In 2018, advancements in computer science took machine intelligence to a new level. Man could upload his consciousness, thoughts and memories, into learning computers and travel in wireless networks. By 2020, one final hurdle existed. The breaking down of a biological organism into data allowing it to live inside artificial, computer generated environments. This process was called trans-materialisation and was achieved in 2022 by a brilliant MIT student working for the CIA. His name was Stephen Cameron. This is the story of the chaos that followed and how, in 2025, Jason Ghent, a gamer and NSA whistle blower, and Anggie Saad, a hacker on her way to prison, were enlisted to wrest control from Cameron the secret world surveillance project he engineered and administered called iSAP.
This reminded me a bit of The Matrix. That being said, this is a fast paced story. Likeable characters in a strange electronic world. The story moved along quickly, with a bit of a twist at the end. All in all, it was an enjoyable read.
I really liked this first book in the Fall of Houston series. T. L. Payne writes some great stories. This story had plenty of suspense and good character development. I listened to the audiobook. Good narrative.
I might have given No Way Out 5 stars for its exiting action and interesting characters, but I had to downgrade it for a couple reasons. One is that the book needs editing/proofreading. For example one character's name changed back and forth from Sheila to Shelia half a dozen times. Also spotted a number of misused and misspelled words. Another reason is that the plot borrows heavily from the Matrix, which is acknowledged in the book, and sets the climactic scenes in Playstation/Xbox games with which I'm not familiar and didn't find of particular interest. A die-hard gamer would probably love it, but that's not me. Nevertheless, I still found the book entertaining enough to recommend.