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.
First Line: "I'm a senior at Cesar Chavez High in San Franciso's sunny Mission district, and that makes me one of the most surveilled people in the world."
Random Quote: "In a pool of twenty million people, a 99 percent accurate test will identify two hundred thousand people as being terrorists. But only ten of them are terrorists. To catch ten bad guys, you have to haul in and investigate two hundred thousand innocent people."
Review: I read this on the recommendation of a Swedish friend from a mailing list where we've been talking about technology and culture for a really long time. This is a young adult book, but any adult will enjoy it. It tells the story of a dystopian near future where the Bay Bridge is blown up by terrorists giving a Bush-like government the chance to lock down the Bay Area. In an environment where electronic surveillance is becoming the norm, this book traces down the logical result and allows its teen hacker heroes to fix it. It's a fun story and the technology is realistically written.
While reading this book I realized that I've never had the sense of privacy that most people do. My parents were active politically and I remember the FBI sitting outside of our house quite often during the 1960's. I've been politically active my whole life from volunteering for a school board candidate when I was ten years old to volunteering as a clinic escort during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy." I worked for an end to apartheid, in the anti-nuclear movement, and in local, state, and federal election campaigns. I've been shoved, called everything under the sun, spit on, tear gassed, and pepper sprayed. I've seen people being beaten by police, have had to sign my name to a CIA document to be allowed to see a film on nuclear power, and have been photographed numerous times. This experience has contributed to my feeling that the only privacy any of us really have is in our heads.
Crowd being pepper sprayed at WTO protests, 1999, Seattle - Image via WikipediaI loathe the ways this country has taken the tragedy of 9/11 as an opportunity to scapegoat and regularly violate the constitutional rights of our own citizens (not to mention those foreigners unlucky enough to be held under our control). Our government has used the fear created by a terrorist event to enhance its ability to keep us under control, under their eyes, vulnerable. This is how we let terrorists win. They don't even have to kill us - just destroy our constitution and the fundamental principles of our democracy.
Doctorow's book addresses all kinds of privacy and security with a reminder that security doesn't remain static - there's always someone else out there who's smarter than you and can break your measures. Although a bit long and repetitive in the middle and with some troubling hanging threads, I really enjoyed this book.
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the Berkeley Public Library
Rating: Green
by S.J. Bolton
by 
by Donna Johnson. A compassionate, humorous story of faith, betrayal, and coming of age on the evangelical sawdust trail.
by Melissa Fay Green. Finalist for the 1991 National Book Award and a New York Times Notable book, Praying for Sheetrock is the story of 
by Stefanie Pintoff. In the 
, Stefanie Pintoff ’s debut novel, won the Minotaur Books/MWA First Crime Novel Competition and wowed critics and readers alike. Now she delivers a winning follow-up to her acclaimed debut. Both Detective Simon Ziele and his former partner Captain Declan Mulvaney’s careers went in different directions after the tragic death of Zeile’s fiancé in the General Slocum ferry disaster. While both seemed destined for bigger things, Ziele moved to a small town north of 
is their mother's response. The book is a bit choppy and chaotic, but there are moments throughout that remind you that the author is a poet - landscape or moments vividly described in unexpected language.
.
-style children's societies form, where adults are often the worst enemy? They're like stories about asylums, full of that sense of Gothic danger.
guides us through this intensely competitive subculture. An engaging read filled with tips and tricks of the trade.
by 
, edited by 
by Catherine Delors. The Reign of Terror has ended, and Napoléon Bonaparte has seized power, but shifting political loyalties still tear apart families and lovers. On Christmas Eve 1800, a bomb explodes along Bonaparte's route, narrowly missing him but striking dozens of bystanders. Chief Inspector Roch Miquel, a young policeman with a bright future and a beautiful mistress, must arrest the assassins before they attack again. Complicating Miquel's investigation are the maneuverings of his superior, the redoubtable Fouché, the indiscretions of his own father, a former Jacobin, and two intriguing women. Based on real events and characters and rich with historical detail, For the King takes readers through the dark alleys and glittering salons of post-revolutionary Paris and is a timeless epic of love, betrayal, and redemption.
by 
by Clare O'Donahue. The cause of death is "undetermined," but the cops peg Chicago television producer Kate Conway as the main suspect when her soon-to-be ex-husband, Frank, is found dead. To make matters worse-and weirder- Frank's new girlfriend suddenly wants to be friends. Happy for the distraction, Kate throws herself into a new work assignment for the television program Missing Persons: the story of Theresa Moretti, a seemingly angelic young woman who disappeared a year earlier. All Kate wants is a cliché story and twenty-two minutes of footage, but when the two cases appear to overlap, Kate needs to work fast before another body turns up-her own 
. 
. Join Alice for a return trip to a wickedly deformed Wonderland. Confront the cruel Queen of Hearts and the revolting toadies who enforce her evil will. They're all mad! A fierce and nasty fight for sanity and control turns into a lethal struggle for survival. The sequel to 
(one of my personal all-time favorite games).