Little Brother by Cory Doctorow is a new young adult novel about teenagers liberating San Francisco from a rogue Department of Homeland Security. I can’t sum up the book any better than Cory’s FAQ:
Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.
But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.
When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.
What’s especially interesting about the book is that the technology it portrays is real. It is entirely possible to clone RFID’s from passports, credit cards, and bus passes. You use the cryptography described in the book every time you buy something online. Geeks hack X-Boxes to run linux every day. The book’s setting is entirely believable.
Although the book has its flaws—primarily, that the main character seems more intelligent than any 17-year-old has a right to be, and that the tone of the book is a little didactic—it’s still a really fun book. And the plot is gripping: I bought the audiobook edition and found myself staying up until two in the morning because I just couldn’t turn it off.
Cory Doctorow offers all of his books free of charge in electronic formats, and Little Brother is no exception. If you like, you can read the whole book from your laptop or your phone. Personally, I recommend the $20 audiobook edition, which is extremely well narrated and offered as DRM-free MP3.
Note: Since this is a young adult novel, I do feel that a content advisory warning is needed here: There are some swear words, and a couple of non-graphic sex scenes. It’s no worse than an episode of Smallville, but I wouldn’t give the book to really young kids.