Thank you for the ARC of this title. This was a darkly humourous, thrilling, poignant read. Loved the main character's tenacity and development.

Yet, unlike in Walkaway, this mission—however important—fails to make for a fantastic novel. Awkward characterisation, pacing, narration, and dialogue all distract from the strident politics and technological cleverness. This makes for a clunky, at times, frustrating read, and I wouldn’t recommend it to all readers. But if you’re interested in surveillance or unapologetic idealism, you’ll find a novel with a message and a way forward.

Redfern Jon Barrett

I purchased this book for my high school library. My students have enjoyed it. and it has circulated well.

I actually ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I expected to—the friendships are really beautiful and well done, and the topics explored are relevant and powerful. I feel like this book taught me a lot about data and its power, though i’m sure that i’m too dumb for most of what was explained lmao. The issue that lowered the rating for me is that I find it hard to really empathize with teen girls written by men—it’s so hard for me to get out of my head when I’m hearing their personalities develop and the pieces just don’t totally fit. But in terms of plot and subject, I found this book fascinating, especially as a standalone novel.

I haven't read the previous books in this series but this one was interesting in its descriptions of the effects of social media and mobile technology.. Very detailed sections on cyber security.

I did receive a copy of this book from Netgalley on its release day so that moved it down in priority since I obviously couldn't review it before release so I'm finally getting to it now though I didn't read my review copy since I listened to the audiobook.

Cory Doctorow is someone I find to be a very interesting person and expert on this topic and someone I want to like as an author but have a bit of trouble with.

I think Doctorow has a lot of interesting ideas when it comes to technology and privacy and he is really good at explaining them to an audience like me who doesn't know too much about tech. I've listened to a lot of podcasts with him and I feel like I've learned a lot. I bring that up here because I find that a lot of his books also read the same as him on podcasts. The reason I struggle to enjoy some parts of these books make me feel like I'm being lectured to in a class rather than reading a book. I know it's hard to fit complex explanations of sophisticated technology into a fictional book but the long descriptions would take me out of the story and I think that it did harm my enjoyment of the plot and characters.

I haven't read the other two books in this series, though I did read this first part of book one before setting it down and just never coming back to it, so I was somewhat familiar with the side characters who lead those other books. This one does stand on it's own but there are some events referenced in this book that aren't really explained that occur in the first two book so that might make it confusing for new readers.

Overall I would say you should probably read the other books in this series first and read this if you're really interested in the technology stuff. If you're looking for an techno-thriller book that doesn't go into detail about the nitty-gritty details, this one probably isn't for you.

Thanks to NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review
I had such high hopes for Attack Surface. The audiobook narrator was the same narrator as one of my favorite books of all time. Which honestly just makes me more inclined to want to like a book because I already associated positive feelings with the narrator. Sadly, this book just wasn't for me. It's an interesting analysis of big tech and big cyber government. It does get preachy, but I think in a fairly persuasive way. The big takeaway was if you wouldn't be comfortable with your enemies having the ability to do something, then you don’t want your government able to do it either.

Where I really struggle to connect with this book was that it felt kind of esoteric and technical at times. It felt very much like what you would expect a CIA-cyber security story to be like. I suppose that isn’t a bad thing; it just isn’t something I’m interested in. If you’re wondering, why then, would I request this ARC, it was because I really enjoyed the authors short story collection.

I didn't much care for main character or the things the author was exploring. I also felt like the flashbacks disconcerting. I didn’t always follow what was happening and was overall confused. My confusion only made it harder to follow the technical side, and my disinterest in the main narrative only exacerbated the problem. I don’t think it’s a bad book. It just isn’t for me.


3.5/5 stars

Attack Surface is a tense and out-of-comfort-zone book, but absolutely important! Whistleblowers are heroes, liberal activists are unequivocally good, cops are pushing the boundaries of legality much like our present day world, and anyone neutral about these issues is a bad guy. And, boy did I love that!!! Neutrality on these issues is an incredibly boring viewpoint – anyone can look the other way when protests are happening, but Doctorow reminds us that many citizens already live in dystopias, and these dystopias thrive when we stop trying to reform them.

Attack Surface is a standalone book, but set in the same world/timeline as Little Brother and Homeland. It follows Masha, who works for a cybersecurity firm against counterterrorism, aiding governments to spy on their populace and the dissidents. She often plays both sides, helping the troublemakers when she feels like it. It wasn’t until her work is turned against her people back home that she starts to feel a little differently about who she is working for.

Attack Surface ended up being a book I did not finish, but I want to outline why. As much as this is said to be a standalone, I don’t think it is. Since trying to read this, and ultimately giving up after about a third, I went and gave Little Brother a try, because it felt odd to not have been happy with this one after hearing such high praise about Cory Doctorow. I loved it! And now that I’ve read it, I one day want to return to Attack Surface because the names mentioned, and some events, will actually make sense to me!

I did find the writing style very different in this, now that I have something to compare to though, and I think that was a part of my problem. The first chapter alone was extremely long, and it feels like you’re thrown in to something you’re supposed to understand. The stream of consciousness that Masha puts you through is a whirlwind and I found it extremely confusing. Part of that is the mentions of characters from previous books, but part of it too is the character and the jumbled thoughts she jumps between. Maybe I will be able to get more into the writing when I do go back to it, but it was a lot to try to get in to.

Saying all that, if you’ve read the other two books, I’m certain this is one that will be worth a read, especially now that I know how good Little Brother is. But putting my two cents in to say that this would be more enjoyable for those readers, and that this isn’t the right spot to start in your Cory Doctorow reading despite it being labeled as a standalone.

*I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review*

How frightened are you of the increasing presence of exploitable technology in the hands, homes, and garages of citizens? If, like me, you weren't, this book may cause you to rethink that position. Masha is a well-paid hacker for a cybersecurity contractor that helps provide surveillance and counterinsurgency tools to authoritarian governments. After her work is used one-too-many times to harm otherwise-innocent people, including those she considers friends, she is forced to make tough choices about which side she wants to be on.

The structure of this book can be a bit obtuse at times. Chapters are long and bounce around between Masha's present and her recent past as it fleshes out her relationships with the other characters and career background. It can sometimes be hard to keep track of whether you're reading a flashback or not. There is also a significant, if necessary, use of technical jargon that can be off-putting. Most of the references are explained, and as someone in the field most were references I was familiar with, but some are assumed, so you can occasionally get lost in a sea of "opsec", "stingray", "0-day", and the like.

This is apparently the third book in a loosely-connected series, but I didn't find myself getting lost despite not having read the first two. There are references made to events that presumably happened in the earlier books, but I believe the characters are all unique to this one. The events take place in a possible near-future, and most of the technology is a fairly-realistic extrapolation of what we have today, which makes the idea of it all being easily-hijackable by national and city governments that much more chilling. This is definitely not a cozy, sit-by-the-fireplace type of book. It's more of a "you think things are bad now? In a few years they will probably be very much worse!" type of book. But I think it's important for stories like these to be read, especially by those who are tempted to look the other way when governments take a turn towards authoritarianism because they aren't personally being targeted.

While I had not read the Young Adult novels from which this novel was a spin off, I’m familiar with his work and looked forward to the release of Attack Surface, which is definitely for a grown up readership, in large part due to the darkness at the heart of the novel. The sci-fi aspect was intriguing, as was the spy versus spy plot. The protagonist is is troubled and troubling, making questionable (at best) decisions front the outset. Even though the reader is privy to her thought process, it can be difficult to identify with her. And that may be the key to the novel and it’s universe, one very like our own reality with technology that often feels autonomous and antagonistic. But it’s the people (and countries) behind the technology that are the true threats, and this novel should give anyone pause about the power we the people have given not just to the tech that runs our lives, but also to the states that wield technology as a means of control and power.

This was a great book in typical Cory Doctorow fashion. I only wished that the ending was a bit more clear. Masha was an interesting protagonist who does go through a sort of character arc, but she was quite hard to like and root for at points.

This was my first Cory Doctorow book! After hearing my husband rave for years about his love for Cory Doctorow, I decided to jump right in!

I would describe this book as a techno -thriller with a dystopian vibe. It is definitely out of my wheelhouse, but made for an interesting read!

I thought the subject matter of the book was especially timely for 2020- hacking, paranoid dictators, protests, police brutality- all very much the subjects of current discourse. Apparently this book follows from a prior YA Book by the author, but I did not read the first book and still enjoyed this one.

I enjoyed reading from the perspective of the lead character- Masha, who was at times unlikeable but represented a complicated personality struggling to decide the right thing to do. I liked that the book looked at her perspective from her interactions with both the 'big brother' agency, as well as her friends back home. The fact that Masha was flawed and made unexpected decisions served to enhance the story. I also thought Doctorow did a great job delving into her world of tech prowess, especially for those of us who aren't necessarily as up-to-date with tech as the characters in the book.

Overall, this was an interesting read in a time where many of the warnings in the book are highly relevant to the world today. It really made me cognizant of my own reliance on vulnerable technologies, and made me think about how I really need to do more.

I would recommend this to someone looking for a timely read with a good quality of thrill to it. It is a page-turner with a good balance of story and social commentary.

Thank you for the opportunity to read an advance copy!

Cory Doctorow's third entry in his Little Brother series leaves YA literature behind. Masha Maximow (returning from earlier installments) has been working on the side of the counterterrorists, which means she has been using cybersecurity technology to support the regime in power. This has often meant governments in power in Eastern Europe or elsewhere. But when Masha returns to the Bay Area and her hometown friends the game suddenly becomes personal.

Attack Surface (which refers to he different points (or "attack vectors") where an unauthorized user (the "attacker") can try to enter data to or extract data from a software environment, presents an adult perspective on the mass surveillance topic that has been central to the entire series. Masha finally has to confront her true feelings about what she has been doing. After years of convincing herself that she had been making realistic choices, she realizes that she has been making excuses for the true impact of her work.

It's a satisfying conclusion to the series (hard to imagine a sequel). The only negative aspect is Doctorow's tendency to discuss technical issues in excruciating detail. I don't really need to understand all of the details of how networked devices can be compromised to follow the narrative, and sometimes those details slowed my reading down and derailed the story.

Do you get a little thrill every time you watch a movie and they have the “I’m in.” moment? If so, you should absolutely check out Attack Surface.

Attack Surface is technically fictional— pun intended— but you’ll recognise our world in its politics and events. You’ll see technology being used for “good” and “evil.” You’ll see characters who are passionate about making their communities safe and fighting for equality. And you will definitely think more about the ways we communicate.

I also highly recommend its predecessors, Little Brother and Homeland. I enjoyed reading them a few years ago, and was very excited to return to this world. However, you can comfortably jump into Attack Surface on its own.

In the author’s note at the end, Doctorow himself provides the following description, which truly epitomises it best:
“This is a book about how people rationalize their way into doing things that they are ashamed of, and how they can be brought back from the brink.”

Attack Surface is Cory Doctorow’s newest book in a loose series that begins with Little Brother, though one needn’t have read the other two (thus “loose”) to follow and enjoy this one. It’s a taut techno-thriller, though I’ll admit to glazing over at times in long sections of techno-speak.

The novel is two-stranded. In current time, Masha is a computer security expert working for a transnational company who sell their services — hacking, surveillance, tech manipulation and control, etc. — to anybody willing to pay with no attempt to distinguish any of their clients’ morality/ethics. Which is why we first find Masha helping an old Soviet-satellite country’s dictator surveil and jail those annoying protestors who want some actual freedom. Masha, though, isn’t quite as amoral as her company, and so while she’s helping the bad guys she’s also teaching the resistance what they can (and can’t do) about the totalitarian regime’s surveillance of them. She calls this compartmentalizing, and it conveniently allows her to get well-paid and do what she wants because her good deeds “balance out” her more problematic actions. When things go horrifically awry overseas (in a terrifyingly all-too-plausible scenario), she returns to the States and helps an old friend Tanisha with her own form of resistance — the Black-Brown Alliance, a sort of descendant of BLM — which is being surveilled and undermined by local law enforcement and another transnational security company.

Meanwhile, the second strand shows us how Masha got to that time that opens the novel, tracing her journey from high-school hacker (“When I was thirteen, I’d figured out how to get into the voicemails of all my school friends”) to highly-paid private computer expert and the moral compromises she makes on the way.

Masha’s a complex character, not always likable (by either those around her or the reader) and her actions and thoughts can be at various times frustrating, annoying, repulsive, infuriating, and rewarding. That last word can apply to the reader’s journey with her as well. The plot is all too topical, unfortunately, both in its portrayal of the overseas plotline (Hong Kong will come quickly to mind), the surveillance of the post-BLM movement, and the post-government power of transnational corporations and their allegiance to naught but themselves and their profits. The other characters aren’t as compelling, but are strongly portrayed, with Marcus (a main character in Little Brother) a nice foil to Masha in that he’s far less self-aware (Masha doesn’t lie to herself) and while he does the on-the-surface “good thing” he too often doesn’t consider the possible downside of his actions..

My one issue with Attack Surface is that it at times is too expositive for long sections (I wrote “exposition heavy” several times in my notes), and, as noted in my intro, I went into a daze more than a few times with the techno-jargon. It’s well done, and it’ll surely scare the hell out of you (and if you think Doctorow is grossly over-exaggerating make sure to read the afterword), but I’m not sure its length, density, detail, and frequency were all that necessary. Then again, it certainly adds to the authenticity and makes his point.

That aside, Attack Surface is a tightly written, fast-moving story with a social consciousness whose “speculative” part of its speculative fiction genre is all too likely. Recommended.

Attack Surface answers some possible questions that lingered during the events of its predecessors, Little Brother and Homeland. It is an adult novel, rather than a YA like the others, and this story benefits from it being so. It is complex, violent, but still bares the same fast-paced excitement as the previous Little Brother books. Our characters are older and their decisions represent this. The stakes feel higher while our main character is faced with the technological crimes of her past and how she plans to carry on from them into her present..

Published by Tor Books on October 13, 2020

Attack Surface is a near-future novel of ideas. Science fiction is supposed to be the literature of ideas, but quite a bit of it, while fun, is shallow. There’s nothing shallow about Cory Doctorow. When he isn’t writing science fiction, he writes penetrating essays about intellectual property and electronic surveillance. He’s an activist, a blogger, and a celebrated author of speculative fiction that often explores threats to privacy in a digital world.

Attack Surface is set in the same future as, and has some characters in common with, his novels Little Brother and Homeland. Both of those novels have a creative commons license so you can read them for free, but Attack Surface is a standalone that doesn't demand an acquaintance with the earlier books.

Attack Surface tells a timely story about the struggle for justice. But worthwhile fiction reflects themes through characters, so Attack Surface is also about the protagonist’s struggle to become a better person — a person she can live with and might even take pride in being. The novel suggests the possibility of redeeming bad choices by making good choices. Redemption doesn’t erase the pain we cause others — as one character observes, life isn’t a double-entry bookkeeping system that allows ethical debt to be canceled by good deeds — but regretting the past should not be an obstacle to moving forward on a better path.

The story involves two competing corporations, Zyz and Xoth (they both hired the same branding company), that provide technology and strategy to American law enforcement agencies and foreign dictators. The technology enables a surveillance state and crowd control. Used maliciously, the technology permits its users to take control of self-driving cars and direct them toward swarming protestors. The malicious use of such power is likely inevitable, or so the protagonist concludes.

Through his characters, Doctorow warns of the risk that governments and/or powerful corporations can take over the microphones and cameras on cellphones and computers, track the movement of people who carry them, spoof cellphone towers with drones to identify everyone who attends a protest, and yes, hack self-driving cars and every other bit of wired technology, from your Alexa to your smart refrigerator. And he makes it clear that there’s not a damned thing you can do, from a technology standpoint, to protect yourself from it. Reading books like Attack Surface is scary but necessary.

The plot follows the present life of a young woman named Masha while revealing her backstory in time-jumbled scenes that eventually cohere. Masha was a bright and deliberately underachieving student who had a strong grasp of internet technology. She went to work for Homeland Security, excusing her contribution to the surveillance state with self-assurances that patriotism can’t be bad. The lure of money and patriotism took her to Xoth Intelligence and its rival Zyz. Her work took her to Iraq and to Central America before she was assigned to help the dictatorial government in Slavstakia stifle dissent. Masha tried to balance her tech support for oppression by giving aid and comfort to the dissenters.

Back in America, where Zys is handing the techniques of oppression to the Oakland Police Department and is hoping to score a similarly lucrative contract with San Francisco, Masha is blackmailed by Xoth, a company that portrays itself as a more ethical provider of systems that help the police control and spy upon the populace. While trying to cope with corporate superpowers, Masha uses her free time to help politically active friends shield themselves from surveillance, an effort she knows to be futile. The friends believe in her inner decency despite her decision to work against their interests in her various jobs.

The importance of friendship, in fact, is a key theme of Attack Surface. Masha gets through life by compartmentalizing. Don’t get too close to anyone and you don’t get hurt, she thinks. By the novel’s end, she begins to realize that putting friends in compartments only denies pain by denying love. Not just love of friends, but the larger love of humanity that helps us stay human.

Reading a Cory Doctorow novel leaves the reader with a lot to unpack. The world is complex and getting more complex every day. Doctorow cuts through the noise to caution us about trends that are changing the world in ways that will leave most of the next generation with considerably less privacy than we have been able to enjoy.

Attack Surface invites the reader to ponder serious issues: Cutthroat corporations that act in their own interests to the detriment of everyone who lives outside the upper echelons of the corporate bubble. The government’s use of private sector contractors to violate laws so that the government can pretend to have clean hands. The increasing tendency of police departments to conduct unlawful surveillance and justify their actions as necessary to fight domestic terror. The use of social media, not exclusively by Russians, to interfere with democracy. The importance of unrelenting activism to hold the forces of oppression at bay.

The novel also asks hard questions. Is surveillance technology ethically sound when a government uses it to control white supremacists? The technology might save lives, but what happens when white supremacists take over the government and use that same technology against their enemies? Perhaps the way to control white supremacy is not through technology but through empowering people to stand up against it.

Masha’s moral and ethical journey makes compelling fiction, but the story’s urgency lies in its reminder that most of the events in the novel could take place tomorrow. Attack Surface is compelling fiction because of its importance and a fascinating read because Doctor is such a convincing storyteller.

RECOMMENDED

An adult successor to the previous books in this series, and I enjoyed it even more than the prior ones. This author is writing some of the most exciting and important stories in the genre. I look forward to many more and appreciate the early access.

Cory Doctorow is a fantastic author. Very detailed and extremely smart when it comes to laying out a story. Atack Surface is no exception. Masha is a complex character way beyond her years in intelligence and working in the field. Part of the time I can hardly follow what is happening when it comes to the tech aspect of things, but then I put it together contextually and while I'm probably missing something I think that I get the big picture. Mash is at the head of this complexity. She is smart, witty, and very introspective. I love the compartments. I love when those compartments start to open against her will. Doctorow has not only written a book that is timely for what is happening today with BLM and the division of our country, but he has added heart and purpose to it and it should be a thing that everyone identifies with or has some empathy towards.

Now, on to the paranoia. Well, Doctorow knows so much more than I do about tech and spying and all that jazz that it is impossible to read this book and not feel a little paranoid about who is listening, watching, taking notes about you ( if you fancy yourself as someone that is important enough to be listened to, watched, etc.). It adds a certain reality to the story and should make us all worried that our governments may not be able to be trusted as much as we think they are. It's a solid read.