Net Force: Moving Target

A deadly game is being played, one that threatens to cross political and national boundaries. Net Force is called into action to counteract the threat.

The book gives hints of things that have happened in past stories. For instance, Mike Carmody, the leader of Net Force, has clearly been part of something in the past that cost the military a lot of money and that caused him personal distress. It's hinted at, but we don't know what it is. It would be helpful to have those details from other books, but it isn't essential to the enjoyment of the story.

There are multiple storylines to keep up with, and sometimes I found it a little challenging to keep up with who was who and where they were. The characters were good, bad, and every shade of gray in between, but for the most part, they were all engaging. There were several to keep up with, but I didn't feel like many of the characters were throwaways.

The action was intense and high-tech. The book's descriptions of the Blood Lightning, Russian enhanced humans with so much power they were pretty well superheroes (okay, supervillains), were positively chilling. There are hackers and fighters and a supercomputer that's some pretty ramped-up AI, and it's spine-tingling to think of what could happen with actual technology like that in the real world.

The story doesn't tie everything up in a neat bow at the end, but leaves things open for future books in the series. If you like conclusive endings to your books, this one will be maddening for you. If you're going into it knowing there's more to come, though, it's a fascinating stopping point. I really want to read the next book to see where things go!

Cybersecurity is a timely and urgent issue in today's world. Net Force: Moving Target gives us one vision of how it could be used, and it will give you something to think about. If you like a good thriller that's very much on point with the times, this one is worth picking up. Jerome Preisler does a good job carrying on in Tom Clancy's stead, and I look forward to more of his books.