Bottom line -- a good read, especially if you're in any way involved in company network security or the high tech industry. If you're looking for a tool to help convince people of the need for better security on the company network, this might do the trick. Franklet isn't a great writer, but his prose is clean & readable. The story moves right along, and the characters are pretty believable -- the good guys are not too good; the bad guys are pretty bad, but there's always something to help explain their frailties, too. The plot is complex enough to hold one's interest, and it's a convincing thriller about corporate espionage and sabotage. A week or so ago, we had a Consultant Yahoo make a presentation to our top management. It was ntended to convince them of the need for good network security measures among employees. While the Yahoo appears to be a skilled network security analyst, he's a godawful presenter and wasn't particularly successful in reaching the seminar goal. I'm now recommending this book, as a relatively painless way to raise manager awareness of the scope to which any company can be vulnerable to these sorts of threats. While some readers say they found the book enjoyable without being particularly computer literate, I think it could also intimidate technophobes. Oh, well.

Bad Memory is hard to put down, especially if you are into computers and network systems. It moves at 400mhz with 8 gbs of power. The characters are adequately fleshed out. There is a corporate saboteur on the loose in the company's main frame changing programs, trying to bring Simtec and the CEO down unless he gets a huge payoff. This is a good read even for persons with no interest in computers. There is a catch. There are dangling threads at the end, such as what happened to Hector, the mastermind in the plot? We last see him with an arm jerked out of the shoulder socket by a passing vehicle. Where is the car that struck the security company exec hired by Simtec with the intent to kill? Why the big delay in finally acting on the death of maintenance man in an attic when he touched an open power line. Still so far the best of its kind in this genre.

Bad Memory was wonderful: a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller. It has intriguing characters, a variety of nasty villains, and all sorts of plot twists that keep you guessing. Not too "techie" but just enough about the computer world and hackers to make you utterly paranoid about your password and your hard drive. A well-written book with believable dialogue and a firm sense of place--Houston, where I live! I couldn't stop reading it and read literally until 3 a.m. I can't wait for it to be made into a movie