A terrorist attack on San Francisco brings the Department of Homeland Security to the city. Four teens are wrongfully detained and only three of them are released. This compels one of their number, Marcus Yallow, to wage a cyber war on the DHS.

The novels considers what freedoms people are willing to sacrifice in the name of national security, and of course this varies widely from person to person.

It's a tense YA thriller with a strong political message that I found compelling and fascinating. Reading the sequel first didn't spoil the story, thankfully.

The cover, of the edition I read, didn't make it clear that this was the second book in the series, and on occasion I wondered what events the narrator was referring to, they seemed too important to warrant no more than a brief mention. Now I have ordered book one and look forward to reading that soon.

Apart from the occasional confusion, the book is a complete story and worked perfectly as a standalone. A young hacker, Marcus, is entrusted with secrets about the operations of the US Homeland Security. He has to decide whether to risk his safety and expose the atrocities or stay safe. It's a YA book, however it is written in a way that it will appeal to people of all ages with an interest in civil liberties and activism.

Marcus and his friends are warm and idealistic, and the main story, the included short story based on the aftermath of the Seneca quake, and the articles by internet activists all made me want to go and learn code and get involved. In many ways it reminded me of Robert Newman's book "The Fountain at the Centre of the World" and its depiction of the Battle for Seattle.

This is a cute story, but the author is Cory Q. Tan.

These books are my Christmas.