What do you think?
Rate this book
Tucker Mystery #1
Terminated
Uber-geek Tucker and his beautiful wife, Carol, developed security software together for MantaSoft until the day he was fired and she was murdered. Now, six months later, another software engineer is dead, bringing new clues to light in Carol's cold case.
Haunted by the memory of his wife, Tucker is determined to track down the truth behind the killings. He pulls strings to get hired back into MantaSoft, but office politics turn deadly as Tucker takes on the FBI, Russian mobsters, and a psychopath known as the Duct Tape Killer.
Haunted by the memory of his wife, Tucker is determined to track down the truth behind the killings. He pulls strings to get hired back into MantaSoft, but office politics turn deadly as Tucker takes on the FBI, Russian mobsters, and a psychopath known as the Duct Tape Killer.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Ray Daniel
27 books33 followersRay Daniel is the award-winning author of Boston-based crime fiction. His short stories “Give Me a Dollar” won a 2014 Derringer Award for short fiction and “Driving Miss Rachel” was chosen as a 2013 distinguished short story by Otto Penzler, editor of The Best American Mystery Stories 2013.
Hacked is his fourth novel.
For more information, visit him online at raydanielmystery.com and follow him on Twitter @raydanielmystry.
Hacked is his fourth novel.
For more information, visit him online at raydanielmystery.com and follow him on Twitter @raydanielmystry.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
August 9, 2014
Six months before the story begins, computer engineer Tucker is fired from the job he loves and goes home to find his wife murdered in their Wellesley home. Now his best friend Kevin, a cybercrimes investigator with the FBI, has a lead and tells Tucker to insinuate himself back into his former workplace to help find the killer. What could possibly go wrong?
The ensuing narrative does not so much unfold as constrict as the sometimes brilliant but often obtuse Tucker follows clues that lead to danger, drugs, the sex trade, and, oh yes, more murder. Lots more murder. No one is safe: not characters we instantly loathe, and not the ones we immediately like. The eye of the storm is Tucker's old company, and so he applies his one skill set to the mystery and sets about to debug it. The problem is, the closer he gets to the truth, the shorter his life expectancy gets. And he does have an unfortunate habit of getting drunk at the wrong time with the wrong women. Actually, with the amount of alcohol he consumes his biggest danger might simply be getting to close to an open flame.
Author Daniel combines both humor and tension to create a riveting plot that will have readers nursing paper cuts they got from whipping through the pages. The high-tech world is explained in a way that is detailed and thoughtful but never condescending to readers who might not inhabit it; the relationships are believable and the characters three-dimensional. And seldom has the city of Boston been used to such fine effect as a backdrop. (It should be noted that the book also contains graphic scenes of sexual violence that are nothing short of sickening, as they are clearly intended to be.)
Ray Daniel has hit this one out of the park. Fortunately for readers, this is the first book in a new series, so Tucker will be back with another crisis soon. If the second book is anything like the first, it will be worth the wait.
The ensuing narrative does not so much unfold as constrict as the sometimes brilliant but often obtuse Tucker follows clues that lead to danger, drugs, the sex trade, and, oh yes, more murder. Lots more murder. No one is safe: not characters we instantly loathe, and not the ones we immediately like. The eye of the storm is Tucker's old company, and so he applies his one skill set to the mystery and sets about to debug it. The problem is, the closer he gets to the truth, the shorter his life expectancy gets. And he does have an unfortunate habit of getting drunk at the wrong time with the wrong women. Actually, with the amount of alcohol he consumes his biggest danger might simply be getting to close to an open flame.
Author Daniel combines both humor and tension to create a riveting plot that will have readers nursing paper cuts they got from whipping through the pages. The high-tech world is explained in a way that is detailed and thoughtful but never condescending to readers who might not inhabit it; the relationships are believable and the characters three-dimensional. And seldom has the city of Boston been used to such fine effect as a backdrop. (It should be noted that the book also contains graphic scenes of sexual violence that are nothing short of sickening, as they are clearly intended to be.)
Ray Daniel has hit this one out of the park. Fortunately for readers, this is the first book in a new series, so Tucker will be back with another crisis soon. If the second book is anything like the first, it will be worth the wait.
August 9, 2014
Not a bad read but not the best I've read.
What I liked: I enjoyed Ms Daniel's writing style. It was well paced and flowed smoothly.
Tucker's character was so-so. I can't even imagine loosing my spouse but Mr Daniel turns Tucker's loss into a burning quest to know exactly why his wife was murdered. Terminated kept me interested enough to finish but I found good stopping points throughout.
What I didn't like: It didn't set me on fire with the question: Who did it and why? I just wanted to finish. Overall, I read it and finished it.
The kicker on Terminated is the price. I received my copy from NetGalley at no cost. If I paid what Amazon or Barnes & Noble is asking, after reading Terminated I would have been upset. But, I wouldn't pay the prices as Mr Daniel is an unknown author to me. He's talented but hasn't reached the riveting stage.
Borrow this book if interested but I would not recommend buying at the current prices.
What I liked: I enjoyed Ms Daniel's writing style. It was well paced and flowed smoothly.
Tucker's character was so-so. I can't even imagine loosing my spouse but Mr Daniel turns Tucker's loss into a burning quest to know exactly why his wife was murdered. Terminated kept me interested enough to finish but I found good stopping points throughout.
What I didn't like: It didn't set me on fire with the question: Who did it and why? I just wanted to finish. Overall, I read it and finished it.
The kicker on Terminated is the price. I received my copy from NetGalley at no cost. If I paid what Amazon or Barnes & Noble is asking, after reading Terminated I would have been upset. But, I wouldn't pay the prices as Mr Daniel is an unknown author to me. He's talented but hasn't reached the riveting stage.
Borrow this book if interested but I would not recommend buying at the current prices.
April 22, 2015
You don't have to be a computer geek to love this book. Ray Daniel created a wonderful character in Tucker, a recently widowed computer wiz. Terminated is a mystery within a mystery written in a wise-cracking voice with great sense of humor. The conversations between Tucker and his deceased wife are terrific and show that married couples can bicker even after one spouse dies.
This was almost five stars, but the premise of the crime did not hold up logically for me. Overall, an enjoyable romp and quick read.
This was almost five stars, but the premise of the crime did not hold up logically for me. Overall, an enjoyable romp and quick read.
September 9, 2022
A fun fast read which left me wanting to read the next in the series.
Having come from the coding/tech world, I found the main characters interesting and relevant. And having had many trips to the Boston area over the years (including Waltham, Revere, and a few other locations in the book), I often pulled up a map while reading to track the walking routes or locations of some of the scenes.
Was it a perfect read? Not quite, but it had fewer plot holes than most of the mystery books out there. Yes, there were a few "where did that some from?" or "that doesn't make sense" moments while reading, but not enough to distract from the story line.
That said, quite an admirable 1st book by a late in life author who came from the tech world and I will certainly read more of the Tucker series.
Note: if we had 1/2 star ratings I would have given this 4.5 stars. Thus I waffled between 4 and 5 stars and in the end I went with 5 stars - in part because I enjoyed the story and look forward to more, but also in part because (full disclosure) I am acquainted with the author through the SW/Tech world in which we both have worked for a number of years.
Having come from the coding/tech world, I found the main characters interesting and relevant. And having had many trips to the Boston area over the years (including Waltham, Revere, and a few other locations in the book), I often pulled up a map while reading to track the walking routes or locations of some of the scenes.
Was it a perfect read? Not quite, but it had fewer plot holes than most of the mystery books out there. Yes, there were a few "where did that some from?" or "that doesn't make sense" moments while reading, but not enough to distract from the story line.
That said, quite an admirable 1st book by a late in life author who came from the tech world and I will certainly read more of the Tucker series.
Note: if we had 1/2 star ratings I would have given this 4.5 stars. Thus I waffled between 4 and 5 stars and in the end I went with 5 stars - in part because I enjoyed the story and look forward to more, but also in part because (full disclosure) I am acquainted with the author through the SW/Tech world in which we both have worked for a number of years.
October 31, 2017
A book that starts out with the main character contemplating the importance of morning sex for a 33-year-old man, makes me raise my guard. Once the story actually started and one crime after another starts surfacing, I was as anxious as Tucker was to find out who as at the bottom of it all.
February 18, 2019
This was just not reasonable.
September 25, 2019
Quite formulaic, but enjoyable. I'd be curious to see if the author gets better with the next two books.
June 4, 2019
MBG June selection. First chapter looks interesting. I loved the software/debug theme, being set in Boston, but not the bloody violence. Wonder what book 2 in the series will be like!
April 24, 2016
"Terminated" begins with a bang. I’ll let you figure out which kind. The first two words of the book, however, offer a somewhat helpful clue. “Morning sex…”
The five days of plot in this brisk novel, after the opening action, never let up. Our erstwhile techie hero Tucker manages to get in a few stops for various bits of Boston nosh and beverage along the way. This guy needs a drink. Or four. He's had it rough and it’s going to get worse.
Tucker and his wife Carol developed controversial security software. They were a team, of sorts, at a company called MantaSoft (what a great name). Carol was viciously murdered in their home six months prior to the gauntlet of mayhem that takes place from Sunday to Thursday within the pages of Terminated. It turns out that Tucker and Carol’s marriage had plenty of bumps and not much going on in the bedroom. But that doesn’t mean Tucker doesn’t care who killed her. He cares, in fact, very much.
But now “Carol” follows Tucker around and he can often be seen having conversations with her in public, though the Bluetooth gizmo prevents others from questioning his sanity. Yes, this is a familiar device but Ray Daniel’s uses it sparingly and Carol pops up, appropriately, at some wonderfully inopportune times. And they continue to bicker about what went wrong. Hilarious.
A few pages into Terminated, Tucker’s pal at the FBI is letting him in a new lead, a somewhat worrisome photo of a woman, someone Carol once hired when she worked at MantaSoft. She’s dead. And someone thinks Tucker may have played a role in the woman’s demise, further fueling Tucker’s need to find out what’s going on at his old company.
Tucker can hack or debug anything. “You really solve puzzles through a flash of insight,” he says. “Then you work your way back through the logic so you can explain it to others. After years of debugging software, I was good at generating flashes of insight.”
And he’ll need them. By the time Tuesday rolls around, Tucker makes Reacher look like nothing more than the captain of Swan Boat in Boston Garden. Tucker isn’t likely to take on five big men with only his fists, but he seems to attract as the violent type. He's a mayhem magnet.
Humor and violence live side by side in Terminated. And Daniel flashes some very funny lines.
“If you took a bowling ball, taught it to talk, and bought it a custom bowling-ball suit, you’d wind up with Agent Bobby Miller.”
“The prosperity of the 1960's blew past Boston’s dying textile industries. While other cities were making money and dropping down the architectural equivalent of bell-bottom pants, Boston was too broke to build.”
“The beach still curves gracefully toward Nahant, but the only noted attraction is Kelly’s Roast Beef, which is 'World Famous,' according to its sign. I’d once asked some folks from Budapest if they had heard of Kelly’s Roast Beef in Revere and they had not. It was very disappointing.”
Tucker has lots to sort through. Not everybody is what they appear to be. And Tucker will soon realize, despite a sharp ability to debug anything, that his smart aleck ways are helping leave an easy trail for would-be assassins to follow.
Terminated (a title that probably carries quadruple meaning here) is a fun and hair-raising romp through the streets of Boston. It ends, like it starts, with a bang. I’ll let you figure out which kind.
The five days of plot in this brisk novel, after the opening action, never let up. Our erstwhile techie hero Tucker manages to get in a few stops for various bits of Boston nosh and beverage along the way. This guy needs a drink. Or four. He's had it rough and it’s going to get worse.
Tucker and his wife Carol developed controversial security software. They were a team, of sorts, at a company called MantaSoft (what a great name). Carol was viciously murdered in their home six months prior to the gauntlet of mayhem that takes place from Sunday to Thursday within the pages of Terminated. It turns out that Tucker and Carol’s marriage had plenty of bumps and not much going on in the bedroom. But that doesn’t mean Tucker doesn’t care who killed her. He cares, in fact, very much.
But now “Carol” follows Tucker around and he can often be seen having conversations with her in public, though the Bluetooth gizmo prevents others from questioning his sanity. Yes, this is a familiar device but Ray Daniel’s uses it sparingly and Carol pops up, appropriately, at some wonderfully inopportune times. And they continue to bicker about what went wrong. Hilarious.
A few pages into Terminated, Tucker’s pal at the FBI is letting him in a new lead, a somewhat worrisome photo of a woman, someone Carol once hired when she worked at MantaSoft. She’s dead. And someone thinks Tucker may have played a role in the woman’s demise, further fueling Tucker’s need to find out what’s going on at his old company.
Tucker can hack or debug anything. “You really solve puzzles through a flash of insight,” he says. “Then you work your way back through the logic so you can explain it to others. After years of debugging software, I was good at generating flashes of insight.”
And he’ll need them. By the time Tuesday rolls around, Tucker makes Reacher look like nothing more than the captain of Swan Boat in Boston Garden. Tucker isn’t likely to take on five big men with only his fists, but he seems to attract as the violent type. He's a mayhem magnet.
Humor and violence live side by side in Terminated. And Daniel flashes some very funny lines.
“If you took a bowling ball, taught it to talk, and bought it a custom bowling-ball suit, you’d wind up with Agent Bobby Miller.”
“The prosperity of the 1960's blew past Boston’s dying textile industries. While other cities were making money and dropping down the architectural equivalent of bell-bottom pants, Boston was too broke to build.”
“The beach still curves gracefully toward Nahant, but the only noted attraction is Kelly’s Roast Beef, which is 'World Famous,' according to its sign. I’d once asked some folks from Budapest if they had heard of Kelly’s Roast Beef in Revere and they had not. It was very disappointing.”
Tucker has lots to sort through. Not everybody is what they appear to be. And Tucker will soon realize, despite a sharp ability to debug anything, that his smart aleck ways are helping leave an easy trail for would-be assassins to follow.
Terminated (a title that probably carries quadruple meaning here) is a fun and hair-raising romp through the streets of Boston. It ends, like it starts, with a bang. I’ll let you figure out which kind.
August 28, 2014
What a great find!
First, let me say that I won this book on
Goodreads, but in no way did that influence my review., which is : this is simply a great thriller, a very good book and a fabulous find.
TERMINATED: as in fired from the job; as closing a program; as is killing someone.
This is love story. Tucker, the protagonist, is still deeply in love with his wife, Carol, who was murdered the same day he was fired from his job as a software engineer at the company at which both were employed. In fact, Ticker still " sees" her and they converse. They talk about their love, their failing marriage- and who might have killer her. She tells him she loves him, that he is a jerk, that he still has a nice butt, that he had better stop trying to be a hero. He tells her that she is still beautiful, too bossy, and what was she doing bothering him. Normal marital conversation, except that she is dead.
This is a crime thriller. A long-time friend, an FBI agent gets Tucker back at his old job to look into possible reason for her murder, and the murder of the woman who replaced both Carol and him at the job. Then the FBI man is shot down in the street. All in the first few pages!
This is a whodunnit and a why was it done, in a plot that gets twisty but not complicated. Even though the story involves computer source codes, the book is not arcane nor full of gee- whiz jargon. When it counts everything is as clear as tequila.
Tucker is a completely fascinating character. Brilliantly intelligent and stupid. He loves his work and loves to talk about how good an engineer he is, even when it is best to shut up. Sexy cool, but so dumb about women that he has no clue ( but do any of us?) An avoider of physical conflict, but courageous , even heedless of danger when it counts. Tucker is quite a guy.
I loved Terminated. I read it at breakfast and dinner and again at the next day's breakfast just to see how it was going to turn out. At one point I turned to my wife and said, " This would make one hell of a good movie." But don't wait for Hollywood- they might screw it up and put Tom Cruise in as the lead- get a copy of TERMINATED and have a great time reading a fine thriller.
Note: some violence, some sex (not explicit), plenty of drinking, a few laughs, and no way to put it down without finishing.
First, let me say that I won this book on
Goodreads, but in no way did that influence my review., which is : this is simply a great thriller, a very good book and a fabulous find.
TERMINATED: as in fired from the job; as closing a program; as is killing someone.
This is love story. Tucker, the protagonist, is still deeply in love with his wife, Carol, who was murdered the same day he was fired from his job as a software engineer at the company at which both were employed. In fact, Ticker still " sees" her and they converse. They talk about their love, their failing marriage- and who might have killer her. She tells him she loves him, that he is a jerk, that he still has a nice butt, that he had better stop trying to be a hero. He tells her that she is still beautiful, too bossy, and what was she doing bothering him. Normal marital conversation, except that she is dead.
This is a crime thriller. A long-time friend, an FBI agent gets Tucker back at his old job to look into possible reason for her murder, and the murder of the woman who replaced both Carol and him at the job. Then the FBI man is shot down in the street. All in the first few pages!
This is a whodunnit and a why was it done, in a plot that gets twisty but not complicated. Even though the story involves computer source codes, the book is not arcane nor full of gee- whiz jargon. When it counts everything is as clear as tequila.
Tucker is a completely fascinating character. Brilliantly intelligent and stupid. He loves his work and loves to talk about how good an engineer he is, even when it is best to shut up. Sexy cool, but so dumb about women that he has no clue ( but do any of us?) An avoider of physical conflict, but courageous , even heedless of danger when it counts. Tucker is quite a guy.
I loved Terminated. I read it at breakfast and dinner and again at the next day's breakfast just to see how it was going to turn out. At one point I turned to my wife and said, " This would make one hell of a good movie." But don't wait for Hollywood- they might screw it up and put Tom Cruise in as the lead- get a copy of TERMINATED and have a great time reading a fine thriller.
Note: some violence, some sex (not explicit), plenty of drinking, a few laughs, and no way to put it down without finishing.
August 7, 2014
Ooh! I get to be the first review!
Ok, so I was at the launch party last night (i.e., about eight hours ago), got my copy, started it in the store before the talk, came home, had dinner, read half the book, went to bed, tossed and turned for an hour, came back and finished the book. It is now 4:30am.
OK, here's the gist of it. Obsessed computer programmer Tucker's wife was murdered six months before the story starts. Tucker's boyhood friend, now in the FBI, calls to say he has a new lead in the murder investigation. Then things really get going. In the course of five days Tucker puts the pieces together, with more twists and turns than a slinky. People we trusted are not be be trusted some we didn't trust show themselves trustworthy. There is porn, drugs, international corporate intrigue, lots of dead bodies, greed, hatred, revenge, lust, happy sex, sick sex, booze, booze, and more booze.
The writing is excellent; we like Tucker right from the first page. The shady business deal that holds the plot together is complex, but getting there was a thrill-ride. When Tucker is feeling rushed, and the world seem to stand still and not let him forward we agonizingly feel the frustration, Mr. Daniel uses masterful writing to hold us back and make us yearn for dramatic resolution. When relatively boring things are happing to Tucker (e.g., attending a trade show), Daniel quickly turns the mundane into an interesting situation. As with any mystery/thriller, a fair amount of exposition is necessary to provide the reader with enough information to understand what is going on and why, this is provided in a way that never feels forced or fake, but intrigues the reader with the conversation, or internal monologue which provides this key information, and we (and Tucker) can use that to move forward in our (and his) understanding of what is going on.
I don't know what Mr. Daniel is going to do with Tucker in the next book, I'm sure as hell gonna find out!
Ok, so I was at the launch party last night (i.e., about eight hours ago), got my copy, started it in the store before the talk, came home, had dinner, read half the book, went to bed, tossed and turned for an hour, came back and finished the book. It is now 4:30am.
OK, here's the gist of it. Obsessed computer programmer Tucker's wife was murdered six months before the story starts. Tucker's boyhood friend, now in the FBI, calls to say he has a new lead in the murder investigation. Then things really get going. In the course of five days Tucker puts the pieces together, with more twists and turns than a slinky. People we trusted are not be be trusted some we didn't trust show themselves trustworthy. There is porn, drugs, international corporate intrigue, lots of dead bodies, greed, hatred, revenge, lust, happy sex, sick sex, booze, booze, and more booze.
The writing is excellent; we like Tucker right from the first page. The shady business deal that holds the plot together is complex, but getting there was a thrill-ride. When Tucker is feeling rushed, and the world seem to stand still and not let him forward we agonizingly feel the frustration, Mr. Daniel uses masterful writing to hold us back and make us yearn for dramatic resolution. When relatively boring things are happing to Tucker (e.g., attending a trade show), Daniel quickly turns the mundane into an interesting situation. As with any mystery/thriller, a fair amount of exposition is necessary to provide the reader with enough information to understand what is going on and why, this is provided in a way that never feels forced or fake, but intrigues the reader with the conversation, or internal monologue which provides this key information, and we (and Tucker) can use that to move forward in our (and his) understanding of what is going on.
I don't know what Mr. Daniel is going to do with Tucker in the next book, I'm sure as hell gonna find out!
April 12, 2015
A debut novel, which although it feels should be the second in a series, is in fact, the first. You are introduced to the hero who is a computer programmer and likeable in a geeky kind of way.
This hero has been profoundly affected by something that happened off page but related to the current investigation. The previous scenario is explained alongside the current investigation. Indeed, the interplay of the two plot lines in intriguing and I loved the method the author used so that the hero could talk to his ex-wife which added another level to the investigation.
The relationships between the characters are well developed and believable.
This is a murder mystery seen through the eyes of an error prone, yet unstoppable computer programmer whose skill is debugging code which he applied to the investigation he is called into solving. However, the more embroiled he gets the more his life expectancy reduced. The relationships between all the characters are well developed and believable and seem to jump off the page.
For someone who does not speak computer speak this does not detract from the enjoyment of this novel. Indeed it is self-effacing and does not treat the non-technological person as an idiot.
The storyline is well paced and smooth. Tension is combined with humour to create a riveting non-stop twisty plot line which, when teamed with an interesting identifiable hero will keep you intrigued and guessing until the end.
If Tucker had to deal with so much in this first novel what the hell does the author have planned for him in the next one?
Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
This hero has been profoundly affected by something that happened off page but related to the current investigation. The previous scenario is explained alongside the current investigation. Indeed, the interplay of the two plot lines in intriguing and I loved the method the author used so that the hero could talk to his ex-wife which added another level to the investigation.
The relationships between the characters are well developed and believable.
This is a murder mystery seen through the eyes of an error prone, yet unstoppable computer programmer whose skill is debugging code which he applied to the investigation he is called into solving. However, the more embroiled he gets the more his life expectancy reduced. The relationships between all the characters are well developed and believable and seem to jump off the page.
For someone who does not speak computer speak this does not detract from the enjoyment of this novel. Indeed it is self-effacing and does not treat the non-technological person as an idiot.
The storyline is well paced and smooth. Tension is combined with humour to create a riveting non-stop twisty plot line which, when teamed with an interesting identifiable hero will keep you intrigued and guessing until the end.
If Tucker had to deal with so much in this first novel what the hell does the author have planned for him in the next one?
Full Disclosure: I received a free copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
June 24, 2015
Tucker and his wife Carol created a controversial computer security code, something that would break the encryption on any computer anywhere in the world. Before it's completion, Tucker is fired from his company and his wife is murdered. The book picks up six months after Carol's death when Tucker gets a call from an old friend. He's got new info about her murder and wants Tucker's help to find the killer. That sets off a whole chain of dangerous events. It gets his friend killed, Tucker on a kill list, and an FBI agent kidnapped and the possible next victim of a serial killer.
This is a very fast-paced book, with new and more frightening events with every chapter. Tucker is brilliant with computers but an idiot with people, especially the evil folk who want him dead. It's like he's got no survival instinct and he just walks blindly around kicking hornets nests all around him. It's almost enough to make you wonder if he's suicidal.
The fact that he's having long conversations with his dead wife sort of supports that theory. Can he survive against the odds? That's the billion dollar question.
It's a good, solid book filled with intrigue, action, and humor. I enjoyed it, though not as much as the second book in the series, CORRUPTED MEMORY. I'm looking forward to more stories about Tucker. He's a really great character with a lot of potential. I honestly don't know why this series hasn't been on the bestseller list because it's just as good if not better than many of the books that are. I highly recommend both books.
This is a very fast-paced book, with new and more frightening events with every chapter. Tucker is brilliant with computers but an idiot with people, especially the evil folk who want him dead. It's like he's got no survival instinct and he just walks blindly around kicking hornets nests all around him. It's almost enough to make you wonder if he's suicidal.
The fact that he's having long conversations with his dead wife sort of supports that theory. Can he survive against the odds? That's the billion dollar question.
It's a good, solid book filled with intrigue, action, and humor. I enjoyed it, though not as much as the second book in the series, CORRUPTED MEMORY. I'm looking forward to more stories about Tucker. He's a really great character with a lot of potential. I honestly don't know why this series hasn't been on the bestseller list because it's just as good if not better than many of the books that are. I highly recommend both books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2014
Revenge drives Ray Daniel's debut novel, "Terminated," a brisk, high-tech espionage thriller set in familiar downtown Boston. Aloysius Tucker, a randy computer geek who fancies himself a chick magnet, is a widower. Six months ago, Tucker and his wife were working on the Rosetta Project, developing software that decrypts files, when abruptly he was fired. That same day, she was murdered. He's been in a deep funk ever since.
When the programmer who replaced his wife on the project is murdered, apparently by a perverted serial killer dubbed the Duct Tape Killer, Tucker wonders if the murders are connected. He decides to investigate. The ghost of his dead wife more taunts than haunts him as he searches for her killer.
Daniel takes the reader into the fascinating inner workings of Tucker's mind as he goes about solving the crimes in the same way he would debug software: "Whenever it looks like a random pile of bugs they always come from one central problem. One single key with lots of locks." The solution is far from simple, and Tucker turns out to be even better at sticking his nose in the wrong place and pissing people off than he is at debugging code. Daniel does a fine job making computer esoterica accessible. This is a smart novel with with plenty of witty asides, slam-bam action, and doesn't flinch from depicting sexual violence.
Review appeared first in The Boston Globe
When the programmer who replaced his wife on the project is murdered, apparently by a perverted serial killer dubbed the Duct Tape Killer, Tucker wonders if the murders are connected. He decides to investigate. The ghost of his dead wife more taunts than haunts him as he searches for her killer.
Daniel takes the reader into the fascinating inner workings of Tucker's mind as he goes about solving the crimes in the same way he would debug software: "Whenever it looks like a random pile of bugs they always come from one central problem. One single key with lots of locks." The solution is far from simple, and Tucker turns out to be even better at sticking his nose in the wrong place and pissing people off than he is at debugging code. Daniel does a fine job making computer esoterica accessible. This is a smart novel with with plenty of witty asides, slam-bam action, and doesn't flinch from depicting sexual violence.
Review appeared first in The Boston Globe
December 31, 2014
I liked this book. If, as the cover suggests, the author makes a series of it, I will certainly read the next one, or probably even something else by this author. The main character is interesting and complex character. I loved the fairly authentic geeky feel of Tucker and his friends and co-workers. I I did deduct because I felt like the final explication portions of this mystery were not very clear. After a fast read, I found myself slogging to put the pieces together in the part where it is supposedly being explained to me. I'd hope the author does better in the next book. Also, the MacGuffin was a bit silly. I mean it served its purpose of being obviously immensely valuable, but the obliviousness of the main character to the implications, and the lackadaisical government involvement seems implausible and hurt believability a bit. But not much, really, as the details of what and how it worked were not central to the plot. t was a fun, fast read.
August 11, 2014
This debut novel by Ray Daniel is good- best-seller good. He's got all the elements here: an error-prone, yet unstoppable protagonist, non-stop, fast-paced action, a plot with twists and turns, some hi-tech hijinks, sultry women who may be allies or enemies, a few intimate encounters between consenting adults, a lot of drinking, a host of beatings and more, and a whirlwind ride around the environs of Boston. The author really loves the Boston area, and it shows in the loving details of some of our most cherished traditions and landmarks. We get just enough tech talk to keep things interesting without bogging down, and we follow poor Tucker as he goes from a nice night of romping to a few days of absolute Hell, as he battles sabotage, assault, betrayal, and assassins.
If that's not enough to pique your interest, you're not ready for a thriller. This is one ripping adventure.
If that's not enough to pique your interest, you're not ready for a thriller. This is one ripping adventure.
May 14, 2015
I heard Ray Daniel speak on panel discussions at Left Coast Crime 2015. He described his book at the new author breakfast, and the premise was irresistible. After hearing him talk twice, and being a former sysadmin in another life, I bought his book. I must say, he did not disappoint. It was everything he described and more. The day his protagonist programmer is fired from his high profile job, while he is being fired, his wife is being murdered on their kitchen floor. That is the first page of the book. It ramps up from there. Parts made me laugh out loud, and I actually yelled at his protagonist on several occasions. That rarely happens, that I get so emotionally invested in a first time authors book. I am so looking forward to the further adventures of Tucker. Bravo, Mr. Daniel!
August 14, 2014
A fun first novel by Ray Daniel. He gave us a Boston with hints at the criminal mischief that lay within. Tucker, his protagonist is something that I hadn't seen before. A computer programmer, as amateur detective, who uses his skill at debugging software to root through the mysteries that he faces. The plot a bit convoluted, and there were were times that fell a little flat, but I can't wait to read more in the series. (Here's hoping it won't be long.)
August 8, 2014
TERMINATED is an alluring suspense novel set in Boston's technological arena. Tucker, who delivers the first-person narrative, is an intuitive programming "genius," one who can comprehend both the architecture of source code (the "forest") as well as the individual processes (the "trees"). Fired and his wife's murder on the same day left him unemployed and unfocused. When his former mentor summons him as an outside consultant, Tucker is unfortunately insufficiently suspicious or on guard.
August 7, 2014
Clever and captivating. Finally, a novel that incorporates technology and a technical protagonist that doesn't make the technically savvy roll their eyes in disbelief. Nor does the technology get in the way of a great story. As an engineer, I often had the eerie sense that Daniel based Tucker on me. This is a must read for engineers who love mysteries (don't we all?), but also an amazing read for any crime fiction lover.
November 19, 2014
What a fun book: smart, intriguing, fast-paced, with interesting and realistic characters and character interactions - even when placed in extremely unlikely and harrowing situations. Plus, it's just downright fun to read, and tough to put down. In addition, if you're a Bostonian or a fan of or familiar with the city, you will enjoy the constant - but not "overdone" - references to city sites (and cites). I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and hope to see more from Mr. Daniel ... SOON!
October 30, 2014
Ray Daniel has a new fan in me....
Great book, loved the fact that it was based in Boston. In this well written first novel, you can really tell the author loves the city of Boston; it shows in his details of some of our beautiful historic landmarks.
This book is full of humor, adventure, violence, murders, lots of drinking, sex and a twisted plot. Loved it! It's a great fast read.
Bring it on Tucker! I am ready for your next nutty-edgy self.
Great book, loved the fact that it was based in Boston. In this well written first novel, you can really tell the author loves the city of Boston; it shows in his details of some of our beautiful historic landmarks.
This book is full of humor, adventure, violence, murders, lots of drinking, sex and a twisted plot. Loved it! It's a great fast read.
Bring it on Tucker! I am ready for your next nutty-edgy self.
November 20, 2014
Page-turning thriller in which Tucker, a Boston software engineer, finds himself working as a consultant at the firm that suddenly fired him, the same day he found his wife murdered. The murder of another software engineer sets of series of events in motion as Tucker gets to the bottom of his wife's murder.
January 4, 2015
Full disclosure: I edited this book in manuscript form, and have worked on the two subsequent Tucker novels. The series, about a Boston-based computer expert, is smart and funny, and Daniel has deftly moved the books from the personal (TERMINATED) to a broader interest in tech crimes.
November 9, 2015
Ray spoke at our book group. What a lovely and intelligent man. Throughly enjoyed Terminated, although thought the having Carol talk to him from the grave was a bit contrived. Love the Boston trivia. Looking forward to reading Corrupted Memory.
December 15, 2015
One of my favorite new series!
April 2, 2017
A pretty decent book, that is exciting in all of the right places. I just wish that it would not have been written in a first-person narrative, which I always fin annoying and distracting. If it would have not utilized that technique, I probably would have given in 5 Stars instead of 4. Still, I will be not reading the second part of this series.
I received this book for free in return for an honest review
I received this book for free in return for an honest review
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews