The Hacker by Daniel Scanlan

I would like to thank Andrew from Aries Fiction for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Aries Fiction

Published – 1/9

Price – £22.50 Hardback £3.99 Kindle eBook

He's online. He's anonymous. He's deadly.

When a video surfaces on the Dark Web showing a murder no one else could have witnessed, FBI Special Agent Ericka Blackwood starts tracking down the killer. But the case is even darker than Ericka thought. Hidden behind an avatar named Dantalion, a criminal mastermind is feeding his sadistic appetites by directing the crimes of others – and he may have been orchestrating his twisted schemes for years.

As Ericka homes in on her target, the tables are suddenly turned. Dantalion has information that will help Ericka fulfil a deeply personal quest for revenge... but only if she risks her career, her life, and the fate of Dantalion's future victims. Does vengeance come at too high a price?

As a book blogger and someone who loves genre fiction the internet is for me a great thing. It helps me find books; has made friendships and given me a hobby I really enjoy. But the net has a dark side. There are of course the trolls and bigots but there is online hiding in the shadows criminals and some people we would more likely label monsters. The net connects us all together but that can also lead to people being able to peel away our secrets and control all those many devices we now rely on so much. In Daniel Scanlan’s exhilarating thriller The Hacker we explore this hidden side of the world and face an extremely tense battle of cat and mouse being played across the world.

Ericka Blackwood is a thirty-something FBI Special Agent who deal in cybercrime but also struggles with her family secrets leading to a long list of disciplinary issues and knows she is heading towards the exit from this life of exploring the darker side of humanity. However, a haunting killing that is broadcast on the dark web draws her attention and reveals a disquieting trail of linked crimes where a showy presence spiralises in enabling terrible people to do terrible things for their own voyeuristic pleasure but also to fuel their own global game of terror and revenge. Ericka has always known she is one of the best there is but soon realises her opponent this time is proving more than a match and may know even her own secrets which could destroy her.

This is an intense, extremely well-paced and exciting thriller exploring the dark world of cybercrime that I hugely enjoyed and found very difficult to let go of to read anything else. It is though important to stress that this tale also deals with the dark side of humanity. There is exploration (but fortunately not a salacious one) of topics such as sexual violence, child abuse and murder. Scanlan explores how the internet scarily feeds these crimes and the market for people to view and trade in these secrets is vast and has little respect for borders. This is a world of the dark web and Scanlan very intelligently explains exactly what this is; how it works and why it is so hard to track and find the culprits. Impressively rather than just high tech infodumps it’s explained swiftly and helps the reader understand how tracing, VR, VPNs and even an AI can work in this context. Scarily the author’s afterword suggests that a lot more of this is possible than you’d think or ideally hope.

Ericka is a really interesting lead character with a family secret driving her but not always in a positive light. Her desire for revenge clouds her judgement and makes her reckless. While we want her to succeed, we know she can easily put herself in danger. The reveal of our villain named after the demon Dantalion who has equal (possibly greater skills) and as well as loathsome tastes is far more organised than Ericka means we have a well-matched battle of wits to enjoy with bated breath. This is where the highlight of the story is the set-pieces that slowly escape as Ericka and her suspect tussle digitally across the world. Gunfights, gang executions and then full-on vehicle takeovers culminate in one of the creepiest final acts when you see exactly how sophisticated Dantalion’s plans are…reading this on a plane may not be the best idea! The one drawback is after all of this you realise the story seems not to have enough time to wrap it all up and instead a few cliff-hangers await in the sequel.

The Hacker by Daniel Scanlan is a extremely enjoyable thriller delivering a fast, well plotted and surprising tale and at the same time opens up a new front in thrillers with the dark world of cybercrime calling. Very much the type of tale you stay up late to finish and well worth your time. Highly recommended!