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The Hacker Chronicles
The Hacker Chronicles
An Aloysius Wachter Detective Novel
Aloysius Wachter, a clandestine hacker forced by circumstances to turn amateur detective, recounts several of his adventures that begin with spotting a murder on his first night on the job at a city agency that monitors everyone and everything through a 10,000 camera system.
The improbable hero starts sleuthing to save a beautiful young woman falsely suspected of the crime. He battles disbelieving cops, feds and Israeli hit men, and soon he's being chased by Chinese cyber-spies and Russian hackers in episodes ripped from 21st Century headlines.
Helping him are two Vassily, a Russian hacker on the run from his former gang, and Michelle, Vassily's girlfriend, a Chinese hacker who used to work for the People's Liberation Army. By the end of their adventures, Vic, Vassily and Michelle muse that their lives seem like a bizarro tale out of Alexander McCall Smith's imagination, jokingly calling themselves the No. 1 Hackers Detective Agency.
An Aloysius Wachter Detective Novel
Aloysius Wachter, a clandestine hacker forced by circumstances to turn amateur detective, recounts several of his adventures that begin with spotting a murder on his first night on the job at a city agency that monitors everyone and everything through a 10,000 camera system.
The improbable hero starts sleuthing to save a beautiful young woman falsely suspected of the crime. He battles disbelieving cops, feds and Israeli hit men, and soon he's being chased by Chinese cyber-spies and Russian hackers in episodes ripped from 21st Century headlines.
Helping him are two Vassily, a Russian hacker on the run from his former gang, and Michelle, Vassily's girlfriend, a Chinese hacker who used to work for the People's Liberation Army. By the end of their adventures, Vic, Vassily and Michelle muse that their lives seem like a bizarro tale out of Alexander McCall Smith's imagination, jokingly calling themselves the No. 1 Hackers Detective Agency.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2017
1 person is currently reading
291 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Oster
11 books47 followersPatrick Oster is the author of seven well-reviewed award-winning thrillers and murder mysteries:
“The Commuter,” “The German Club,” "The Hacker Chronicles" and "The Amazon Detective Agency." His fifth novel, a murder mystery, called "The Obituary Writer," came out out in 2020. His sixth, "The Sleeper List," a spy novel came out in April of 2022. Readers Favorite gave it a gold medal as the best spy novel of 2022. "The Man Who Fell in Love With His Wife" was published in August of 2024 to numerous positive reviews.
An award-winning journalist, he has covered the White House, the
State Department and the CIA. He has been a foreign correspondent
in Latin America and Europe, covering civil wars, the fall of the
Berlin Wall, NATO and the creation of the European Union.
A lawyer, he was managing editor for legal news for Bloomberg
News for more than a decade and editor-in-chief of the National
Law Journal before that. He is also the author of a non-fiction
book, “The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People,” a Book-of-the-
Month-Club selection. More details about him can be found at
www.patrickoster.com. He can be followed on Twitter @patrickoster
or Facebook. patrickoster.novelist
“The Commuter,” “The German Club,” "The Hacker Chronicles" and "The Amazon Detective Agency." His fifth novel, a murder mystery, called "The Obituary Writer," came out out in 2020. His sixth, "The Sleeper List," a spy novel came out in April of 2022. Readers Favorite gave it a gold medal as the best spy novel of 2022. "The Man Who Fell in Love With His Wife" was published in August of 2024 to numerous positive reviews.
An award-winning journalist, he has covered the White House, the
State Department and the CIA. He has been a foreign correspondent
in Latin America and Europe, covering civil wars, the fall of the
Berlin Wall, NATO and the creation of the European Union.
A lawyer, he was managing editor for legal news for Bloomberg
News for more than a decade and editor-in-chief of the National
Law Journal before that. He is also the author of a non-fiction
book, “The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People,” a Book-of-the-
Month-Club selection. More details about him can be found at
www.patrickoster.com. He can be followed on Twitter @patrickoster
or Facebook. patrickoster.novelist
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2017
The Hacker Chronicles paints a dystopian portrait of modern day Chicago with a splash of George Orwell’s 1984. Our hero, Aloysius Wachter, who goes by the name of Vic, is a disaffected twenty-something who was busted for hacking while a teen. Out of work and needing to pay bills, his mother forces him to take a job with the Organization for Emergency Management (OEMC), an organization whose main purpose is to watch the good citizens of Chicago and report to police any nefarious activities. Like I said, right from the pages of 1984.
On his first night, Vic witnesses a murder on a security camera and becomes involved with finding the only witness to the crime via the 10,000 cameras within the OEMC system. The problem for Vic is, the witness reminds him of a lost love, a love he still has feelings for.
So begins Vic’s journey into a world populated by less than honest cops, Russian mobsters, and Chinese spies. Two hackers-in-arms, Vassily and Michelle, assist our hero along the way.
Most novels of this genre use technology as a main character. Oster doesn’t, he uses it as a tool for Vic to utilize throughout the novel. Also, I liked the first-person narrative and the darkness of the novel. Its atmosphere reminded me of Blade Runner.
If you are looking for a fast action thriller, with twists and turns throughout, I highly recommend The Hacker Chronicles, by Patrick Oster.
On his first night, Vic witnesses a murder on a security camera and becomes involved with finding the only witness to the crime via the 10,000 cameras within the OEMC system. The problem for Vic is, the witness reminds him of a lost love, a love he still has feelings for.
So begins Vic’s journey into a world populated by less than honest cops, Russian mobsters, and Chinese spies. Two hackers-in-arms, Vassily and Michelle, assist our hero along the way.
Most novels of this genre use technology as a main character. Oster doesn’t, he uses it as a tool for Vic to utilize throughout the novel. Also, I liked the first-person narrative and the darkness of the novel. Its atmosphere reminded me of Blade Runner.
If you are looking for a fast action thriller, with twists and turns throughout, I highly recommend The Hacker Chronicles, by Patrick Oster.
May 10, 2024
After reading the this book I am pretty blown away. As a tech guy I am pretty nitpicky about accuracies made by Authors about technology. But this book did not disappoint, I had a fun time reading it and would recommend this book to anyone who loves technology and crime.
March 1, 2017
Aloysius Wachter simply wants to help a beautiful young woman framed for a murder. The big problem is she’s wanted by the good guys, the bad buys and the in-between guys in Patrick Oster’s electrifying techno thriller. Wachter uses his considerable abilities as a hacker and his access to a network of thousands of cameras trained on Chicago’s residents to try to save the woman. He’s a great hero—amateur detective, conman and tech genius rolled into one—and works a case that has cops, feds, Israeli killers and Chinese cyber-spies hunting him down. The story rockets along like a high-speed chase as he fends off attacks both physical and electronic, bringing the reader right along the whole time.
Readers will be pleased the novel is billed as an “Aloysius Wachter Detective Novel,” as they’ll want future installments after this very promising first outing.
Readers will be pleased the novel is billed as an “Aloysius Wachter Detective Novel,” as they’ll want future installments after this very promising first outing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews