Trojan Horse

July 23, 2012
Russinovich’s second novel featuring computer genius Jeff Aiken improves on his first, Zero Day (2011). Jeff now runs a cyber-security company in Washington, D.C., aided by his love interest from the previous book, ex-NSA staffer Daryl Haugen. When a British intelligence officer in London receives a file sent by a U.N. worker in Geneva, Switzerland, that’s corrupted in new and highly dangerous ways, the Foreign Office turns to Jeff for help. The malware behind the hack, Jeff discovers, points to China, the source for most of the extremely sophisticated computer viruses in the world, including a program that will enable Iran to dodge the worst of the Stuxnet virus that has plagued their nuclear program. The kidnapping of Jeff and Daryl in Geneva by Iranian agents complicates the pair’s efforts to stop the Chinese code from reaching the Iranians. Russinovich makes the technical lingo easy to understand as he successfully builds an exciting thriller around people sitting in front of computer screens.

August 15, 2012
In his second techno-thriller, Russinovich's (Zero Day, 2011) computer-genius power couple, Jeff Aiken and Daryl Haugen, find themselves enmeshed in a Chinese government attack on the Internet. And right from the headlines, the Chinese also want to rid Iranian computers of the Stuxnet virus that will let the mullahs test their nuclear weapon. With the first third of Russinovich's novel offering a precis on vulnerable computer networks and evildoer apocalyptic plans, readers learn Aiken and Haugen fired the code-bullets that defeated Al Qaida geek-terrorists. They're now a couple and operate Red Zoya Systems LP, a computer security company. Aiken is called to London to cope with a virus wreaking havoc after transmission via a document attachment. Exotic locales sprinkle Aiken's itinerary, including Geneva, where the virus was installed; then Prague, the lair of Ahmed Hossein al-Rashid, an Iranian undercover agent; and then Ankara and the dangerous road to Iran. The London-discovered virus is Chinese, and Col. Jai Feng, the People's Liberation Army's computer warfare chief, has also developed a work around for Stuxnet for the mullahs. Not satisfied, PLA-techies are also code-infiltrating the U.S.'s 7th Fleet computers and inserting a Trojan horse into the U.S.'s electric power grid computers. Russinovich, a Microsoft Technical Fellow, turbocharges the narrative once an assassination-kidnap team, led by Ahmed, kidnaps Aiken and Haugen in Geneva, with Aiken escaping and then rescuing Haugen in Prague. Thriller action, true, but the story occasionally bogs down when it goes full nerd. However, it switches scenes rapidly enough to keep interest churning, especially with characters like CIA tech-wizard Frank Renkin; Saliha, a beautiful Turk immigrant in Prague seduced into muling code into Iran; and Gholam Rahmani, aka Hamid, a triple-agent with his own agenda. Heavy on tech terms, much worried about the ever-growing vulnerability of the Internet, Russinovich is nuanced enough to write terrorists as sometimes insecure, frustrated and anxious, authoritarian states as rotten with the human frailties to be found in every society, and good guys engaging in near-plausible heroics. Top-notch geek lit.

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September 1, 2012
Russinovich's follow-up to Zero Day (2011) continues the saga of computer expert and former government analyst Jeff Aiken and his girlfriend, Daryl Haugen. The duo stopped an attack on the computer infrastructure last time, and now they have an even more lethal challenge, to disarm a computer virus designed by the U.S. government. A Chinese worm modifies Stuxnet, originally engineered to infiltrate Iran's nuclear program. The mutated virus lurks dormant in a hard drive and can change to avoid virus protection software. It's nasty, difficult to stop, and could cost Aiken and Haugen their lives. Russinovich works for Microsoft and understands the world of computer software. He's able to convey complex technical information in easy-to-understand terms. Thrills and strong characters add to the fun. Fans of Daniel Suarez and other technothriller scribes should add Russinovich to their reading lists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)