Book Review: Cyberstorm by Matthew Mather
Self-published author Matthew Mather has enjoyed great success in the past year. With two bestsellers and a movie deal with 20th Century Fox, he is another example of the growing potential of the non-traditional self-publish pathway for authors. Cyberstorm is his second novel (if you combine the Atopia Chronicles into one book), and has enjoyed commercial success. It’s a unique disaster story that is disturbingly plausible.
Cyberstorm is about a cyber-attack and one of the worst winter storms in history, all happening at once to turn New York City into a third world hellhole. The narrator, Michael Mitchell, is a New York yuppy facing personal challenges in his marriage and his career. His life comes to a screeching halt the internet goes dead, the power goes out, and a winter storm freezes everything.
The story then becomes a struggle for survival. Things like warmth, food, shelter, and the rest of Maslow’s hierarchy play into Mike’s experience. He fights for his life with a group of survivors: Chuck the gun-toting prepper, his wife Susie and their daughter Ellarose, then there’s the neighbors: Richard and his wife Sarah, the selfless doorman Tony, and the tech geek Damon. A interesting group that came together form a mini-tribe after the collapse of modern civilization.
This book is about our vulnerability to a cyber-attack and the potential devastating consequences of a successful one. Unfortunately, Mather only gives you a summary of cyber-security. The overwhelming majority of the book is about the consequences.
For some this is disappointing. Mather is an expert but offers up very little detail on the technology itself and exactly how our internet infrastructure could be taken down.
The cyber disaster feels very real and very plausible, especially for a small group of urbanites in the middle of Manhattan. It is a chilling indictment of the utter lack of foresight by US leaders as well as the over-centralization of basic services and disaster response in this country. Whether it is Hurricane Katrina or Sandy, we just don’t seem to have what it takes to help millions of helpless urbanites. It is a failure of central government AND of each individual that has placed so much faith in vulnerable social institutions.
Mather is a good storyteller and kept me interested for most of the book. The dialogue felt a little short or abbreviated at times, which made it harder to get to know some of the characters. The character development, in general, was uneven. Some of the other survivors in their building became interchangeable, acting as more or less part of the scenery (suffering New Yorker #3). Some of the characters, like Chuck and Damon, were fascinating but you never really get to know them. The characters also didn’t develop or evolve throughout the story despite the incredible events going on around them.
Cyberstorm is a great concept, presents a compelling “what-if” with good storytelling, and is very plausible. There’s no single big weakness, only to say a few elements were okay, not great. Character development, some of the social commentary, and some portions of the survival challenges, I thought could’ve been better.
Overall, it’s a good one. 4 stars.
J
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