Book Review # 125 I ! M sO H@cked: Gautam Mayekar

Blurb:

@v! is a hacker who spends his days working in India’s number one anti-virus company as a security researcher and his nights, crawling through underground hacking forums.
He is completely unmotivated and lacks purpose until he receives a letter from M@dR1; a mysterious revolutionary who wants to create a “change” in the world. M@dR1 uses @v!’s horrific past to motivate him, and guides him through various tasks, starting with shutting down the internet services of the entire city.
A series of mayhem, manipulation and mystery ensues as @v! begins hallucinating various events and people from his former life, before he became a reclusive hacker. He is thrown into a barrage of uncertainty and confusion as his perception of reality begins to shift out of focus.
Meanwhile, M@dR1 and @v! prepare for a major cyber-attack that will rock the foundation of the country’s technological unit, with the help of @v!’s friends, $@m and K!LL3R. Will they accomplish their goals? Or will @v!’s increasing delusion lead to their downfall?

My Take:
An unusual story line. When I picked this up I didn't know what to expect. The book is about a guy Avi who works as a hacker. An introvert, he likes to be in his own world yet likes to be updated of what's happening in other people's life. He keeps himself abreast and entertained by (hacking) what else!!! in their system.

With boredom setting in and no much motivation his life takes a sudden turn when a series of mysterious letters are sent to him by M@dri demanding hacking which would create ripples and news.Will he follow the instructions blindly and put everything in danger? Who is M@dri and what are his intentions? Addressing Avi as Kalki he is told that he is the 10th avatar of Vishnu who has been assigned the job of eradicating evil from earth. Will he believe this? Is this true? Read the book to find out.

The narration is simple and lot of technical jargon's are used. People interested in technology would find this combination interesting. All the characters are fairly etched.Although they keep confusing you with their behavior, they blend nicely in the climax where you find their behaviors justified. There are layers which are build them as the story progresses and peeled in the end. The first few pages doesn't sound as interesting but hang on as the story gets better as it moves on.


The cyber terrorism angle is explored and written well. All the factors, like crime,suspense,mystery, a little bit of romance is sprinkled in the book.The cover is catchy, so is the title. The suspense is developed nicely and keeps you hooked till the end.

I would rate this 3.8/5 for the unsual storyline and narration.