Techno wars pose an uncomfortable way of life between internet users and hackers, with economic and military cyber cops working overtime to prevent global anarchy. It seems all too real and not so distant a reality! Michael Cavallaro stretches the threat into a science fiction novel where the hackers have turned from criminals to government leaders who control the populace through "sublimation" which basically means chips implanted biologically and through which all orderly information, rules, and even pleasures are filtered.

But in every utopian scenario of perfection or imperfection, there are always rebels persistent enough to monitor, protest, and fight for the smallest remaining remnant of the freedom to choose how one will live life meaningfully. In the world of Cybernetica, the rebels are said to have a disease called "blindsight." That means they have faulty mental wiring that will not allow sublimation to rule their thinking. It's unknown whether such a weakness is biological, chemical, or both but suffice it to say that they've learned to play the game by cooperating enough to escape arrest or destruction and at the same time plotting to thrive within the system as it is both inside the world of sublimation and outside.

Now a larger group of dissenters are threatening this system through the Encription Wars carried out by a subculture called the drifters. Jake Radigan's nefarious talents earn him the dangerous attention of both the rebels and the government. An innocent salesman Jake and his friend scam will be back and for far more than some roadside towing and repairs. A wildly popular actress is the target of assassination and the world in which all these characters reside seems about to implode. It will take all of Jake's intelligence and street smarts (or we should say techno smarts) to investigate who is and isn't involved in a looming criminal disaster.

Cavallaro excels at creating suspense in a subtle as well as explosive manner. One also never is quite sure for a good part of the novel who is legit and who is a master criminal as the lines frequently interweave, adding even more suspense to the plot!

For science fiction and techy fans, there's enough action, violence, and subplots within the larger scenario to make this the latest 1984 style novel that will thrill every reader and certainly would thrill audiences near and far if it ever, hopefully, makes it to the movie phase!

Pretty darned good , Mr. Cavallaro!