Little Brother

LITTLE BROTHER: Cory Doctorow: Tor: 2008: Young Adult: 382 pages

Set in the near future where techno-surveillance is much more prevalent, seventeen-year-old Marcus Yallow and his friends find themselves detained and interrogated after a terrorist attack on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco by a brutal unknown organization which they later discover is our own government. Marcus is eventually set free but warned he will be watched and that he cannot tell any one, including his parents, about being held by the department of Homeland Security.

This experience set Marcus down a path to try and convince the people (mainly adults) of the United States that we are losing our rights to privacy and freedom. He uses his techno-savy to setup what becomes known as the Xnet. A secret network where teens meet to discuss what they can do to prevent the government from taking away their rights.

While some people might find this book a little heavy-handed with the subject matter, I really enjoyed reading it. I found all the technical stuff fascinating. I thought the characters were well-developed and I just couldn’t put the book down.

AJ