Helpful Score: 2
Intrigues are afoot to wrest UpLink Communications and its encryption program away from its owner, Roger Gordian. So good-guy Gordian assembles a maelstrom of operatives, congressmen and writers to fight back. According to the publishers, this novel is "created" by Clancy and Greenberg, who press the viewpoint that not all information is useful and that encryption technology in the wrong hands could jeopardize national and world security. The action sequences are strong and well paced; one only wishes the creators had spent some time on the one-dimensional characters. Gordian is as plain as they come, and most of the secondary characters are interchangeable. The book will be of most interest to those who are knowledgeable in encryption-technology issues and who have read the first in the Power Plays series, Politika. It's worth noting that the Power Plays series began with a computer game.
Helpful Score: 1
Encryption technology keeps the codes for the world's security and communication systems top secret. The profit potential is huge--but deregulating this state-of-the-art technology for export could put a back-door key in the front pocket of spies and terrorists around the world. Roger Gordian refuses to sell his sophisticated......