Trident Code (A Lana Elkins Thriller)
By: Thomas Waite
Rating: 4 of 5
“Trident Code” is the follow up to last year’s mile a minute cyber attack thriller, “Lethal Code”. As with the previous book, “Trident Code” was pretty intense and required the reader to suspend reality and to accept some rather unlikely scenarios.
While the previous book involved multiple cyperattacks, in this book there is really just one, but it involves a nuclear submarine. Yet again, the US is portrayed as woefully unprepared and once again it is only a handful of heroes who can save the day. To say that this doesn’t seem credible is putting it mildly. However, if you are willing suspend reality and accept the worst case scenarios presented by the author as you read the book, then it becomes a fun race-to-the-end story.
The story focuses on Lana Elkins, a computer genius, who gets pulled in to try to save not only her country but most of the nations of the world, from the devastation that a few hackers have promised will occur.
The story also focuses on Elkins daughter who, once again, through her own devices finds herself in potentially life-ending difficulties. Lana’s ex-husband also appears for the first time in the series.
I don’t want to include any spoilers but suffice to say that my only real issue with the book had to do with how childhood leukemia is dealt with. The scenarios, side-effects, etc. presented in the story were simply wrong. I speak as a parent who lost a child to leukemia. While it may not be a concern for most readers, I wish the author had done a little more research before throwing that particular illness into the book.
Apart from that, I enjoyed reading the book. The only problem I can sense in this series is that the author keeps creating massive, world-wide problems which result in great loss of life and power changes. If his series is to have longevity, he will either have to tone it down or elevate it almost to the point of science fiction. I had a little problem accepting that global status quo had been attained only a few short months after what had happened in the first book in the series. It will be interesting to see where the author heads next.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, 47North, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.