Center. How do we know? He sleeps with a beautiful computer security researcher. Back to the crotch.
This book left me glad. Glad, specifically, of two things: (1) that I am not Russinovich's wife, because the insight into his mind is not pleasant; and (2) that I will never again read a Russinovich novel. Even if such a beast were to make it past the editors of a major publishing house, it won't make it past my filters. You know how you think "I could write better?" I've written no novels, and I've already done better than "Zero Day".
You see, if you took the shallowest plot ever ("signs of trouble show up in specialist's field; he and beautiful women investigate; bad guys are scheming; the hero and his harem are not believed; bad guys threaten the hero and (importantly) harem; hero and harem vanquish the bad guys!"), set it in the field of computer security (Russinovich apparently was a big schmeckel at Microsoft), and do nothing else--tada, you've written "Zero Day"! Now garnish with cover quotes from Bill Gates, White House cybersecurity coordinators, and other thriller authors, and you've got yourself this smelly festering unflushable turd in Literature's toilet bowl.
"Surely," you say, "it can't be that bad!"
"Ha!" I snort, "and stop calling me Shirley." It is that bad. Take, for example, the female characters. Women are, exclusively, universally, and apparently unthinkingly, described in terms of their attractiveness.
Sue was slender, of partial Asian heritage, late twenties, with jet-black hair stylishly cut in a bob. Her slender lips were a crimson slash, and she wore more makeup than he was used to seeing in offices. Beneath her shirt he detected modest breasts, but her figure struck him as all angles. Her grip was firm, but there was no denying a certain shine in her eye as she met his gaze."
"A certain shine in her eye?" Is this asshole meeting a potential client or is he judging a dog show?
Dr. Daryl Haugen, dressed casually in jeans and a snug blouse, paused before responding. Slender and just over average height, with a fair complexion and blond, shoulder-length hair, she was stunningly attractive.
Russinovich's prose is also stunning, but sadly not attractive.
Ok, I could go on but I won't. The highly-sexualized writing is just unpleasant, as though one were reading a computer manual on manipulating text where every example sentence was about "big tits" and "anal sex".
More offensive to my tastes than the crotch-shot prose is the shallowness. I have come to realize that I like three things in my books: I like the plot to drive the story forward energetically, I like the writing to work on multiple levels, and I want realistic characters who change over the course of the story. Of those, I get 0.5: the story does move forward, and sometimes the author achieves an "I wonder what happens next?" feeling. But for the other two, we're short a meaty mind meal and instead left with literary bones to gnaw on.
Let's take writing on multiple levels. Well, other than the groin level and the computer security nerd level (yes, he DOES show an assembly language section, and I can only assume his long-suffering coauthor or editor removed the line-by-line explanation of what the assembly language does that I expected) there's little here for you. No insightful commentary on modern society (the villains are Arabs, the Asian chick is fuckable, and computers are all hackable) and certainly no parallels. I like "Knife of Never Letting Go" because you see one thing and hear echoes of another: men can't read women's minds, and the teenage boy protagonist makes you realize it's exactly the same for us--men struggle to figure out women. But there's no parallels here, no analogies, nothing to make you think anything other than "how many pages to go, again?"
And do characters change? Well, some of them die. And the protagonist does change: he gets over his pining and guilt for his fiancee who died in the World Trade Center. How do we know? He sleeps with a beautiful computer security researcher. Back to the crotch.
This book left me glad. Glad, specifically, of two things: (1) that I am not Russinovich's wife, because the insight into his mind is not pleasant; and (2) that I will never again read a Russinovich novel. Even if such a beast were to make it past the editors of a major publishing house, it won't make it past my filters. You know how you think "I could write better?" I've written no novels, and I've already done better than "Zero Day".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2013
This has to have been the most painful book I have ever finished listening to. Filled with pointless detail, racial stereotyping, and gratuitous smut, the book is bad enough, but the audio-book makes it all worse by not accounting for the change in media. The phrase "spelled 'Superphreak' instead of 'Superfreak'" makes perfect sense when seen. When read aloud, not so much. When reading an e-mail represented in the book, must the reader *really* spell out every bit of the line "From: Xhugo1101 <xhugo1101@msn.com>" as "from ex hugo one one oh one, ex hugo one one oh one at em ess en dot com", and do so every time, for every address, in every e-mail (and there's plenty of e-mails in the book). Perhaps the worst, considering the subject matter, was when the reader actually spelled out a bit of hex-based machine code ... for a minute-and-a-half straight. Or was it one of the times that the reader spelled out "l33t-speak" phrases, making them completely impossible to understand? ("Ess aitch three, double-you exclamation point ell ell, en three vee three are, ell three tee, you are, ess pee exclamation point are exclamation point tee zee, dee zero double-you en."* Really?!) And finally, after saying "eye see cue" ("ICQ") a half-dozen times, the reader says it "eye cue see". Does anyone actually listen to these things before they're published? Seriously.
* - "Sh3 w!ll n3v3r l3t ur sp!r!tz d0wn"
* - "Sh3 w!ll n3v3r l3t ur sp!r!tz d0wn"
September 14, 2014
This novel is molasses-slow and suffers from strange style choices, like the atrociously-spelled chat logs. The characters are somewhat appealing in their generic nature, but are still Mary Sues and Gary Stus. The novel truly suffers from the insertion of Russinovich's racist and sexist views into the story. Perhaps the worst quote is one page 255, which reads,
"In this time of exhibitionist tattoos and body piercing, with the supposed equality of the sexes, it seemed to Jeff that many women were just mimicking drunken sailors on shore leave in their expressions of independence. One of the consequences, he believed, was that men of his generation, and those of the one coming up, seemed no longer to respect women or hold them in the esteem they once had."
It's news to me that only women - and only drunken sailors - get tattoos and body piercings. Either Russinovich thinks that tattoos are more rare than they are, or he is applying an unpleasant double standard to women's and men's bodies. The opinion of "Jeff" (really, Mark) that women are to blame for men's poor and disrespectful behavior is as ridiculous as it is revolting. Especially ironic is that the oh-so-respectful Russinovich mixes up the names of the women in the novel at several points.
The Islamophobia is a continuous unpleasant hum throughout the novel.
I would not recommend this novel to anyone but the most patient and tolerant reader. Neil Stephenson's "Snow Crash" does the same idea better.
"In this time of exhibitionist tattoos and body piercing, with the supposed equality of the sexes, it seemed to Jeff that many women were just mimicking drunken sailors on shore leave in their expressions of independence. One of the consequences, he believed, was that men of his generation, and those of the one coming up, seemed no longer to respect women or hold them in the esteem they once had."
It's news to me that only women - and only drunken sailors - get tattoos and body piercings. Either Russinovich thinks that tattoos are more rare than they are, or he is applying an unpleasant double standard to women's and men's bodies. The opinion of "Jeff" (really, Mark) that women are to blame for men's poor and disrespectful behavior is as ridiculous as it is revolting. Especially ironic is that the oh-so-respectful Russinovich mixes up the names of the women in the novel at several points.
The Islamophobia is a continuous unpleasant hum throughout the novel.
I would not recommend this novel to anyone but the most patient and tolerant reader. Neil Stephenson's "Snow Crash" does the same idea better.
May 6, 2025
DNF. Too much techno talk and I’m annoyed with computers, especially how AI has basically taken over the world (that would make an interesting story: AI vs. the world).
A computer virus takes over and creates havoc in hospitals, airplanes, nuclear plants, etc. which need computers in order to work.
The main character, Jeff is a cyber security expert who used to work for the CIA and knew about the problems of 9/11.
It feels like this story could have gone somewhere, but no. It seems like Jeff spends half the book sitting in an inclosed tech room figuring out the virus.
A little bit on the boring side.
Not recommended!
I would love to see a story written in the present of all technology and wifi failing and of how society copes with that.
A computer virus takes over and creates havoc in hospitals, airplanes, nuclear plants, etc. which need computers in order to work.
The main character, Jeff is a cyber security expert who used to work for the CIA and knew about the problems of 9/11.
It feels like this story could have gone somewhere, but no. It seems like Jeff spends half the book sitting in an inclosed tech room figuring out the virus.
A little bit on the boring side.
Not recommended!
I would love to see a story written in the present of all technology and wifi failing and of how society copes with that.
October 21, 2012
Being in the IT field, I was excited to read this book, both for the subject matter and considering the Russinovich’s accomplished experience in the field. Plus, I’m a sucker for a good thriller. Unfortunately, maybe my IT background was also what made it somewhat disappointing to me, with certain plot details and even writing styles being a bit annoying to me.
One incredibly irritating example so divorced from reality that cropped up again and again was how everyone—EVERYONE—seems to be so sorely inconvenienced by their keyboards that they can’t type a single word to completion when in IRC, forums or IMs. Granted, many abbreviations are used (and abused) today in text messages and IMs, but I have never seen it as ridiculous and ludicrous as Russinovich makes it, especially among professionals (who make up the main characters). One would think that Russinovich’s knowledge of the field was limited to Hollywood’s version of it and not reality!
Another example is the various effects of the viruses, some of which are just inconceivable. On the one hand, most of the targeted computers just shut down and “die”. But, then you have the bizarre ones (for plot effect, I suppose), such as the assembly line machines attacking a person. Twice. And why most computers would “die” while an airplane’s computer can somehow be rebooted successfully is another inconsistency.
And that’s to say nothing of the “blue screens” followed by the “black screens” with the Hollywood-style simplistic messages. (Why the simplicity with those messages, but the ridiculously technical text dumps of the assembly code in other parts of the book?)
While I’m highlighting the negative aspects of this book, let me add one more: THE ENDING. Absolutely terrible. It was almost as though Russinovich just ran out of time or steam and just “hmmm, I’ll just write a whole load of neat plot wrap-ups into a detailed memo from one character to another (deus ex machina style)”. And that’s to say nothing of the unsatisfying ending just prior to those wrap-ups. I was sorely disappointed and would have given the book 4 stars if it weren’t for this severe disappointing ending plus lazy, copout wrap-up.
Now the positives: it was fast-paced and exciting, and the characters—while not exactly exciting or really fleshed out—were adequate enough to support the exciting plot. The book won’t win any literary awards, but that’s the point: no flowery prose, no rambling tangents; just a page-turning, rapidly-moving plot that makes you want to read the whole thing in one sitting. And that was good enough to keep me entertained for almost all of it, and to get a solid 3 stars.
One incredibly irritating example so divorced from reality that cropped up again and again was how everyone—EVERYONE—seems to be so sorely inconvenienced by their keyboards that they can’t type a single word to completion when in IRC, forums or IMs. Granted, many abbreviations are used (and abused) today in text messages and IMs, but I have never seen it as ridiculous and ludicrous as Russinovich makes it, especially among professionals (who make up the main characters). One would think that Russinovich’s knowledge of the field was limited to Hollywood’s version of it and not reality!
Another example is the various effects of the viruses, some of which are just inconceivable. On the one hand, most of the targeted computers just shut down and “die”. But, then you have the bizarre ones (for plot effect, I suppose), such as the assembly line machines attacking a person. Twice. And why most computers would “die” while an airplane’s computer can somehow be rebooted successfully is another inconsistency.
And that’s to say nothing of the “blue screens” followed by the “black screens” with the Hollywood-style simplistic messages. (Why the simplicity with those messages, but the ridiculously technical text dumps of the assembly code in other parts of the book?)
While I’m highlighting the negative aspects of this book, let me add one more: THE ENDING. Absolutely terrible. It was almost as though Russinovich just ran out of time or steam and just “hmmm, I’ll just write a whole load of neat plot wrap-ups into a detailed memo from one character to another (deus ex machina style)”. And that’s to say nothing of the unsatisfying ending just prior to those wrap-ups. I was sorely disappointed and would have given the book 4 stars if it weren’t for this severe disappointing ending plus lazy, copout wrap-up.
Now the positives: it was fast-paced and exciting, and the characters—while not exactly exciting or really fleshed out—were adequate enough to support the exciting plot. The book won’t win any literary awards, but that’s the point: no flowery prose, no rambling tangents; just a page-turning, rapidly-moving plot that makes you want to read the whole thing in one sitting. And that was good enough to keep me entertained for almost all of it, and to get a solid 3 stars.
June 6, 2013
I was really looking forward to this book, and so was very disappointed when I finally got to it.
I'm going to put most of this in a spoiler tag just for those who haven't read it.. but if you haven't, then you'll soon see the problems the book has on your own.. stilted text, wooden characters, improbable and downright ridiculous plot points, rushed ending and some of the worst dialog between characters I have ever seen in a book.
Definitely wouldn't bother reading anything else from this author unless I read some VERY VERY good reviews.
I'm going to put most of this in a spoiler tag just for those who haven't read it.. but if you haven't, then you'll soon see the problems the book has on your own.. stilted text, wooden characters, improbable and downright ridiculous plot points, rushed ending and some of the worst dialog between characters I have ever seen in a book.
Definitely wouldn't bother reading anything else from this author unless I read some VERY VERY good reviews.
March 19, 2011
‘Make no mistake, we are at war and we are losing.’
If you have ever experienced the effects of a computer virus, Trojan horse or other attack on your computer, you know what it’s like when your computer doesn’t respond as it should. And you know, too, the challenge of fixing the problems, or having someone fix them for you. It’s not usually a matter of life or death though, is it?
But imagine what would happen if a whole lot of computers, controlling critical or important functions around the world were suddenly infected, and the infection was self-replicating and could not easily be fixed. In today’s world, computers are an integral part of almost everything. So it’s worryingly easy to imagine what can go wrong. The implications might not just be financial.
In ‘Zero Day’, the effects are deadly. An airplane drops thousands of feet in seconds, and the crew are unsure whether they can recover control. Computerised medication programs in a hospital have gone awry, resulting in multiple deaths. Automatic production line robots in a car assembly plant malfunction, causing the death of a man. And that’s just the beginning.
Jeff Aiken, a former government analyst who witnessed the mistakes made before September 11, suspects that these events are not just coincidental. Jeff begins to believe that these incidents form part of a serious cyber-terrorist plot, and finds himself in a race against time to try to prevent international disaster.
I mostly enjoyed this novel: it all seems frighteningly plausible, and the plot developments kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. At times, though, the narrative was overwhelmed by repetition, and while it reinforced the dangers it slowed the flow of the story.
‘We live in a cyber-world at our own peril.’
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
If you have ever experienced the effects of a computer virus, Trojan horse or other attack on your computer, you know what it’s like when your computer doesn’t respond as it should. And you know, too, the challenge of fixing the problems, or having someone fix them for you. It’s not usually a matter of life or death though, is it?
But imagine what would happen if a whole lot of computers, controlling critical or important functions around the world were suddenly infected, and the infection was self-replicating and could not easily be fixed. In today’s world, computers are an integral part of almost everything. So it’s worryingly easy to imagine what can go wrong. The implications might not just be financial.
In ‘Zero Day’, the effects are deadly. An airplane drops thousands of feet in seconds, and the crew are unsure whether they can recover control. Computerised medication programs in a hospital have gone awry, resulting in multiple deaths. Automatic production line robots in a car assembly plant malfunction, causing the death of a man. And that’s just the beginning.
Jeff Aiken, a former government analyst who witnessed the mistakes made before September 11, suspects that these events are not just coincidental. Jeff begins to believe that these incidents form part of a serious cyber-terrorist plot, and finds himself in a race against time to try to prevent international disaster.
I mostly enjoyed this novel: it all seems frighteningly plausible, and the plot developments kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next. At times, though, the narrative was overwhelmed by repetition, and while it reinforced the dangers it slowed the flow of the story.
‘We live in a cyber-world at our own peril.’
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
August 3, 2012
I picked this one up because I listen to a podcast by Steve Gibson called 'Security Now'. He has recommended other books which have been excellent. However, this was a big disappointment. It sucked. The sad thing is it really shouldn't have. The plot was terrific. Terrorists decide to take down the Western World via the computers which now control every aspect of business from customer records to payroll to billing to factory machine control. Airplanes are flown by computers, and nuclear reactors are monitored and controlled by computers, as is the electrical grid and as are big ships. Everything! And all of it is vulnerable to viruses in real life, as it is in the book. I suspect it is only the threat of mutual destruction which currently saves us from our lax and lazy anti-virus efforts, with the exceptions we hear about every day.
The writing is the main reason it was bad. It's very stiff and awkward. As a result, most of the characters were wooden. The author paid more attention to his hero, so Jeff Aiken comes off as wooden for the first half of the story, but he's supposedly in mourning, and in the second half, he's emotional and excited because he becomes involved in tracking down hackers. Unfortunately, his character feels as clumsily put together as the sentences he lives in. There's a heroine, Daryl Haugen, naturally, who is a stunning goddess of a looker, and she is almost genius smart. The problem is she seemed more like an office assistant with not a lot of savvy. Only two characters appeared as smart as they were supposed to be and that was Jeff and his dark counterpoint, Vladimir Koskov -the two programmers. It's all very cinematic in the bad way of cookie cutter movie action.
The author works at Microsoft in a senior technical position and I think he should keep his day job, for now.
The writing is the main reason it was bad. It's very stiff and awkward. As a result, most of the characters were wooden. The author paid more attention to his hero, so Jeff Aiken comes off as wooden for the first half of the story, but he's supposedly in mourning, and in the second half, he's emotional and excited because he becomes involved in tracking down hackers. Unfortunately, his character feels as clumsily put together as the sentences he lives in. There's a heroine, Daryl Haugen, naturally, who is a stunning goddess of a looker, and she is almost genius smart. The problem is she seemed more like an office assistant with not a lot of savvy. Only two characters appeared as smart as they were supposed to be and that was Jeff and his dark counterpoint, Vladimir Koskov -the two programmers. It's all very cinematic in the bad way of cookie cutter movie action.
The author works at Microsoft in a senior technical position and I think he should keep his day job, for now.
March 15, 2011
This debut technothriller by one of Microsoft's technical gurus features al-Qaeda, cyber-terrorism on a global scale, a network security hero who lost his lady in 9/11 (which, he happened to predict while working for the CIA, only to be ignored), and not one, but two other exceedingly attractive female IT people. What else does one need to know? While the author posits some fairly evocative set pieces illustrating how the world's economy can be brought to a standstill by a few relatively clever and dedicated hackers (an oil tanker guidance system crashing, an jetliner's computerized controls failing, computerized dam controls failing, etc.), the characters are cut from the shoddiest cardboard stock imaginable, and no thriller cliche goes unused along the way. There's a corrupt U.S. government official, a ruthless hitman who somehow can't quite manage to finish off the hero, the friend-turned-love-interest, and on and on. The villain's plan for using a distributed, anonymous network of hackers to do their dirty work is actually pretty compelling and instructive, but that's pretty much the best idea in the book. Otherwise, far too much time is spent with characters hunched over computers examining code, or -- more implausibly -- racing around the world to track down the hackers responsible. It's not a very good mix, but I suppose it works as a crude cautionary tale and the writing is probably no worse than any number of thrillers people will be reading on the beach this summer.
January 29, 2011
My first though on this book was "If I get the opportunity to push the sale of any book, this is the book I would choose, for the simple fact that we need to be educated in cyber terrorism." A thought provoking thriller, Zero Day is by far one of the most exciting yet terrifying books I have ever read. In our generation, there is no where you can look that is not controlled by computers in some capacity. Just think about it for a minute. Online banking, your power at home, the airplane that you take to reach your destination and even your check out at the grocery store, these are all reliant on computers. Now try to imagine a virus attacking any one of those industries and your world would be turned upside down. Zero Day is a book that addresses those issues and expounds on that by painting a vivid picture of what can happen should one of these industries come under attack. The public needs to become educated and aware of the fact that cyber terrorism does exist and CAN happen to them.
I am currently a programming student in college and one of the areas we study is internet security. Just about everything we studied in class is included in this book. I've told my instructors that this book needs to be required reading because it not only shows you the magnitude of destruction that viruses can cause but it helped me to better understand what I learned in class. When I read this book, it was almost as though it were in two parts. The first part of the book concentrated on the technical computer side and the second part where most of the action was found in the book. Believe me when I tell you that there is a lot of action throughout the book and that it was nearly impossible to put this book down.
I felt a connection right away with Jeff Aiken's character. Previously working with the government, Jeff tries to bring attention to the links between all the disasters taking place and the recent virus outbreaks. He's met with red tape throughout the book and I couldn't help but feel helpless right along with him. Jeff has closed himself off from forming relationships with anyone and finds himself attracted to Daryl, his female counterpart who happens to work for the government. Watching Jeff and Daryl work side by side while their relationship grows stronger, was a breath of fresh air. I found myself rooting for their relationship to flourish beyond friendship. While the focus stays on cyber terrorism, romance between these two is intricately woven into the story. There are some surprises with Jeff's co-workers that you won't see coming. I loved to be shocked and Mr. Russinovich does just that very well I might add. The action in this book is remarkable. Painting vivid pictures of the level of greed humans go to, the reader is transported into a very dark world.
Zero Day is the debut novel for author Mark Russinovich who is a cyber security expert with Microsoft. A well researched and highly developed book, Zero Day is a must read for everyone who is dependent on the internet in any form. The book does get technical quite often but Russinovich does an excellent job of explaining what he's talking about. Everyone needs to be made aware of the potential of a threat of global proportions and even though this is a fictional story, it can easily become reality. Zero Day is an addictive read that will stay with you for a long time to come. It is a MUST READ!
I am currently a programming student in college and one of the areas we study is internet security. Just about everything we studied in class is included in this book. I've told my instructors that this book needs to be required reading because it not only shows you the magnitude of destruction that viruses can cause but it helped me to better understand what I learned in class. When I read this book, it was almost as though it were in two parts. The first part of the book concentrated on the technical computer side and the second part where most of the action was found in the book. Believe me when I tell you that there is a lot of action throughout the book and that it was nearly impossible to put this book down.
I felt a connection right away with Jeff Aiken's character. Previously working with the government, Jeff tries to bring attention to the links between all the disasters taking place and the recent virus outbreaks. He's met with red tape throughout the book and I couldn't help but feel helpless right along with him. Jeff has closed himself off from forming relationships with anyone and finds himself attracted to Daryl, his female counterpart who happens to work for the government. Watching Jeff and Daryl work side by side while their relationship grows stronger, was a breath of fresh air. I found myself rooting for their relationship to flourish beyond friendship. While the focus stays on cyber terrorism, romance between these two is intricately woven into the story. There are some surprises with Jeff's co-workers that you won't see coming. I loved to be shocked and Mr. Russinovich does just that very well I might add. The action in this book is remarkable. Painting vivid pictures of the level of greed humans go to, the reader is transported into a very dark world.
Zero Day is the debut novel for author Mark Russinovich who is a cyber security expert with Microsoft. A well researched and highly developed book, Zero Day is a must read for everyone who is dependent on the internet in any form. The book does get technical quite often but Russinovich does an excellent job of explaining what he's talking about. Everyone needs to be made aware of the potential of a threat of global proportions and even though this is a fictional story, it can easily become reality. Zero Day is an addictive read that will stay with you for a long time to come. It is a MUST READ!
April 9, 2012
One of the more annoying and frustrating books have read.
The author is an experienced IT professional painting a picture of some of the pitfalls of relying to much on modern technology. Sounds basic premise. And in other hands would have been a thought provoking and well written book.
However he writes with a heavy hand with scenarios over the top and generic characters that seem stolen from a movie of the week.
If he had turned down some of the scenarios he laid out would have helped but sounded more like listening to a doom and gloom newscaster selling fear to an uninformed audience.
Also the characters actions made no sense, for example the two protagonists are highly educated
professionals yet seem to revert to an absolute mess of English when typing. You would see better grammar and spelling in the texts between twelve year old children raised on hooked on phonics. Yet he throws it in to show he is down with computerspeak to his target audience.
The decisions they make are retarded, for instance being part of a government agency's having contacts at other agencies they decide not to use any of those special branch functions when they get shot at instead evading police on three continents..??
If your trying to sell me that the idea and reality in your book is credible please don't undermine that by having characters do things no sane person would even contemplate
The author is an experienced IT professional painting a picture of some of the pitfalls of relying to much on modern technology. Sounds basic premise. And in other hands would have been a thought provoking and well written book.
However he writes with a heavy hand with scenarios over the top and generic characters that seem stolen from a movie of the week.
If he had turned down some of the scenarios he laid out would have helped but sounded more like listening to a doom and gloom newscaster selling fear to an uninformed audience.
Also the characters actions made no sense, for example the two protagonists are highly educated
professionals yet seem to revert to an absolute mess of English when typing. You would see better grammar and spelling in the texts between twelve year old children raised on hooked on phonics. Yet he throws it in to show he is down with computerspeak to his target audience.
The decisions they make are retarded, for instance being part of a government agency's having contacts at other agencies they decide not to use any of those special branch functions when they get shot at instead evading police on three continents..??
If your trying to sell me that the idea and reality in your book is credible please don't undermine that by having characters do things no sane person would even contemplate
January 16, 2013
(3.0) Bonus points for including assembly language in a novel
Entertaining and I like the premise for this tech thriller. I didn't like the fact that every woman in the novel is ogled by every man she meets/works with. It was a bit off-putting and fairly unrealistic. His 'intimate' scenes were a little unintentionally funny as well...I think a lot had to do with word choice. Biggest criticism though is telling not showing. Several times he'd begin a dialog and then summarize the rest of the conversation, including motives of the participants. These were things that could've been made clear through the dialog itself, so was disappointed that he didn't take the time to show us. But then again, he did get reasonably technical, including a snippet of assembly language decompiled from one of the viruses Jeff Aiken uncovered.
Also interesting that I read this right around the time we start hearing of some problems with the 787....
Entertaining and I like the premise for this tech thriller. I didn't like the fact that every woman in the novel is ogled by every man she meets/works with. It was a bit off-putting and fairly unrealistic. His 'intimate' scenes were a little unintentionally funny as well...I think a lot had to do with word choice. Biggest criticism though is telling not showing. Several times he'd begin a dialog and then summarize the rest of the conversation, including motives of the participants. These were things that could've been made clear through the dialog itself, so was disappointed that he didn't take the time to show us. But then again, he did get reasonably technical, including a snippet of assembly language decompiled from one of the viruses Jeff Aiken uncovered.
Also interesting that I read this right around the time we start hearing of some problems with the 787....
May 8, 2015
Mark Russinovich is the Windows Internals guy. He knows the Windows side of the IT-world well and since Windows is the main target of malware, he also can get away with an impressive deep dive into the world of Rootkits, Worms and Trojans.
But as his company Winternals was aqcuired by Microsoft in 2006 and he became an executive in the giant firm, one cannot help but also detect this side of him in the book. I for example cannot take seriously a cybersecurity expert that doesn't mention Linux in the book not even once. Although there is a mention of Jeff's "CD with tools of the trade he has aqcuired during the years". Come on, don't be shy. That's probably your Backtrack Linux liveDVD right there.
Also another annoying thing in the first half of the book is the need to introduce a new character in every chapter. And not just add her/him to the story, but invent a whole backstory and then write it out as a dry CV-like mess taking room 3/4 of the chapter. The rest 1/4 is the actual story the author actually wanted to tell, what the new character does to advance the story.
Also worth mentioning are the so called one dimensional characters/annoying cliches like Muslims - terrorists, Russians - tough and dumb, women in IT - don't really need to sleep with her boss to get somewhere, the main character obviously has a gigantic grudge against "The Terrorists" because he lost somebody in 9/11 - american ultra-patriot vibe ...
But enough about the bad. I loved how the book went ballistic in the second half. Techno-thriller is really a good characterization of this book. And as mr Russinovich is the right man to know the intricacies of the Windows malware and internals, the believability of the whole scenario is really enjoyable.
So definitely worth three stars even though I had couple of problems with it at first. One main issue actually being the pieces of code in the book. I can tell you for sure it's not possible to understand these parts while listening the audiobook :P
Otherwise downpour.com did a good job of providing an excellent DRM-free audiobook version. Highly recommended to all techies and also those who seek tech-lightenment.
But as his company Winternals was aqcuired by Microsoft in 2006 and he became an executive in the giant firm, one cannot help but also detect this side of him in the book. I for example cannot take seriously a cybersecurity expert that doesn't mention Linux in the book not even once. Although there is a mention of Jeff's "CD with tools of the trade he has aqcuired during the years". Come on, don't be shy. That's probably your Backtrack Linux liveDVD right there.
Also another annoying thing in the first half of the book is the need to introduce a new character in every chapter. And not just add her/him to the story, but invent a whole backstory and then write it out as a dry CV-like mess taking room 3/4 of the chapter. The rest 1/4 is the actual story the author actually wanted to tell, what the new character does to advance the story.
Also worth mentioning are the so called one dimensional characters/annoying cliches like Muslims - terrorists, Russians - tough and dumb, women in IT - don't really need to sleep with her boss to get somewhere, the main character obviously has a gigantic grudge against "The Terrorists" because he lost somebody in 9/11 - american ultra-patriot vibe ...
But enough about the bad. I loved how the book went ballistic in the second half. Techno-thriller is really a good characterization of this book. And as mr Russinovich is the right man to know the intricacies of the Windows malware and internals, the believability of the whole scenario is really enjoyable.
So definitely worth three stars even though I had couple of problems with it at first. One main issue actually being the pieces of code in the book. I can tell you for sure it's not possible to understand these parts while listening the audiobook :P
Otherwise downpour.com did a good job of providing an excellent DRM-free audiobook version. Highly recommended to all techies and also those who seek tech-lightenment.
June 23, 2012
The premise is good: Terrorists are planning and quietly executing a computer attack against the West using stealthy, time-activated viruses hidden by cleverly-written rootkits. Can the good guys prevent a cataclysmic day when all the computers die simultaneously?
The characters are stale: Must the good guy be handsome and prescient and clever and kind and sexy and stylish? Must every woman be sexy and young and horny and wily and well-dressed and smart? Must the bad guys be smarmy and zealous and dark-hearted? Must every bit part we meet comment on the looks of every woman we know? Why do I feel like I'm reading a mash-up of every dumb action movie this author has ever seen?
The plot is okay: The hero does private computer security consulting and starts to uncover the problem piece by piece. The bad guys are introduced in due time and the scope of the premise is laid out very clearly. But the plot is straight as an arrow. You know where it's going.
The writing is horrid: "The lawyer, Greene, was well dressed, to put it mildly, reminding Jeff of Gene Hackman in 'The Firm.'" etc.
Buyer beware.
The characters are stale: Must the good guy be handsome and prescient and clever and kind and sexy and stylish? Must every woman be sexy and young and horny and wily and well-dressed and smart? Must the bad guys be smarmy and zealous and dark-hearted? Must every bit part we meet comment on the looks of every woman we know? Why do I feel like I'm reading a mash-up of every dumb action movie this author has ever seen?
The plot is okay: The hero does private computer security consulting and starts to uncover the problem piece by piece. The bad guys are introduced in due time and the scope of the premise is laid out very clearly. But the plot is straight as an arrow. You know where it's going.
The writing is horrid: "The lawyer, Greene, was well dressed, to put it mildly, reminding Jeff of Gene Hackman in 'The Firm.'" etc.
Buyer beware.
November 2, 2012
I agree with all the criticism of the other readers and I support those who liked the book.
My expectations were not met, but given that this is Mark's first novel - I would say the start isn't that bad.
Now, I would like to highlight a few things that other readers did not:
- In Russian, the short version of "Vladimir" is "Vova", rather than "Vlad" (which corresponds to "Vladislav"), the author didn't get this part right.
- Mark makes a reference to "kuyrdak" - I honestly had no clue such a thing existed (I was born in the USSR, Russian is my first language - so I have a clue), he should've chosen "borsch" instead (-:
- My version of the book has "script kitty" on page #75; mwahahaha!
The bottom line is that I don't regret reading this book, but I am not sure I will read the second one unless the reviewers assure me the author did a better job.
For those of you who were looking for something that has a better writing style, I think books by Neal Stephenson will be much more enjoyable.
My expectations were not met, but given that this is Mark's first novel - I would say the start isn't that bad.
Now, I would like to highlight a few things that other readers did not:
- In Russian, the short version of "Vladimir" is "Vova", rather than "Vlad" (which corresponds to "Vladislav"), the author didn't get this part right.
- Mark makes a reference to "kuyrdak" - I honestly had no clue such a thing existed (I was born in the USSR, Russian is my first language - so I have a clue), he should've chosen "borsch" instead (-:
- My version of the book has "script kitty" on page #75; mwahahaha!
The bottom line is that I don't regret reading this book, but I am not sure I will read the second one unless the reviewers assure me the author did a better job.
For those of you who were looking for something that has a better writing style, I think books by Neal Stephenson will be much more enjoyable.
October 28, 2019
an amazing read that kept me up all night. I couldn't put it down.
January 10, 2018
This is an entertaining book written by a security technical expert, it seems an odd mix but does seem to work quite nicely though it does stumble in it's narrative occasionally. I have to be honest I had expected that this would be far more technical than it is. However Mark has managed to break down so very technical issues into language that most people I am sure could understand. Explaining rootkit in layman's terms in a novel is quite some feat.
The characters are believably flawed and to be honest the only time I found it a bit lazy was that the Russian characters were clearly written from a pretty basic Russian stereotype toolkit. They still work and of course recent events have placed Russia front and centre of this type of activity. this has a good pace to the story and it is easy enough and simple enough to digest, there is nothing particularly complicated here. With some surprises and unexpected bumps in the story it nicely paints a picture of how easy it would be for a co-ordinated attack to be conceived and with the right people in place executed. Which is a pretty scary prospect. I don't think security has improved much since this was written so it is all still relevant.
The characters are believably flawed and to be honest the only time I found it a bit lazy was that the Russian characters were clearly written from a pretty basic Russian stereotype toolkit. They still work and of course recent events have placed Russia front and centre of this type of activity. this has a good pace to the story and it is easy enough and simple enough to digest, there is nothing particularly complicated here. With some surprises and unexpected bumps in the story it nicely paints a picture of how easy it would be for a co-ordinated attack to be conceived and with the right people in place executed. Which is a pretty scary prospect. I don't think security has improved much since this was written so it is all still relevant.
May 18, 2015
I read about the computer security thriller “Zero Day” on a few technology websites as well as heard about it on the “Herding Code” podcast where they had an interview with the author Mark Russinovich. The premise was interesting: A widespread and destructive “zero day attack” highly disruptive to businesses and people, spanning countries and continents. From what I understood, Mark’s motivation in writing this was his feeling that technology security is not taken as seriously as it should be and he wanted to bring greater awareness to the risks involved. Perhaps this is also the reason that instead of using a financial motive for the attacks in the story, he decided to use terrorism as those might resonate better with the intended audience. Destruction of digital data is far more scary than theft.
Unfortunately, the book falls short on many dimensions. First, the thriller aspect – too many holes and too little action. At various points in the story, the book slows to a crawl. There is the concept of “show, don’t tell”, but Mark carries it a little too far by introducing too many events and characters, more instances of the virus attacks than necessary and more secondary villains than needed. Similarly, the sex scenes are ill-advised and even contribute to adding a hint of misogyny to the plot. The author has very outdated views about the motivations of women. In general, the characters are one-dimensional and make the story very predictable.
The core idea in the book is that only a few people understand the value of computer security while government, businesses and even security vendors ignore the risks. Those who understand keep screaming, but nobody listens. This is a standard plot in many books and movies and it can be done right. However, the way it develops in “Zero Day” is senseless. We see a plane that almost crashes and kills several people including children. There is a near-nuclear accident and a ship that runs ashore. All these incidents are high-profile and it is very clear that the same virus strain is responsible. And yet no one is listening?
The author tries to compare the situation with 9/11 to make the case, but that won’t wash. 9/11 did not have a series of public, high-profile attacks on civilians before it unfolded. The plane incident would be enough to fill the papers and everyone would be searching for theories. A mere mention of the findings by the main characters would be enough to hit the front-page news.
The plot makes and breaks its own rules. Take the case of the assassin, supposedly a professional killer. He behaves recklessly at times, twice trying to kill in an area with lots of people present. You would think that a professional would have better tools (such as long-range rifles) at his disposal. Also, when he has an easy opportunity (and ammunition) to kill a key character, he decides not to. The coincidences start piling up. we get the very observant policeman on the beat who doesn’t know how to shoot. We see a roomful of villains not packing heat because they were too gullible (!)
Then we have things like the characters suddenly catching a plane to Russia. This is mind-boggling because you need a visa to enter Russia, my friend. And then another character leaves Russia, reaches Italy and goes on to France, inside 48 hours, even though she starts this journey with a bleeding head after being shot, and is probably wanted for questioning after the death of her family members. We also have a CIA deputy director engaged in espionage over several months – you would think someone would notice. The information he provided at considerable risk was incidental to the people who were paying him, so what was the point?
We learn that the main virus creator was physically disabled because of an attack by the Chechens. Yet he is unknowingly working for the Arabs who are affiliated with the Chechens. This seemed like the makings of a great plot twist if he ever found out, but it is not taken anywhere. It is also strange that he didn’t realize the significance of the date when the attacks were set to go off, but maybe someone else was working on that.
The technology side is also very confusing. First is that the attacks are set to go off on a particular date, but some of the attacks go off early, probably because the plot requires them to make the story seem more urgent. This is explained as suggesting that the computers which were affected had their dates wrong. That is unlikely for many of the systems that were affected in the story. Then we have a theory that the virus itself was manipulating the date, which seems absurd because the date was important (was someone even testing the virus or looking at its code?). And if the date was dependent on the local time, wouldn’t that be a loophole in the virus itself?
I was also unclear how the virus could get into places like an aircraft or nuclear plant control systems in quick notice. The Stuxnet and Flame viruses that attacked Iran did their work over several years and they apparently got in through physical means (via USB keys or something). Also there are different operating systems, their versions, then various protections (firewalls, anti-virus software and so on). The book is vague, implying that nothing matters other than finding the original source of the virus and coming up with an antidote.
Mark runs with a few stereotypes of the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chechens to fill the story. I get it that a thriller is not the best place to look for insightful commentary on geo-politics, but hey, the book was published in 2011. Over the last several years, has Mark learnt nothing about the various jihadist movements, the balance of power in different countries in the Middle East between different sects and groups, and the conflicts that have taken place during the last decade? It is almost as if he read a few newspaper articles from the early 2000s and fleshed out the villainous roles.
Unfortunately, the book falls short on many dimensions. First, the thriller aspect – too many holes and too little action. At various points in the story, the book slows to a crawl. There is the concept of “show, don’t tell”, but Mark carries it a little too far by introducing too many events and characters, more instances of the virus attacks than necessary and more secondary villains than needed. Similarly, the sex scenes are ill-advised and even contribute to adding a hint of misogyny to the plot. The author has very outdated views about the motivations of women. In general, the characters are one-dimensional and make the story very predictable.
The core idea in the book is that only a few people understand the value of computer security while government, businesses and even security vendors ignore the risks. Those who understand keep screaming, but nobody listens. This is a standard plot in many books and movies and it can be done right. However, the way it develops in “Zero Day” is senseless. We see a plane that almost crashes and kills several people including children. There is a near-nuclear accident and a ship that runs ashore. All these incidents are high-profile and it is very clear that the same virus strain is responsible. And yet no one is listening?
The author tries to compare the situation with 9/11 to make the case, but that won’t wash. 9/11 did not have a series of public, high-profile attacks on civilians before it unfolded. The plane incident would be enough to fill the papers and everyone would be searching for theories. A mere mention of the findings by the main characters would be enough to hit the front-page news.
The plot makes and breaks its own rules. Take the case of the assassin, supposedly a professional killer. He behaves recklessly at times, twice trying to kill in an area with lots of people present. You would think that a professional would have better tools (such as long-range rifles) at his disposal. Also, when he has an easy opportunity (and ammunition) to kill a key character, he decides not to. The coincidences start piling up. we get the very observant policeman on the beat who doesn’t know how to shoot. We see a roomful of villains not packing heat because they were too gullible (!)
Then we have things like the characters suddenly catching a plane to Russia. This is mind-boggling because you need a visa to enter Russia, my friend. And then another character leaves Russia, reaches Italy and goes on to France, inside 48 hours, even though she starts this journey with a bleeding head after being shot, and is probably wanted for questioning after the death of her family members. We also have a CIA deputy director engaged in espionage over several months – you would think someone would notice. The information he provided at considerable risk was incidental to the people who were paying him, so what was the point?
We learn that the main virus creator was physically disabled because of an attack by the Chechens. Yet he is unknowingly working for the Arabs who are affiliated with the Chechens. This seemed like the makings of a great plot twist if he ever found out, but it is not taken anywhere. It is also strange that he didn’t realize the significance of the date when the attacks were set to go off, but maybe someone else was working on that.
The technology side is also very confusing. First is that the attacks are set to go off on a particular date, but some of the attacks go off early, probably because the plot requires them to make the story seem more urgent. This is explained as suggesting that the computers which were affected had their dates wrong. That is unlikely for many of the systems that were affected in the story. Then we have a theory that the virus itself was manipulating the date, which seems absurd because the date was important (was someone even testing the virus or looking at its code?). And if the date was dependent on the local time, wouldn’t that be a loophole in the virus itself?
I was also unclear how the virus could get into places like an aircraft or nuclear plant control systems in quick notice. The Stuxnet and Flame viruses that attacked Iran did their work over several years and they apparently got in through physical means (via USB keys or something). Also there are different operating systems, their versions, then various protections (firewalls, anti-virus software and so on). The book is vague, implying that nothing matters other than finding the original source of the virus and coming up with an antidote.
Mark runs with a few stereotypes of the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chechens to fill the story. I get it that a thriller is not the best place to look for insightful commentary on geo-politics, but hey, the book was published in 2011. Over the last several years, has Mark learnt nothing about the various jihadist movements, the balance of power in different countries in the Middle East between different sects and groups, and the conflicts that have taken place during the last decade? It is almost as if he read a few newspaper articles from the early 2000s and fleshed out the villainous roles.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2025
I am a fan of Mark Russinovich's Windows Internals books and have a lot of respect for him from a technical perspective. I had known of his Jeff Aiken books for a while but just never got around to reading them. I am glad I finally got a chance to at least listen to this novel. It was quite good, a bit of a throw back from a technical view but still quite interesting.
I found his writing style engaging and where this is an Audible review the narrator did a decent job with the work. A solid 4 stars.
I found his writing style engaging and where this is an Audible review the narrator did a decent job with the work. A solid 4 stars.
Currently reading
February 5, 2022Interesting fiction, with some insights into the danger of malware in the inter-connected world. A bit scary, and makes you appreciate the really hard work that information security professionals do. (The story tried to be a Thriller, and mostly achieved that, but the author doesn't have John Grisham or David Baldacci skills.)
March 13, 2011
*Rating is 3.5*
Mark Russinovich works at Microsoft in one of the senior-most technical positions. Considering the background of the author, the premise of Zero Day becomes even more compelling.
Zero Day has a thrilling start. Several seemingly unrelated incidents take place all over the world, all involving computer failures. The controls of a British Airways flight fails. So do the computers in a highly reputed firm based in NYC. A glitch in the computer databases in various hospitals causes many patients to die, due to wrong administration of medicines. Jeff Aiken, who used to previously work for the Government, starts to see a pattern in these incidents. What emerges is more deadly than anyone could imagine. It's up to Jeff to stop the impending disaster before all hell breaks loose.
Zero Day involves a very realistic portrayal of cyber-terrorism. It's disturbing and terrifying since it's so real; and it's scarier because of the author's knowledge and background. You can't really discount the scenario presented in Zero Day - the things described in the book can certainly happen. Ever since 9/11 attacks , there has been increasing paranoia in the world. Terrorism has expanded and with advancement in technology, the threat has increased further. Taking into account how depended we've become on computers and internet, the book's premise is only too real. If someone was to launch an attack via the internet, the effects can be enormous and more horrifying than what any one of us can imagine.
Zero Day is a fast-paced, heart-stopping thriller. I was unable to put the book down. The book compels you to ask - "What if?" This thought-provoking thriller, packed with action, will keep you reading late into the night. I instantly connected with Jeff. All through the book, I wanted him to succeed. I felt his emotions as he raced against time to stop the looming disaster.
A major problem I had with the book was the technical aspect and details which were beyond my comprehension. All the technical parts got very monotonous for me. Perhaps if I had more knowledge of programming and cyber-crimes, the book might have been a 5 star read for me. However, the author did manage to make up for the boring parts with some very surprising twists.
Zero Day is a book that's very relevant today. We do need to be aware of how hugely dependent we have become on technology. Our lives are almost run by technology. Most of us will have a panic attack, if our internet suddenly stops working or if we are not able to check our emails. Zero Day forces one to ponder on how vulnerable we are to any kind of cyber-crime. Technology has definitely helped mankind, but like every great innovation, it does have its flaws. Thanks to technology, you can shop at home, book flight tickets sitting at home, talk to a person on the other side of the world, pay your bills online and even control your bank accounts. You hardly even need to step out of your homes. Do we realize how much of ourselves we give out on social networking sites? Almost our entire lives are so out there, so open to any kind of attack. Zero Day, apart from being action-packed, is also informative. It's not just fiction but reality and hence more frightening than any ghost story.
Zero Day is a must read for those who love intelligently written thrillers with realistic themes.
Mark Russinovich works at Microsoft in one of the senior-most technical positions. Considering the background of the author, the premise of Zero Day becomes even more compelling.
Zero Day has a thrilling start. Several seemingly unrelated incidents take place all over the world, all involving computer failures. The controls of a British Airways flight fails. So do the computers in a highly reputed firm based in NYC. A glitch in the computer databases in various hospitals causes many patients to die, due to wrong administration of medicines. Jeff Aiken, who used to previously work for the Government, starts to see a pattern in these incidents. What emerges is more deadly than anyone could imagine. It's up to Jeff to stop the impending disaster before all hell breaks loose.
Zero Day involves a very realistic portrayal of cyber-terrorism. It's disturbing and terrifying since it's so real; and it's scarier because of the author's knowledge and background. You can't really discount the scenario presented in Zero Day - the things described in the book can certainly happen. Ever since 9/11 attacks , there has been increasing paranoia in the world. Terrorism has expanded and with advancement in technology, the threat has increased further. Taking into account how depended we've become on computers and internet, the book's premise is only too real. If someone was to launch an attack via the internet, the effects can be enormous and more horrifying than what any one of us can imagine.
Zero Day is a fast-paced, heart-stopping thriller. I was unable to put the book down. The book compels you to ask - "What if?" This thought-provoking thriller, packed with action, will keep you reading late into the night. I instantly connected with Jeff. All through the book, I wanted him to succeed. I felt his emotions as he raced against time to stop the looming disaster.
A major problem I had with the book was the technical aspect and details which were beyond my comprehension. All the technical parts got very monotonous for me. Perhaps if I had more knowledge of programming and cyber-crimes, the book might have been a 5 star read for me. However, the author did manage to make up for the boring parts with some very surprising twists.
Zero Day is a book that's very relevant today. We do need to be aware of how hugely dependent we have become on technology. Our lives are almost run by technology. Most of us will have a panic attack, if our internet suddenly stops working or if we are not able to check our emails. Zero Day forces one to ponder on how vulnerable we are to any kind of cyber-crime. Technology has definitely helped mankind, but like every great innovation, it does have its flaws. Thanks to technology, you can shop at home, book flight tickets sitting at home, talk to a person on the other side of the world, pay your bills online and even control your bank accounts. You hardly even need to step out of your homes. Do we realize how much of ourselves we give out on social networking sites? Almost our entire lives are so out there, so open to any kind of attack. Zero Day, apart from being action-packed, is also informative. It's not just fiction but reality and hence more frightening than any ghost story.
Zero Day is a must read for those who love intelligently written thrillers with realistic themes.
April 4, 2011
This book is an easy read for anyone who has ever used a computer connected to the internet. The book is even more interesting and compelling if you have ever installed an anti-virus product on a PC. So, there you go; this book will be a good read for almost anyone who picks it up.
The plot is all to believable. A group is creating a storm of worms and viruses to invade the computer systems that control our banking, airlines, power generation – you know, every part of our life. This threat as been real and possible for quite a few years now. The recent publicity surrounding the stuxnet virus that targeted the Iranian nuclear programme has shown just how real this kind of scenario is.
Rootkits and zero day operating system vulnerabilities represent an open risk to the way our economy operates. Even though this book has been several years being created, the threat has been around for several years now. In fact the author, @markrussinovish has said that he was surprised at how quickly a scenario like stuxnet eventuated.
I was expecting this to be a thriller in the mould as Deamon by Daniel Suarez but it is quite different. Along the way Russinovich explains a lot of the internet and virus jargon that may be unfamiliar to some. Coupled with the fact that the chapters are short and crisp – sort of web page length I’d say, Zero Day is accessible to geeks and internet newbies alike.
A great, modern thriller – well worth a read.
I do so hope that this book helps the world wake up to mitigating the risks we face with so much of our economy online.
May 19, 2011
Nice idea and Mark definitely knows his security (he should, he's one of the foremost experts on MS Windows), but I think he generally sort of blew this one. The story is intriguing, but it's somewhat predictable and it's full of stereotypes and cliches. The hackers are Russian, cynical and ready to do anything for money. The Arab terrorists are the ones behind the attacks and they want to kill us all, because they hate our freedom. If you are into this kind of stuff you can just watch conservative Western media and you'd get roughly the same quality of story-telling too.
The parts about computer security are overall interesting and factually and historically correct for the most part (no crazy made-up stuff that doesn't make any sense like forensic fantasies on lame shows like CSI), but then he spends too much time explaining them, which gets boring. Let's face it: no "normal" people would read this book anyway - it's for geeks. And if you are geek enough to read a 340 page novel, written by a Microsoft software engineer then you definitely know enough about computer security and you really don't need a full page of explanation on what a rootkit is.
Overall it was a fun read, but I feel like it was a wasted chance as the material provides for a much more interesting book.
The parts about computer security are overall interesting and factually and historically correct for the most part (no crazy made-up stuff that doesn't make any sense like forensic fantasies on lame shows like CSI), but then he spends too much time explaining them, which gets boring. Let's face it: no "normal" people would read this book anyway - it's for geeks. And if you are geek enough to read a 340 page novel, written by a Microsoft software engineer then you definitely know enough about computer security and you really don't need a full page of explanation on what a rootkit is.
Overall it was a fun read, but I feel like it was a wasted chance as the material provides for a much more interesting book.
March 31, 2014
Mark Russinovich is the developer of the Sysinternals suite, and moved to Microsoft when his company was purchased by the Redmond Behemoth. And this matters because this is a techno-thriller where accuracy matters, at least to those of us who understand how this works. Hollywood thinks you can just type "Override' on any green monochrome terminal and get instant access to any computer system. But Mark knows how things actually work, and it shows in this book. Everything in it is plausible and believable.
As you might infer from the title, the plot hinges on a deadly computer virus/malware that has no known "antidote" when first encountered. It has seriously bad effects on computer systems, and is responsible for multiple deaths because those systems control so much of of our infrastructure today. That is one of the things this book really brings home, how vulnerable we are to a properly crafted piece of code that can turn our systems against us.
But who is behind this malware? And how do they plan to benefit from this? That is what you need to read the book to find out, I don't plan to give any spoilers.
This is part of series involving the main character, but it is the only one I have read so far.
As you might infer from the title, the plot hinges on a deadly computer virus/malware that has no known "antidote" when first encountered. It has seriously bad effects on computer systems, and is responsible for multiple deaths because those systems control so much of of our infrastructure today. That is one of the things this book really brings home, how vulnerable we are to a properly crafted piece of code that can turn our systems against us.
But who is behind this malware? And how do they plan to benefit from this? That is what you need to read the book to find out, I don't plan to give any spoilers.
This is part of series involving the main character, but it is the only one I have read so far.
November 20, 2014
This was a painful read for me, up to 42%, where I stopped. The characters are flat; the women are objectified by the author, with a few weak attempts at random characterization (hot government computer lady secretly hates to see kids in pain, really? So she's a person with normal human feelings? That totally makes me empathize with her so much! Seriously! No, really. No.)
It fails the Bechdel test, shocker. And it includes gems like "hackers, as code writers were generally called". I would actually rather go watch the movie Hackers before I would read this again or recommend it to anyone who likes a) books, b) computers or c) people.
The author works for Microsoft and knows computers well; I won't argue that. The trouble is that he can't write a novel. He writes perfectly acceptable blog posts about technical issues, but the bottom of his blog says "f you liked this post, you’ll like my two highly-acclaimed cyberthriller novels, Zero Day and Trojan Horse." Alas, being a good technical writer has almost nothing to do with being a good novelist.
It fails the Bechdel test, shocker. And it includes gems like "hackers, as code writers were generally called". I would actually rather go watch the movie Hackers before I would read this again or recommend it to anyone who likes a) books, b) computers or c) people.
The author works for Microsoft and knows computers well; I won't argue that. The trouble is that he can't write a novel. He writes perfectly acceptable blog posts about technical issues, but the bottom of his blog says "f you liked this post, you’ll like my two highly-acclaimed cyberthriller novels, Zero Day and Trojan Horse." Alas, being a good technical writer has almost nothing to do with being a good novelist.
February 24, 2013
This was one of the worst books I've ever read. I obviously wasn't expecting great literature when I picked this up, but this was miles away from being even a decent thriller. There wasn't even any interesting discussion of computer security involved - which was the main reason I was interested, considering the author's credentials - it was all very high level and vague, clearly toned down to broaden the appeal. Characters were entirely black or white; every female was a beautiful, oversexed goddess; the villains were generic "terrorist" caricatures that lacked any substance; and the American leads were entirely selfless, heroic and awesome in the face of any obstacle. All of which could be forgiven (hell, I've enjoyed plenty of Michael Bay movies) if the plot were halfway interesting, the pacing adequate or the writing any good. Unfortunately, they were not. Also, the sex scenes were so laughably bad, I seriously wonder if the author has ever kissed a girl.
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