(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Deep in the forest near Burma's border with China, a young woman sees something she wasn't supposed to see.In Portland, Oregon, a troubled young man crashes his bicycle on his way to work - and then gets fired.In New York, a famous self-help author goes on daytime TV - and suddenly conceives 'a book that would take him beyond talk shows'.What connects these three people - though they don't know it yet - is that they have come to the attention of the Committee, a global cabal that seeks to privatize all information. And each of them will, in their different ways, come to take part in the secret resistance struggle spearheaded by a scarily clever hacktivist collective - a struggle built on radical politics, classic spycraft and eye-popping technology. Along the way, they are forced to confront their own demons, reconsider their values, and contemplate the meaning of love, family, friendship and community.

*3.5 stars*

I really wanted to love this book but it seemed, to me at least, to be stuck between what it wanted to be and what it became.

There were many facets of this book that I really enjoyed as separate, individual ideas: three young activists getting together to take on the evil corporation; the author certainly knows how to put a sentence together and the writing style took me along for the ride; the world created was believable and easy to get into...

However, I still felt like there was something not quite right - at times, I felt like I had stepped into one of the greatest genre novels I had ever read; the next minute, I thought I was reading "serious literature", and that is off-putting. I like to immerse myself into the story but the ever-changing concepts just left me wondering...also, as others have stated, the ending was, well, non-existent. No real closure, left to wonder if there was hope or despair for all involved...and when you get to the end of a 450-page book, you want a resolution.

Overall, I think this book just dropped the ball a little on what it wanted to be - I think if it chose genre or literature, it would have succeeded either way.


Paul
ARH