Ghost in the Wires

Kevin Mitnick subtitles his memoir, “My adventures as the world’s most wanted hacker.” From the age of 16, he was sought after by law enforcement officials as he became addicted to first phone phreaking and then computer hacking. But during all these escapades, he never damaged or destroyed the systems he invaded.

Kevin had a need and thirst for knowledge and the intrigue of “what makes things work” – from basic phone systems and reprogramming phones to use someone else’s number to make long distance calls to downloading full network operating systems, he always wanted to know how things worked.

As a master of social engineering, he posed as managers and officials looking for information on how to access the very systems that the people he fooled tried to protect. He investigated a hacking “friend” only to find that the friend was in fact an FBI agent who was investigating him. As a result of this discovery, Kevin “disappeared” as the FBI began an all out effort to track him down and ultimately arrest him.

This is the stuff that Hollywood blockbusters are made of — and proves that truth is often more exciting.

Heads You Lose

I stumbled upon Lisa Lutz a few years ago when I read the first of her Spellman Files– and what a stumble that was!  She writes a fun, white-bread kind of mystery where her quirky characters drive the development of the plot as much as the actually case they are trying to solve.  

And she has done it again in Heads You Lose, a collaborative effort with her former romantic partner, David Hayward.  This tag-team novel is interspersed with comments by the authors about the direction (or lack thereof ) of the plot line and characters.  The writing is laugh-out-loud funny… and leaves you want for more!

-Penny