Shantorian

Trackers #2

by Patrick Carman

Bestselling author Patrick Carman pushes the vbook to the next level with this thrilling book/video/web experience. In the 21st century landscape of bits and bytes, everyone leaves a digital footprint ... even the most advanced cyber criminals. And that's where the Trackers come in. Four tech-savvy kids armed with high-tech video cameras and esoteric coding skills, the Trackers can find almost anyone, anywhere. Told through a collage of videos, text, and websites, Trackers #1 follows Adam, Finn, Lewis, and Emily as they become entangled in a high-tech, high-stakes game of cat and mouse with Shantorian, the world's most dangerous hacker. At least, that's who they think they're tracking....

As the four dig deeper into the shadowy world of online crime, they soon learn that things aren't always as they seem.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Middle Grade, Adventure, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Action

234 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I have been a lifelong writer and storyteller. Salem, Oregon is where I spent my formative years and I graduated from Willamette University. After college, I spent a decade living in Portland, Oregon where I worked in advertising, game design, and technology.

I've written young adult and children's books for Scholastic, Little Brown Books For Young Readers and Katherine Tegen Books/ HarperCollins Publishers.

I've been fortunate enough to have had some bestselling series work: The Land of Elyon, Atherton, Elliot’s Park, 39 Clues, and Skeleton Creek. Here's a fun note...the books have been translated into approximately two dozen languages. Currently I'm developing a few new-media projects. Check out DARK EDEN to experience this type of cross-platform project.

When I'm not writing or creating a story, I spend my free time supporting literacy campaigns and community organizations, fly fishing, playing basketball and tennis, doing crosswords, watching movies, dabbling in video games, reading (lots), and (more than anything else) spending time with my wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Rubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun read! Enjoyed the "mystery" and the tech and characters. I just felt....that wasn't an ending. Felt it needed more, but overall enjoyed the story 😊

[Shaeley Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second (and final?) book in the Trackers series continues the story of the group working for the Internet Safety Division (ISD) to track down Shantorian who threatens to turn off the internet. Like the first book, the story is told through an interview between Adam and FBI Agent Ganz with links to online videos of the trackers.

This book gets a little more philosophical about the internet and addresses issues of friendship vs. technology. #bookaday

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did resolve two of the problems from the first volume. The first major one was that, as described, the "red button" effect wouldn't work, since if you shut down the internet, even locally to what you were doing, you couldn't also USE the internet at the same time. This is clarified in a way that makes much more sense, and might even be possible.
The second problem resolved was in finally giving Finn a set of skills that made sense in the story. In the first volume, he was just a hyperactive skateboarder with no focus and no computer skills. Think of him as Shaggy, but without Scooby Doo, and you'll see why that doesn't work in a story that focuses on intelligence and skill. So, in this volume, his ability to scan data came out of the blue, but at least gave him something to do, and the skill with which to do it.
Soooo...did the story's completion work? Eh, sort of. I found the final set of revelations about Shantorian to be iffy, since that required crowding a lot of years' worth of skill development and usage into a person who didn't seem to be old enough for that to work. Still, it was a fun read overall, just not great in my opinion.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is very good in the way it pick up from the first book. lazlo is portraid as the perfect suspect from the beginning. zara is very well written into the story it was like she was always there. the ending is amazing and the clifhanger but im not going to spoil it but its a good read.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - good, if not so believable, resolution to the books, kept me guessing

[Jackie Birch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice follow up to the first. I think kids will enjoy flicking from the front to the back to read the 'files'.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book, but kind of open-ended. I hope there will be a sequel

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit difficult to figure out what was going on until maybe the middle of the book, but this is probably because I did not read the first book in the series. I found it quite interesting.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

0_o

[hector Oberto · Rating 5 out of 5]

No

[Beth Tangarone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Characters: Adam, Emily, Finn, Lewis
setting: in a rural area in a where house mainly (city, if specified, i cant remember)

this is about a team of very smart hackers, who are run by Adam, the groups leader. the team are requested to come work with ISDl, a pair of hackers, that need Adam and his team's set of abilitys.

if you liked the first "trackers" or dont turn away, you'll love this book.

[Teenage Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the world of tracking, everyone leaves a trail. A digital pattern that is left behind when you go searching for something. All it takes is one computer nerd, and he/she is able to find anyone, anywhere. Pretty scary huh? These computer nerds can be anywhere from ten year olds to forty-seven year olds, the trick is just knowing the backdoor's of the internet. Which is what the trackers knew, and how they all ended up in this mess.

Shantorian is a hacker that none other has seen before. He is advance, using his skills to rob banks, break national secret, and above all stay hidden from the feds. Adam and his team thought they were chasing them in book one, where in reality they were chasing the ISD, a team of two who were looking for the brightest to help them catch Shantorian. The trackers were picked and sent off to this “summer camp” run by the ISD. Their mission was the catch Shantorian, using all they got.

Patrick Carman did a better job in this than the first book. Now that we got relationships and character development out of the way, we really got to see how the trackers and ISD work together, and the trust issues it brought up between them. The videos, although look poor in quality, does the book justice as you get to watch their big moments live. If you are away from a computer or internet access then you get to read what happens in a script format of what happen. Needless to say it’s way better to watch the videos. With this being the final book, the story line was not that long, or that interesting. Then again, it was written for middle school boys, so it was fast paced, short, and a simple story line to follow.

[Andy Jiang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just finished reading the book Shantorian, the second book of the Tracker's series, by Patrick Carmen. This book is the continuation of the first Trackers book about Adam Henderson, the leader of the Trackers team. Adam is convicted of stealing billions of dollars from banks and now he has to explain himself in an interview with an agent. A man and a girl tricked Adam into opening banks with his programming skills(and the raymond disk) because he thought he was going to help catch a national criminal programmer. Although Adam was tricked and completely believed the two people, his team had their suspicions. The Trackers went behind Adam's back to save him from Shantorian(the person they thought they were trying to help catch). They realized that all the evidence points to them stealing all the money but the Trackers had planned something and that saved them from all being arrested. Turns out, Shantorian was the girl who tricked them all along.

I picked up this book because it was the second book of the Trackers series. I've read the first book and I really liked it so I decided to continue the adventure and read the second book.

I finished the book because I wanted to know how the story ends. The book got really exciting at the mid point and I couldn't stop reading because I didn't believe that Shantorian wasn't real. This made me finish the whole book in one day.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys suspense and a good adventure, because this book has both and that is what made this book so good.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: next in the series.

Book One left us with four tech savvy teens being imprisoned and interrogated about a major computer hacker's crime. None of the teens were talking, as planned, leaving the talking up to Adam Henderson, their leader. Book Two continues on with that interrogation bringing in the name of the world's most infamous computer hacker, Shantorian. Whom no one has ever seen or knows anything about except that he always leaves his "weird eyed kid" signature behind him 0_o . I'll reveal nothing else about the plot as all questions will be answered and many surprises are in store for everyone involved.

Shantorian is unique for a second book in a series as it wraps up a storyline started in book one leaving only the barest thread to continue on into the next book. I had assumed this was going to be a trilogy (aren't they all?) but I'm more inclined to think this will be a multi book series or at possibly an ongoing series in the same vein as an adult crime series. Time will tell as I can't find a release date for book 3 as of this time.

I really enjoy the reading/video experience very much. Carman has come up with something totally unique. The videos are short, which I think is important or they would take away from the book. But they are just enough of a visual experience to really get you excited about the characters, the case, and the crime itself. Very well done, and I look forward to the book 3.

[Amy Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to Trackers #1, this book continues to circle around the expert cyber tracker, as he and his friends accepted the offer to join Lazlo's private cyber investigation group. Their goal is to catch the cyber villain, Shantorian with their high-tech technology, and outstanding ideas. Shantorian wants the Raymond disk, a disk that allows people to access billions, of trillions in the banks, and be able to shut off the internet so that no one would see the money stolen. As the book trails on, it is revealed that the villain, and the person that created the disk is Zara, a really sneaky girl trying to shut off the internet. At the end of the book, the trackers are released from their arrest after billions went missing, and the money was all put back into the banks.

I picked up this book because I read the first book of the Trackers, and I happened to find the second one, so I decided to read it, to see how it all ends.

I finished this book because I was really curious about where all the money went, and how the trackers were going to get out of this mess.

I would recommend this book to Janice, because I think she really likes suspense, and books that make you wait anxiously for the solution.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this last summer on a roadtrip, and totally forgot about it since then--it honestly wasn't all that memorable.

Being on a roadtrip, I didn't have a chance to watch the videos, so the description/summary thing of them in the back was SOOO nice. :)

This book was more confusing than the last one. People seemed to chance identities multiple times, and we never really knew who was the badguy until the very very very end, and then the MC off and says he pretty much agrees with the badguy. What?!

I have to respect Patrick Carman, though, for his extensive research and knowledge. That was pretty impressive, despite the fact that I only understood about half of it.

In a nutshell--it was somewhat slow, confusing, and boring. But it still had good potential and if you're faster at picking up what's going on it could be pretty amazing. Shrugs.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every kid wants to go to camp. Every kid finds camp exciting; even for the Trackers. The Trackers are four friends with one thing in common; being technology wizard/geeks. Adam, Emily, Finn, and Lewis are invited to a technology camp. They are dropped off by their parents at an old Boeing airplane assembly hangar outside Seattle. And then, camp begins with a real world quest, track Shantorian, the world's best computer hacker, before Shantorian shuts down the Internet and steals billions of dollars from the world's banks. The story is told in interview format with FBI agent Ganz after the Trackers are picked up and accused of stealing the money. This is the second book in the trackers series and it comes with videos on the Internet with codes to break.

[Garrett B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very exciting and will interest anybody. The Trackers book two Shantorian was amazing and the videos were amazingly done by Patrick Carman. I felt this book was realistic fiction because it could happen, but most likely wouldn’t. The Trackers always kept you on your toes and had a twist around every corner. This is the second book in the Trackers series.
The main characters are Adam, Lewis, Finn, Emily, Zara, The Agent and Lazlo; they are all computer wizzes except the agent. They are being tried as adults for hacking in to a bank and stealing $ 4,300,200,100 dollars, but it’s really floating between banks so they have a big problem. Anyone who enjoys action or computer gadgets I would recommend this book too.

[Amalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second (and I think, final) book in the Trackers series by Patrick Carman. If you like a good puzzle, this series is it!

While our brains are working double time to unravel the mystery(ies), our consciences are brought into play. What are we doing with our lives? How are we raising the next generation - and ourselves? In short, what is the world coming to? How much do we let our children run their own lives? How much technology is too much?

We hear about technology addictions and I think Carman is right on the money with this book about a group of high tech teens who get a lot more than they bargained for while they fiddled with their geek gadgets. An education on so many levels. And, like any great book, lots of food for thought.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Trackers (Adam, Finn, Lewis, and Emily) are in big trouble in this follow-up to the second book in the series. They've been arrested, and it's up to Adam to explain what happened and how they got involved in a plan to steal millions of dollars from banks by shutting down the Internet. As in the previous title, readers log on to a website and watch videos that add to the story and make them feel as though they are right there with the characters. There are several surprises--I won't reveal them--and twists and turns, and even when the book ends, readers will be left wondering. I've been wanting to read this one for quite a long time, and I'm glad I did. It was every bit as engaging as the first one, but I wanted to know more about what will happen to the Trackers now.

[Christina Getrost · Rating 3 out of 5]

The action continues as Adam, hacker leader of The Trackers, tells his story to Agent Ganz.The agent believes he and his friends stole a billion dollars by hacking into bank accounts, but Adam insists they didn't do it, they only set up the possibility in order to trap the notorious hacker known as Shantorian. This book is full of surprises, betrayals, doublecrosses, and electronic spy games, and watching the videos online is a fun extension of the story (though I like having the video transcripts in the back on those days I didn't feel like going to the computer, or for those who don't have internet access).

[Asha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shantorian by Patrick Carman was an interesting book and a very good follow-up to the first one. This book had surprising twists and turns to the very last sentence. I like how they really captured the brain of a world wide hacker, you really thought that Zara could have done what she did in this book. Patrick Carman also did a stupendous job on capturing the mindsets of Adam, Emily, Finn and Lewis. Throughout the book you could tell that they were kids and I could see how and what they thought because of the age. I also liked how they tied this book to another media, the internet because it's all about the internet in this book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Won this in a first reads giveaway and can't wait to start it!!

Good follow up to the 1st book-definitely left it wide open for yet another one. Very hard to visualize from the transcripts what the videos should look like. May change my rating once I see the videos.
Videos were finally working and I was able to watch them. I would increase my rating by maybe 1/2 a star. I was a little disappointed in this series after reading his Skeleton Creek series. I guess I was expecting too much. I will recommend to some of my students and I am curious to hear their thoughts about it.

[Janice Crespo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most children's books will leave you bored as an adult reading them (I always try to read what my girls were reading to talk about it and make sure it was appropriate). This book is great. The reading was a pleasure - a real page turner - and the basic theme I received reading it was that no matter your age, you can make a big difference in the world. If you have a child and want to boost them self-esteem and show them there are no limits ahead of them, put this series in their hands and read with them. You won't be disappointed!

[Tony Keefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series a while ago and when I got book 2, I had to promptly hand it over to a student in my class. One thing led to another and I finally got it back on the last day of school. I think Patrick Carman is really onto to a big idea with blending text and web based movies. I loved the plot of this book as well ( actually the combination of the 2 books).

Overall, the idea of 4 kids being able to use their brains and tech skills to outsmart neat everyone else is the reason I got hooked. Carman's writing, especially the dialogue is why I read both of these books.

[Josh Newhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series complete with videos, excitement, high tech though I think it has a short shelflife... However I do think it will be a robust shelflife as it is a great read!

That said I think this two book series could have easily been put into one book... 133 pages plus 30 appendix pages at the cost of a full price book? Maybe as an e-book priced at 7.99 or so... Or two paperbacks at 7 or 8.99... Its a series hc trend that troubles me... I can see the purpose in short books for reluctant readers, but it does smack ofa financial decision...

Good read regardless...

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as much as the first Trackers book. Maybe I've gotten tired of the interrogation format, or maybe the character of Adam seemed to dominate this book too much (we heard very little about the other 3 trackers). The ending (Adam's email to Agent Ganz) was downright preachy and did not sound true to the character to me. Would a true tech geek really 'confess' that his generation was too plugged in and that he secretly wished all technology would crash? It just felt like an adult trying to get a message across by using a character....

[Karen Arendt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a gripping continuation of the Trackers series. Adam and his friends, Emily, Finn, and Lewis, appear to have been set up to take the fall, or have they? Not everyone is what they appear to be. The interview format with online video footage adds an exciting element to the story. Should appeal to fans of the first book. There is the possibility of another book, given the way the story ends...

[MizziQ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intresting. For right now I'm still more fond of the first one...but I guess that happens a lot. The 2nd book left plenty of room for cliffhangers and unresolved plots but still finished off the book ok. It was pretty good, interesting, and had all the awesome characters that were in #1. I do have to say though the backrounds of the characters carry this one along more than anything else. True, also, for the previous one.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Science Fiction
Copyright: 2011
Thoughts: This book wraps up the plethora of loose ends from the first book. The two books are certainly better together, as the first one really doesn't have an ending. The last minute switch of some of the characters (Lazlo & Zara) is not entirely convincing, but might be substantiated in further books. Adam's last comment in the letter about unplugging is truer than most people think.