‘The Hacker’ by Daniel Scanlan

Published by Head of Zeus Ltd,
1 September 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-80328986-1 (HB)

The Hacker, in Daniel Scanlan’s debut novel, is a gifted, amoral, hubristic twenty-first century criminal.  Dantalion, as he calls himself, offers individuals the opportunity to live out their fantasies in virtual reality.  He trades in what are essentially extreme video nasties and has taken this despicable trade to a whole new level, allowing his viewers to watch appalling acts in real time and 3D.  The exhilarating experience is made even more desirable because it can be tailored to each individual client’s proclivities.  Dantalion, the name of a fifteenth century demon, is a horrifyingly appropriate moniker for the ruthless character who drives the plot.

His opponent is FBI Special Agent Ericka Blackwood who, it turns out, has demons of her own to contend with.  Several years earlier her sister, Patty, had been abducted, beaten and raped by a group of men and never recovered from the trauma.  Despite Ericka’s support for her sibling, one evening whilst she is out of town, Patty takes her own life.  Guilt-ridden, Ericka joins the FBI in a post that involves trawling the murky world of the Dark Web.  It is a role she hopes will lead her to Patty’s abductors.  Ericka and her partner, Special Agent Tim O’Connell, locate and expose those involved in a ‘business’ that is happy to abuse, brutalise, and even kill human beings for the pleasure of viewers who then consume the content from the safety and comfort of their homes. 

When their latest case leads the crimefighters to Dantalion, the criminal relishes the opportunity to compete against Ericka whom he regards as a worthy opponent.  The Special Agent baulks at this, but when he offers her a chance to track down Patty’s abusers she is torn between her duty to the Bureau and her longing to avenge her sister.

The author creates an atmosphere of high-tech terror as he depicts a world in which virtual reality is in the hands of a megalomaniac whose self-absorption would be funny if it wasn’t so destructive.  As the real and the artificial become increasingly blurred, Dantalion’s ego prompts him to attempt ever more outrageous, and dangerous, stunts.  The narrative is frighteningly plausible; watch out for the terrifying plane journey from hell which convinced me never to trust anything with wings again. 

The Hacker is a modern, thrilling novel that moves along at high speed and hurtles towards its dénouement.  A tantalising final twist suggests that there may be more to come - I do hope so!
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent

Daniel Scanlan is a lawyer who has practiced extensively in the areas of cybercrime, digital evidence, wiretap, smuggling, and money laundering. He wrote the non-fiction Digital Evidence in Criminal Law and was a contributing author to The Lawyer's Guide to the Forensic Sciences, winner of the Walter Owen Book Prize. He lives on Vancouver Island and enjoys ocean kayaking and hiking.  When not outdoors, he is reading and will read almost anything, except books about lawyers. The Hacker is his first novel. @DanielMScanlan

https://danielscanlanauthor.com

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime fiction.