Cries of Dismay
OH, NO! Not ANOTHER list! On cyber security thrillers, yet. Aren’t there enough esoteric lists already?
Actually, no. At least, not of this type. When super reader Ben Fox of Shepherd.com approached me to compile a list of five notable books on a topic of my choice, I, too, was skeptical. My “To-Do” list immediately popped into mind (if you operate an online business, you know what I mean). If not that, doesn’t everyone have a list of usernames and passwords (mine’s over 50) they’ve squirreled away so well they can’t remember where it’s hidden? Outside of supplying a topic for my blog, why does the public need another recommendation list?
Raison d’etre for Cyber Security Thrillers List
First of all, there’s familiarity. Everyone who consults Amazon’s book list or pores through Goodreads or BookBub knows the format. All three of these sites and many others provide curated lists of recommended reading material. Their recommendations may be based on reader comments or ranked by sales figures, but they do separate the worthwhile reads from those that help pass the time. Author disclaimer: among time-wasters, reading rates as one of the best.
Second, there’s the pragmatism factor. Lists help us get through the welter of distraction, routine, and stress that constitutes daily living. As David Wallechinsky, co-author of The Book of LIsts, explained, “because we live in an era of overstimulation, especially in terms of information, . . . lists help us in organizing what is otherwise overwhelming.”
Third, lists have a rich and prodigious heritage. Aside from the Wallechinsky series mentioned above, Wikipedia devotes an entire article titled “List of Lists of Lists” which identifies all the articles within its pages that list other list articles. Furthermore, each of those pages provides links to other lists devoted to a particular topic.
Nor is this heritage limited to size and scope alone. Author Umberto Eco wrote a book in collaboration with the Louvre entitled The Infinity of Lists describing lists that appear in many major literary works. The topics explored range from Hesiod‘s list of the progeny of gods to Rabelais‘s list of bottom wipes.
Why My Cyber Security Thrillers List Is Different
Rationale
People make up lists for a variety of reasons and purposes. Some, as alluded above, help us organize our day. Others enable us to remember the details of our lives that have no other integral relationship other than appearing on that list. Still others enable evaluation by placing more noteworthy or valluable items ahead of others based on some arbitrary or objective scale. This latter form of listing is called ranking.
Educational Value
My book list differs from other book lists in Ben Fox’s site because it identifies what are the best technothrillers that employ metadata as a major plot point. Readers claim to be familiar with the concept, but few thrillers depict applying it in a significant way. My research revealed fewer than ten books utilized the concept of metadata in their plots. Of these, only five contained principal characters who manipulated metadata for their livelihood . In most cases, the villains used metadata to further their ends.
Cyber Security Thrillers Methodology
As a result, my emphasis shifted from the conceptual to the pragmatic. Who would be more likely to use metadata to repulse miscreants using it for their nefarious schemes: cyber experts. More particularly, that meant protectors of computer information and technology, i.e. cyber security experts. My leisure reading produced several candidates; my research identified several more. Among these candidates, only five thrillers contained protagonists who used metadata in a significant way to do their jobs and protect their communities.
Cyber Security Thrillers Outcomes
Accordingly, I ranked these five thrillers on the basis of how prominently metadata appears in the storyline with this caveat. Little is more boring than reading about the hero applying hypertest (HTML) or Java script to foil crime. Along with character arc, rising action, and vivid description, the author also should display some familiarity with the intricacies of metadata to thwart criminals. By that reasoning, the best thrillers should suggest how the cyber hero or heroine’s cyber knowledge defeated the villain(s). It was on that basis I ranked the five titles chosen.
Wrap Up and Send Off
This Cyber Security Thrillers list doesn’t pretend to be exhaustive. Others may choose or recommend different titles than those selected. Yet, these titles represent the best integration of concept and narrative that I have read or listened to. In the course of compiling this list, one thing surprised me. Though Metadata Murders was written over twenty years ago and readers are more comfortable with the concept, its practitioners aren’t more prominently featured in techno- or cyber-thrillers. Regardless how you view that fact, this link will take you to my list of the five best cyber thrillers written over the past two decades.
My list will be published Monday, August 5th. Click on this link to the Shepherd recommendations site:
https://shepherd.com/best-books/technothrillers-with-a-cyber-security-protagonist
Read it, select one or two for your pleasure, and tell me what you think in the Leave A Reply section below.