And something in the shell of his mind was saying, Just because you've made a hash of your own life doesn't mean someone else's ideas are any better. Especially not those of a man with a pen cup marked Pens. Was this guy even a doctor?

This review might be a bit hard for me to write because while I really enjoyed the main characters and was able to connect with them, I felt like the first half of the book was a lot of character development and building of the story so that things that were prominently mentioned in the book description weren't really discussed until the second half. So pretty much the characters shined in this book while the plot was slow and you were definitely left hanging at the end with no real resolution.

The book switches point-of-view mostly between the three main characters (Leila, Leo, and Mark). I immediately connected with both Leila and Leo and loved reading the chapters that were from their point-of-view. I loved Leo's sense of humor and really felt sorry for him. I thought Leila's work was really interesting and loved reading more about her family. I just didn't like Mark at first, I felt he was a fraud and a jerk. The more that I read about him the more complex he seemed and the more I actually started to feel bad for him. No matter how long the plot seemed to drag on those three characters were really what kept me reading.

My first thought after I finished reading this was: "Was this book supposed to be the first book of a series?" The plot just seemed to drag on for so long that the really important events seemed to start in the last fourth of the book. The book just kept building to these events that I thought this book would end with something big but it just fizzled out when things were about to go down. That is why I was questioning in my mind whether this was going to be a series because there seemed to be no resolution at the end (or at least no satisfying resolution).

I would recommend this book if you are interested in a book with great characters that are easy to connect to, but would warn that if you don't like a book with a slowly moving plot (or a lack of resolution) than this probably isn't for you. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the galley.

So I've gotten to read about all three main characters (Leila, Leo, and Mark) so far, not as much about Leila as the other two though, and have really connected more with Leo than the other two characters. I understand Leo and can see parts of myself in him (definitely not the alcohol and drug abuse parts) and that is probably why I really enjoy reading about him. To me Mark seems like a fraud and a jerk. In order to write the book that made him famous (and to discuss it anywhere) he needs to be high. I feel like Leila is an interesting character and would like to read more about her. I also see certain qualities in her that I find in myself. I do feel that she is stronger than she thinks she is and I am interested in reading more about her work in Myanmar (Burma). I am off to dive back in to this.

Privacy is an illusion these days. None of us reads the terms and conditions when we sign up for stuff, let alone when they're updated. Our data—even data we don't know we're creating—floats around in the digital ether. Theoretically, laws protect us and our data from being used for nefarious purposes. In David Shafer's science fiction thriller, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, a cabal of companies and intelligence workers have joined together to corner the market on the world's data, intending to lease access or monetize it however they can...

Read the rest of my review at Summer Reading Project.