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Old Code #1
Grandfather Anonymous
Elderly, unarmed, and extremely dangerous.
Before Ajay retired, he was the best hacker the NSA had ever hired. He sank corporations, toppled governments, and broke cryptography. All of it.
And don’t think retirement has slowed him down one bit, thank you very much.
When his estranged daughter shows up on his doorstep with his two granddaughters, Ajay will do anything to keep them safe. He’ll hack biotech corporations and criminal enterprises alike. Nobody after his girls will be safe, but the more he digs, the more he dredges up the shadows of his own dangerous past.
He only needs to know one thing:
What makes his granddaughters so darn valuable?
Before Ajay retired, he was the best hacker the NSA had ever hired. He sank corporations, toppled governments, and broke cryptography. All of it.
And don’t think retirement has slowed him down one bit, thank you very much.
When his estranged daughter shows up on his doorstep with his two granddaughters, Ajay will do anything to keep them safe. He’ll hack biotech corporations and criminal enterprises alike. Nobody after his girls will be safe, but the more he digs, the more he dredges up the shadows of his own dangerous past.
He only needs to know one thing:
What makes his granddaughters so darn valuable?
306 pages, ebook
First published July 5, 2021
About the author
Anthony W. Eichenlaub
33 books46 followersAnthony W. Eichenlaub’s stories appear in Little Blue Marble, A Punk Rock Future, and the anthology Fell Beasts and Fair. When the ground isn’t frozen solid, he enjoys gardening, camping, and long walks with a lazy dog. When it is, he would rather be indoors. He can be found at anthonyeichenlaub.com.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 26, 2023
This one was OK; I didn't feel like stopping, but I don't think I'll read any more of this series. It just wasn't that believable, or I guess you might say the world building was not very complete. It reminds me a little of Philip K. Dick books, but without the skill of Philip K. Dick in making strange realities seem realistic, and immersing you in his crazy worlds. I'm probably not making my thoughts clear, which is why I don't write detailed reviews, I guess.
June 25, 2020
This techno-thriller is like a futuristic "Enemy of the State", where it's not just the main character in trouble, but everyone he cares about--including his dog!
So much of this story was unexpected, especially the main character: an older NSA hacker well past his prime, set in Minnesota in a somewhat dystopian (and very believable) future. I loved how the author projected where technology would be in the next thirty or so years, with quantum computing completely breaking traditional encryption, drones acting as potential spies, treatments that help mask the symptoms of Alzheimers (with unfortunate side effects), and class divisions that have only widened in the intervening years.
With this backdrop, we follow Ajay as he meets his granddaughters for the first time. At first, Ajay seems to be the "I don't need anyone/anything" type, but this facade quickly fades as he deals with the guilt of being estranged from his only daughter. While there's a strong sci-fi element, the main part of this story is about the relationships of the characters, which was really enjoyable.
Ajay's loneliness percolates throughout the story, as well as how he has to confront decisions (both personal and professional) in his own past. He's pretty relatable for me as a programmer, and I get how he thinks. There were several other enjoyable and relatable characters, including Garrison (the dog), Kylie (one of the granddaughters), and Olivia (his close friend/confidant). I loved each of their unique personalities and how they helped drive toward unraveling the mystery of why the government wants Ajay's granddaughters.
I'd recommend this for fans of near-future sci-fi and unlikely protagonists. Well worth the time!
So much of this story was unexpected, especially the main character: an older NSA hacker well past his prime, set in Minnesota in a somewhat dystopian (and very believable) future. I loved how the author projected where technology would be in the next thirty or so years, with quantum computing completely breaking traditional encryption, drones acting as potential spies, treatments that help mask the symptoms of Alzheimers (with unfortunate side effects), and class divisions that have only widened in the intervening years.
With this backdrop, we follow Ajay as he meets his granddaughters for the first time. At first, Ajay seems to be the "I don't need anyone/anything" type, but this facade quickly fades as he deals with the guilt of being estranged from his only daughter. While there's a strong sci-fi element, the main part of this story is about the relationships of the characters, which was really enjoyable.
Ajay's loneliness percolates throughout the story, as well as how he has to confront decisions (both personal and professional) in his own past. He's pretty relatable for me as a programmer, and I get how he thinks. There were several other enjoyable and relatable characters, including Garrison (the dog), Kylie (one of the granddaughters), and Olivia (his close friend/confidant). I loved each of their unique personalities and how they helped drive toward unraveling the mystery of why the government wants Ajay's granddaughters.
I'd recommend this for fans of near-future sci-fi and unlikely protagonists. Well worth the time!
October 23, 2021
Age Is Just A Number
What a refreshing change. I've read countless books about superheroes, physically and mentally augmented heroes and heroines set in various near and far futures and they all had one thing in common, they were all YOUNG. This book is a radical departure from the stereotype and I enjoyed it immensely, in part because I'm 76 years young and can closely identify with Ajay about the aches and pains of growing old, but mainly because it is well-written and well thought out. It's not hard to extrapolate that Ajay's present lies not far in our future. I'm really looking forward to the next one and hopefully the author can maintain his high standard. While writing this review I've just raised my rating from 4 to 5 stars, a rating I've only ever given to three books in the over 300 I've read in the couple of years. Well done!
What a refreshing change. I've read countless books about superheroes, physically and mentally augmented heroes and heroines set in various near and far futures and they all had one thing in common, they were all YOUNG. This book is a radical departure from the stereotype and I enjoyed it immensely, in part because I'm 76 years young and can closely identify with Ajay about the aches and pains of growing old, but mainly because it is well-written and well thought out. It's not hard to extrapolate that Ajay's present lies not far in our future. I'm really looking forward to the next one and hopefully the author can maintain his high standard. While writing this review I've just raised my rating from 4 to 5 stars, a rating I've only ever given to three books in the over 300 I've read in the couple of years. Well done!
April 24, 2020
I don't know what to say about this book. I might be biased since this is not the kind of story I will pick first. I was bored to death on the first half of it. See, it took me 2 weeks finish it. It kind of hard for me to see the world it depicted, the characters, or maybe, it's just too technical for me.
The second half, I like though. The suspense, the twist, the drama.
The second half, I like though. The suspense, the twist, the drama.
March 6, 2023
Most genre fiction is formulaic. Mysteries may be detective stories, police procedurals, cozy mysteries, and so forth. Romance novels fall into categories of their own. And science fiction encompasses space travel, dystopia, First Contact, military science fiction, time travel, space opera, and a handful of other sub-genres. So, it’s unusual to come across a sci-fi novel that doesn’t easily fit within a single one or two of these groups. But Anthony Eichenlaub’s Grandfather Anonymous qualifies as unusual, indeed. It’s marketed as a techno-thriller, and that label works. But it’s a dystopian techno-thriller with a military science fiction theme in what literary critics call a “coming-of-age” story and a family drama. And it succeeds on all these levels.
A LIFE OF ENDLESS COMPLICATIONS FOR “GRANDFATHER ANONYMOUS”
Ajay Andersen is seventy, quite old enough to be a grandfather, but he has no grandchildren. Or so he believes until two girls turn up on his doorstep, one fourteen, the other ten. They’re the children of his daughter Sashi, who ran away from home as a teenager nearly twenty years ago. Isabelle and her little sister, Kylie, arrive with their mother. And Ajay’s life, which is already complicated in the extreme, becomes even more challenging.
To say that Ajay is retired is a stretch. In fact, ten years ago he ditched his job as a cyberspy at the National Security Agency. He had been the NSA’s most gifted hacker. There, “he sank corporations and toppled governments.” Then, in one glorious hack, he had used one of the agency’s advanced quantum computers to unlock all the agency’s secrets, making data encryption obsolete and ushering in the Age of Honesty. And during the ten years since he has been on the run, obscuring his identity and his whereabouts with a clever bit of code. It changes his identity every night at midnight without changing his name. “It was always his birthday. Every day.” But those chickens may now be coming home to roost, because Sashi and the girls are attracting unwelcome attention. Lots of it.
AJAY ANDERSEN’S WORLD
It’s the year 2045. There is no privacy anywhere. None. Cameras are embedded everywhere, and surveillance drones crowd the skies. (“If you can see the sky, the sky can see you.”) By having access to information about almost everybody, everywhere, all the time, the United States Government maintains a level of totalitarian control over the country that Heinrich Himmler and Lavrentiy Beria could never even have dreamed of. Ajay Andersen is a rare outlier, capable of escaping notice like few others.
The “highly illegal and somewhat stolen diamond-optical quantum computer”—a fist-sized black box—he filched from the NSA gives him the means to enfold himself in anonymity. (“Quantum computing outside of the [Federal government] was almost unheard of and heavily regulated.”) It also enables him to manipulate just about anything electronic within his reach. But, no matter how much protection he has, if the people tracking Sashi stumble across him as well, life as Ajay knows it may be coming to an end.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anthony W. Eichenlaub‘s uninformative bio on his author website reads in part: “Anthony W. Eichenlaub is the author of a wide range of science fiction and fantasy. His novels are a hodgepodge of cyberpunk westerns, space opera, and pulse pounding technothrillers. He loves words like ‘hodgepodge’. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Daily Science Fiction, Little Blue Marble, and On-Spec Magazine. He’s a native of southern Minnesota.”
A LIFE OF ENDLESS COMPLICATIONS FOR “GRANDFATHER ANONYMOUS”
Ajay Andersen is seventy, quite old enough to be a grandfather, but he has no grandchildren. Or so he believes until two girls turn up on his doorstep, one fourteen, the other ten. They’re the children of his daughter Sashi, who ran away from home as a teenager nearly twenty years ago. Isabelle and her little sister, Kylie, arrive with their mother. And Ajay’s life, which is already complicated in the extreme, becomes even more challenging.
To say that Ajay is retired is a stretch. In fact, ten years ago he ditched his job as a cyberspy at the National Security Agency. He had been the NSA’s most gifted hacker. There, “he sank corporations and toppled governments.” Then, in one glorious hack, he had used one of the agency’s advanced quantum computers to unlock all the agency’s secrets, making data encryption obsolete and ushering in the Age of Honesty. And during the ten years since he has been on the run, obscuring his identity and his whereabouts with a clever bit of code. It changes his identity every night at midnight without changing his name. “It was always his birthday. Every day.” But those chickens may now be coming home to roost, because Sashi and the girls are attracting unwelcome attention. Lots of it.
AJAY ANDERSEN’S WORLD
It’s the year 2045. There is no privacy anywhere. None. Cameras are embedded everywhere, and surveillance drones crowd the skies. (“If you can see the sky, the sky can see you.”) By having access to information about almost everybody, everywhere, all the time, the United States Government maintains a level of totalitarian control over the country that Heinrich Himmler and Lavrentiy Beria could never even have dreamed of. Ajay Andersen is a rare outlier, capable of escaping notice like few others.
The “highly illegal and somewhat stolen diamond-optical quantum computer”—a fist-sized black box—he filched from the NSA gives him the means to enfold himself in anonymity. (“Quantum computing outside of the [Federal government] was almost unheard of and heavily regulated.”) It also enables him to manipulate just about anything electronic within his reach. But, no matter how much protection he has, if the people tracking Sashi stumble across him as well, life as Ajay knows it may be coming to an end.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anthony W. Eichenlaub‘s uninformative bio on his author website reads in part: “Anthony W. Eichenlaub is the author of a wide range of science fiction and fantasy. His novels are a hodgepodge of cyberpunk westerns, space opera, and pulse pounding technothrillers. He loves words like ‘hodgepodge’. His short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including Daily Science Fiction, Little Blue Marble, and On-Spec Magazine. He’s a native of southern Minnesota.”
August 7, 2023
Ajar Anderson is a retired cyber spy, and he is acutely aware of just how much Big Brother is watching, because he helped write the code. His wife has died, his daughter is estranged and old age is starting to grind him down. He’s allowing his world to shrink down to the size of his apartment, where he feels safe. Then out of the blue, his daughter arrives with her two kids and she needs his help. Not his computer skills, which he’d gladly offer, but his under developed parenting skills. She needs him to babysit while she handles an “errand.” Which would seem easy enough, except that a government worker had just been to his house for a supposed welfare check, and had told him to report any sightings of this woman and her two kids. Things get busy after that.
I really liked the world the author created. Some clever extrapolations of where technology could take us. I liked Ajar as the grumpy old man. I think the biggest weakness of the book was the secondary characters. Olivia and Henry were promising but didn’t get as much development as they deserved. Sasha was contradictory and not believable to me. The other bad guys seemed stereotypical. The author’s use of golf to describe distances was fine for me since I have played enough golf to have a feel for what he was describing but might be annoying for a non-golfer.
A fun, fast read in a clever world. Still trying to decide if I like the characters enough to buy the next book.
I really liked the world the author created. Some clever extrapolations of where technology could take us. I liked Ajar as the grumpy old man. I think the biggest weakness of the book was the secondary characters. Olivia and Henry were promising but didn’t get as much development as they deserved. Sasha was contradictory and not believable to me. The other bad guys seemed stereotypical. The author’s use of golf to describe distances was fine for me since I have played enough golf to have a feel for what he was describing but might be annoying for a non-golfer.
A fun, fast read in a clever world. Still trying to decide if I like the characters enough to buy the next book.
January 15, 2024
Ajay Andersen is a hacker; not just any hacker; he is the best of the best.
When left to look after his granddaughters for a few hours, he never expected to end up on the run with them. Nor did he expect to be chased by not only the police, but some people trying to kill him.
He had not even known he had granddaughters before his daughter rocked up asking for his help, as he had been estranged from her for many years.
This is a technological, sci-fi story, set in the future. It will grip your interest - or at least it did mine. I absolutely loved this book.
When left to look after his granddaughters for a few hours, he never expected to end up on the run with them. Nor did he expect to be chased by not only the police, but some people trying to kill him.
He had not even known he had granddaughters before his daughter rocked up asking for his help, as he had been estranged from her for many years.
This is a technological, sci-fi story, set in the future. It will grip your interest - or at least it did mine. I absolutely loved this book.
Read
August 4, 2020This was a very interesting story. I liked the ambiguity of the characters' motives, the interspersed action and the attempt of Grandfather to get closer to his granddaughters. The only thing that bothered me was the occasional reliance on cyber- and cypher-wa fare. The author used a goodly number of terms that left me looking for an attached dictionary of terms. iA very interesting juxtaposition of Grandfather and Anonymous.
October 20, 2023
This was a fun read, with an elderly protagonist who was once the scourge of the NSA.
In this not-too-far-in-the-future scenario, Ajay Andersen thinks he has hidden his cyber tracks well. However, his long-estranged daughter shows up one day, with two granddaughters that he didn’t know existed.
How can Ajay keep everyone safe? And how can he connect with two granddaughters who are partially nano-technology?
In this not-too-far-in-the-future scenario, Ajay Andersen thinks he has hidden his cyber tracks well. However, his long-estranged daughter shows up one day, with two granddaughters that he didn’t know existed.
How can Ajay keep everyone safe? And how can he connect with two granddaughters who are partially nano-technology?
Read
January 5, 2024I did not believe the worldbuilding. "Scrambling the wi-fi" is not a thing, "diamond-optical quantum computer" is not a thing, and this text:
"The 29th Amendment to the US Constitution gave him ownership of all data collected on him as well as the right to resist the collection thereof. The 30th gave government and corporations the right to collect and defend it."
is just bonkers crazy.
I finished the kindle preview and opted not to get the full book.
"The 29th Amendment to the US Constitution gave him ownership of all data collected on him as well as the right to resist the collection thereof. The 30th gave government and corporations the right to collect and defend it."
is just bonkers crazy.
I finished the kindle preview and opted not to get the full book.
July 5, 2021
Just because Grandpa has retired from the NSA doesn’t mean he’s retired from life. In an inconsistently-paced and often confusing glimpse into the future the protagonist meets granddaughters he didn’t even know he had, and wonders what secrets they hide. I received an advanced digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and voluntarily provided an honest review.
November 1, 2021
I liked this book, but why? Maybe it's because it feels original and you never know what's going to happen... Maybe it's because it's set in the familiar locale of Minnesota... Maybe because the protagonist is an elderly man who doesn't let his aches and pains stop him... Maybe because he's got a sharp mind, a good heart, and a lady friend who becomes an integral part of the story.
January 23, 2023
GRANDFATHER ANONYMOUS will grab your attention on the very first page and keep you turning pages till the very last one.
An old man has no family, only a few not-so-close friends, and a severe paranoia. But it’s not paranoia if people really are after you; right?
When his granddaughters show up, all the rules change! Don’t miss this book.
An old man has no family, only a few not-so-close friends, and a severe paranoia. But it’s not paranoia if people really are after you; right?
When his granddaughters show up, all the rules change! Don’t miss this book.
July 19, 2024
Best Book ever for science fiction
I really liked this book on science fiction in the future. If anyone who likes science fiction, they will love this book. It's in the future of technology and about how bad big
can get about surveillance. With drones in the air above us to
having big things, they call thunderhead, which can strike to kill you.
I really liked this book on science fiction in the future. If anyone who likes science fiction, they will love this book. It's in the future of technology and about how bad big
can get about surveillance. With drones in the air above us to
having big things, they call thunderhead, which can strike to kill you.
June 9, 2025
I gave a low review not because the story isn't good, but I am not fond of futuristic technology books. I hadn't realized thats what the book was above.
I did finish it - its first in a series. I loved the two girls and gruff Henry. Grandpa is a heart stealer.
Those who like the genre and both Young Adults and Adults will like this story.
I did finish it - its first in a series. I loved the two girls and gruff Henry. Grandpa is a heart stealer.
Those who like the genre and both Young Adults and Adults will like this story.
August 14, 2025
DNF - Too many unexplained relationship issues, slow pace
This book started out really well, and then it evolved into a bunch of people who were really mad at each other and we didn’t know why, and the pace of revealing new parts of the mystery went to zero. Read the first 80 pages then gave up.
Not recommended, I give it 2/5 stars.
This book started out really well, and then it evolved into a bunch of people who were really mad at each other and we didn’t know why, and the pace of revealing new parts of the mystery went to zero. Read the first 80 pages then gave up.
Not recommended, I give it 2/5 stars.
October 14, 2021
DNF. I read the free sample on Amazon. The MC is somewhat interesting, but when he started 'hacking' the computer stuff is mostly fantasy. Long passages of made up cyber-babble that has little connection to actual computer systems or software. It quickly became boring.
May 9, 2022
Grandfather
I loved the book...I loved the idea of a senior citizen ........I am not a book spoiler...but I did love the concept and the concept...it was different as well as refreshing...it is worth the read...always/p griffith
I loved the book...I loved the idea of a senior citizen ........I am not a book spoiler...but I did love the concept and the concept...it was different as well as refreshing...it is worth the read...always/p griffith
August 10, 2022
What if there were no more secrets?
Lots of action and intrigue in this tale of a former NSA specialist that made encryption useless everywhere, stole a pocket sized supercomputer, and successfully hid himself away, until his family needed him.
Lots of action and intrigue in this tale of a former NSA specialist that made encryption useless everywhere, stole a pocket sized supercomputer, and successfully hid himself away, until his family needed him.
April 18, 2023
It was fun having an feisty elderly protagonist being the star of this book. A pleasant change from teen lit and disfunctional adults. Well... OK, he's old and not everything functions like it used to, but he definitely is fun to read about!
January 23, 2024
A future world with every action scanned and reported! But the best of this book is the interaction between the Grandfather and his two granddaughters that he didn't know existed! With a twist I never saw coming, this was a good read
October 18, 2021
Excellent story line & unusual. Lets me think there's hope for my old bones yet!
December 2, 2022
Good read. Tecnical enough to seem realistic, but readable enough for the non technically inclined reader.
December 31, 2022
Definitely a different kind of story!
August 26, 2023
Hacker grandfather
To find out you have grandchildren when you are forced to go on the run with them to protect their lives....what a story!!!
To find out you have grandchildren when you are forced to go on the run with them to protect their lives....what a story!!!
March 27, 2024
Just couldn’t get interested in this book. Not a good flow for me.
January 12, 2022
Intriguing enough to keep me reading to the end, but I was often confused. Either I tried to read it too fast, or there were parts where a sentence or two had been edited out, making the action hard to follow. For instance, the main character was having a tense discussion with an enemy in the elevator. Suddenly, main character was OUT of the elevator and left alone. Huh?
But despite moments like that, plus some fairly weak character development, it was still a unique and intriguing storyline.
There are more books in the series. I might try the second one when my schedule is less busy. This isn't a good series for reading in fits and starts during a busy holiday season.
But despite moments like that, plus some fairly weak character development, it was still a unique and intriguing storyline.
There are more books in the series. I might try the second one when my schedule is less busy. This isn't a good series for reading in fits and starts during a busy holiday season.
April 5, 2024
Regrets? Ajay Andersen has more than a few. One of them is his estranged daughter Sashi. After 20 years on zero communications, he learns in Chapter One that she is a wanted fugitive, on the lam with her two daughters (wait! Daughters? He has granddaughters?). She is alleged to have stolen something valuable.
Sashi promptly shows up on Ajay’s back doorstep. She asks him to watch his granddaughters for “a couple of hours.” But the “couple of hours” stretches way past that, and violent men shove themselves into Ajay’s world. He may not have known about them before, but the girls remind him very much of Sashi, and he discovers that he would do anything – anything – necessary to protect them.
Even when they themselves must run for it. And even when it becomes apparent that the girls are far more strange and dangerous than they seem at first. This is a fast-paced thriller set in a hazardous future that gives readers little time to catch their breath. I quickly became engrossed in Ajay and his granddaughters, and I enjoyed every twist and turn in this first novel of the Old Code series.
Sashi promptly shows up on Ajay’s back doorstep. She asks him to watch his granddaughters for “a couple of hours.” But the “couple of hours” stretches way past that, and violent men shove themselves into Ajay’s world. He may not have known about them before, but the girls remind him very much of Sashi, and he discovers that he would do anything – anything – necessary to protect them.
Even when they themselves must run for it. And even when it becomes apparent that the girls are far more strange and dangerous than they seem at first. This is a fast-paced thriller set in a hazardous future that gives readers little time to catch their breath. I quickly became engrossed in Ajay and his granddaughters, and I enjoyed every twist and turn in this first novel of the Old Code series.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews