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Surveillance
The government is spying on everyone. But who is spying on the government?
A ruthless online activist group called Kittehsaurus Rox has hacked into top-secret Cabinet information and gone public with it, creating widespread panic and embarrassing a government that will stop at nothing to hunt down ‘KSR’.
Journalist and cyber-expert Kat Sharpe is chosen by KSR to break news of their operations, and overnight she becomes the media sensation she has always longed to be. But as she gets closer to KSR and its circle of supporters, she can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t add up.
Cybersecurity company Veldtech Industries is in line to make a fortune out of the carnage created by the hackers. But they have their own desperate secrets to protect – from the government and from each other.
Surveillance is a thrilling, timely novel about the price we pay for our ‘security’ and the lengths to which companies – and governments – will go to hide the truth.
A ruthless online activist group called Kittehsaurus Rox has hacked into top-secret Cabinet information and gone public with it, creating widespread panic and embarrassing a government that will stop at nothing to hunt down ‘KSR’.
Journalist and cyber-expert Kat Sharpe is chosen by KSR to break news of their operations, and overnight she becomes the media sensation she has always longed to be. But as she gets closer to KSR and its circle of supporters, she can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t add up.
Cybersecurity company Veldtech Industries is in line to make a fortune out of the carnage created by the hackers. But they have their own desperate secrets to protect – from the government and from each other.
Surveillance is a thrilling, timely novel about the price we pay for our ‘security’ and the lengths to which companies – and governments – will go to hide the truth.
529 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2015
5 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Bernard Keane
5 books8 followersBernard Keane is the politics editor for Crikey and is a former senior public servant.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 19, 2015
Set in Sydney, SURVEILLANCE is billed as a cyber-thriller about government spying and corporate underhanded behaviour. A timely and really interesting subject to be explored, this was picked up with much anticipation.
Perhaps the expectations were wrongly set, but SURVEILLANCE quickly felt like it was less about hacker and cyber-vulnerability and more about corporate corruption. Then there's the enthusiastic sexual conquest pursuit that would have made Sydney Sheldon or Harold Robbins envious.
The sex scenes are, frankly, breathtaking. Not in a good way though. Whilst it might be possible to imagine that everyone in a major international corporation is spending most of their working life trying to sleep with and/or managing to sleep with just about everybody else in the same timezone, it did get to the stage where you couldn’t help but wonder how anyone actually got any work done - especially as Veldtech is a cybersecurity company and not the porn production environment that it started to feel like.
As a big picture, big corporate and government corruption story it had some points to make, although some of the technical aspects felt a little wobbly at times, and the plot elements revolving around Veldtech Industries “desperate secret” overly convenient. Certainly it seemed less about true cyber-vulnerability and more about a planned, targeted corporate money grab. Perhaps with a little less concentration on the sex and a lot more on the potential damage of a corporate gone feral, it would have been a slightly more balanced book, although if you're looking for a potboiler airport style big thriller then SURVEILLANCE may work for you.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
Perhaps the expectations were wrongly set, but SURVEILLANCE quickly felt like it was less about hacker and cyber-vulnerability and more about corporate corruption. Then there's the enthusiastic sexual conquest pursuit that would have made Sydney Sheldon or Harold Robbins envious.
The sex scenes are, frankly, breathtaking. Not in a good way though. Whilst it might be possible to imagine that everyone in a major international corporation is spending most of their working life trying to sleep with and/or managing to sleep with just about everybody else in the same timezone, it did get to the stage where you couldn’t help but wonder how anyone actually got any work done - especially as Veldtech is a cybersecurity company and not the porn production environment that it started to feel like.
As a big picture, big corporate and government corruption story it had some points to make, although some of the technical aspects felt a little wobbly at times, and the plot elements revolving around Veldtech Industries “desperate secret” overly convenient. Certainly it seemed less about true cyber-vulnerability and more about a planned, targeted corporate money grab. Perhaps with a little less concentration on the sex and a lot more on the potential damage of a corporate gone feral, it would have been a slightly more balanced book, although if you're looking for a potboiler airport style big thriller then SURVEILLANCE may work for you.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
February 6, 2017
Conceptually sound yet the execution failed in delivering. The bureaucratic aspects of white collar work is rife in this tale of corporate corruption - not in a good way. Too many characters with uninspiring roles dampened what could have been a good book. The over sexualisation of those characters was a constant point of distraction taking away the 'real' feel of the book. This was meant to be a thriller, not a story from a Mills and Boon romance. DNF at 293pgs - I just couldn't bring myself to continue reading unfortunately.
2 stars for concept and what could have been. I do want to know how it ends but don't want to wade through so many characters and sex scenes to get there.
2 stars for concept and what could have been. I do want to know how it ends but don't want to wade through so many characters and sex scenes to get there.
November 22, 2015
I was really disappointed in this one. I had such high hopes, and the premise sounded fantastic, but as other reviews here have said, it really missed the mark. Definitely more focused on corporate corruption, which is boring, to be quite honest. There were too many changes in POV and too many characters to try to keep up with, and there was nowhere near enough political content (or political media). None of the characters were remotely likeable, and while I've read great sex, this had bad sex and a lot of it. The constant sexualisation of every encounter was boring and unnecessary. And for god's sake, you can tell that this man has written the women, because there's far too much obsession with dicks.
Two stars. Sadly.
Two stars. Sadly.
January 6, 2024
The description of this book sounded interesting (and set in my country) so I picked up a copy.
I found the actual story to be lack-lustre as it seemed to focus on the characters personal lives (sex and affairs included) and their connections to each other in society and tne workforce rather that the cyber-security aspect depicted in the description.
Additionally the last 25% of the book was not memorable to me.
Nonetheless, it is still important to note the importance of security with the internet, not only at government level but on all levels.
I found the actual story to be lack-lustre as it seemed to focus on the characters personal lives (sex and affairs included) and their connections to each other in society and tne workforce rather that the cyber-security aspect depicted in the description.
Additionally the last 25% of the book was not memorable to me.
Nonetheless, it is still important to note the importance of security with the internet, not only at government level but on all levels.
October 11, 2019
Really enjoyed this Australian cyber thriller. Started out thinking there were way too many perspectives but ended up working really well. Review coming soon.
August 17, 2019
I wish I liked this better. I like Bernard Keane's writing in Crikey as a political journo, but a novel's a different matter. First, the basic plot about cyber hackers, Wikileaks-style exposures and the power of corporations to control governments, is clever, exciting, and well plotted. If the book were mostly about this, I may have enjoyed it more. However at 544 pages it's too long. Much of the time we are reading the characters' display of a disturbing level of lust. Much of it comes across cliched and no amount of four-letter words enhances it. Keane is a better writer than this. I hope he has another novel in him.
October 28, 2023
A "gripping edge-of-the-seat thriller" it was not. The book was too long, with tedious conversations and irrelevant detail - eg the author going on and on and on about the pronunciation of "Servetus" - who cares? Seriously annoying. Not so much about surveillance as government and corporate corruption. Too many characters seemingly all having affairs. I skipped several passages, especially the boring sex scenes. Not sure why I persevered to the end.
February 22, 2017
Too much sex, not enough mystery for me.
May 3, 2025
Boring, too many characters, poorly described and too many sex scenes, too much unnecessary swearing.
February 24, 2026
Wasn't quite what I expected. The cybersecurity plot seemed to be an adjunct to extra-marital affairs of the characters. Interesting, but could have been better.
July 21, 2016
Surveillance, by Bernard Keane, was released late last year, billed as a 'gripping, edge-of-the-seat-thriller'. I approached it (as I do all books!) with high hopes, but unfortunately I was disappointed.
On the upside, the plot is timely and topical - it concerns cyberterroism, hacking and intelligence. A ruthless online activist group called Kittehsaurus Rox (KSR) is releasing top-secret Cabinet information to the public via social media, a move which is creating panic and havoc amongst embarrassed government officials. Kat Sharpe is a journalist and media savvy expert. KSR enlists her support to break news of their exploits and she becomes an overnight sensation, particularly on Twitter. Also enmeshed in this turmoil is security company Veldtech Industries who are hoping to make a mint out of the hacking aftermath, with increased security spending to avoid further cyber attacks. The government is spying on everyone; Veldtech is spying on everyone as well; but who is spying on them?
This is a complex and complicated plot. The range of organisations, government departments and individuals is mind-boggling, and I don't think I've ever read a book (that wasn't a textbook) with so many acronyms. There are never-ending lists of people, positions, companies, projects, programs and groups...certainly more than you can comfortably keep track of. I found myself skimming over sections because it was just too much work to try and hold the thread of who was doing what to whom. The other notable thing about this book is the sheer number of sexual affairs and encounters. (This is an enticement for those of you who like that sort of thing, and a warning for those of you who don't!) Everybody in this book is having sex, planning who to have sex with next, fantasising about having sex, cheating on their partner, having affairs and casual sex and everything in between. Really, it's a wonder any of the employees in this story got anything else done, other than plan and carry out their next sexual tryst. Men and women both go at it equally, and I found something strangely homogeneous about the sexual encounters - as a whole, the characters' sexual appetites and desires could just about be swapped about or transferred from one to another and you probably wouldn't notice the difference. They all felt similar in tone.
There's not even a lot of action in the plot - most of it is various employees in meetings or Christmas parties or pubs, and lots of discussion and dialogue with mostly incomprehensible language. So, putting aside the sex (if you can, it's pretty hard to ignore...), I suppose the narrative may have some appeal as a tale of corporate corruption and greed, with aspects that might be attractive to those readers who are closet conspiracy theorists, but otherwise I am struggling to find good things to say about it, other than I'm glad I'm finished.
On the upside, the plot is timely and topical - it concerns cyberterroism, hacking and intelligence. A ruthless online activist group called Kittehsaurus Rox (KSR) is releasing top-secret Cabinet information to the public via social media, a move which is creating panic and havoc amongst embarrassed government officials. Kat Sharpe is a journalist and media savvy expert. KSR enlists her support to break news of their exploits and she becomes an overnight sensation, particularly on Twitter. Also enmeshed in this turmoil is security company Veldtech Industries who are hoping to make a mint out of the hacking aftermath, with increased security spending to avoid further cyber attacks. The government is spying on everyone; Veldtech is spying on everyone as well; but who is spying on them?
This is a complex and complicated plot. The range of organisations, government departments and individuals is mind-boggling, and I don't think I've ever read a book (that wasn't a textbook) with so many acronyms. There are never-ending lists of people, positions, companies, projects, programs and groups...certainly more than you can comfortably keep track of. I found myself skimming over sections because it was just too much work to try and hold the thread of who was doing what to whom. The other notable thing about this book is the sheer number of sexual affairs and encounters. (This is an enticement for those of you who like that sort of thing, and a warning for those of you who don't!) Everybody in this book is having sex, planning who to have sex with next, fantasising about having sex, cheating on their partner, having affairs and casual sex and everything in between. Really, it's a wonder any of the employees in this story got anything else done, other than plan and carry out their next sexual tryst. Men and women both go at it equally, and I found something strangely homogeneous about the sexual encounters - as a whole, the characters' sexual appetites and desires could just about be swapped about or transferred from one to another and you probably wouldn't notice the difference. They all felt similar in tone.
There's not even a lot of action in the plot - most of it is various employees in meetings or Christmas parties or pubs, and lots of discussion and dialogue with mostly incomprehensible language. So, putting aside the sex (if you can, it's pretty hard to ignore...), I suppose the narrative may have some appeal as a tale of corporate corruption and greed, with aspects that might be attractive to those readers who are closet conspiracy theorists, but otherwise I am struggling to find good things to say about it, other than I'm glad I'm finished.
February 20, 2016
You know how they say you can tell a lot about people from their sex-face? The characters in this book are initially drawn by how they choose to cheat on their partners.. Not just sexual infidelity, there's a lot of cheating going on all round.. Between Govt. agencies, corporations, international leaders...
In the expository stages I was trying to keep the characters straight in my head by thinking; is he the one with the giant cock, or the peacock, is she the one who thinks she's fat, or the one who thinks she's clever? ... I found the novel entertaining and darkly humorous, scary because if it isn't true, it will be.
The characters' internal monologues are a bit discomforting, because authors are rarely so impolite as to reflect just how often we physically and sexually appraise others offhand, and subject ourselves to constant psychological abuse. Most authors prefer to gloss over such indelicacy in their characters, lest they all appear as boorish as Keen's. Probably these internal spaces are closer to the truth for most people, which explains the studied refusal to acknowledge it for a lot of readers. Not entirely sure how realistic it is that everyone is married and having an affair, but it serves to underline the secrecy/betrayal themes of the corporate and political world, and obliquely points to the intersection of one self's interest with another's as the cause of 'conspiracies'.
This was an entertaining read, the pacing improved about half way through, and the story began to cohere once I was able to define the characters in more than one dimension. There is astute social commentary hidden in the way people interact, from the prevalence of the word 'mate' at high level business meetings, to the entirely natural depiction of the twittersphere's pervasive background commentary on all aspects of public life. If someone told me that this was a true story, it is this aspect that would convince me. I also appreciated the implication left by events at the very end, which bear further thought in the real world.
Most of all, I like that this novel isn't written in a typical style, and that it generated some reflection on my own society from a perspective I hadn't really taken before.
In the expository stages I was trying to keep the characters straight in my head by thinking; is he the one with the giant cock, or the peacock, is she the one who thinks she's fat, or the one who thinks she's clever? ... I found the novel entertaining and darkly humorous, scary because if it isn't true, it will be.
The characters' internal monologues are a bit discomforting, because authors are rarely so impolite as to reflect just how often we physically and sexually appraise others offhand, and subject ourselves to constant psychological abuse. Most authors prefer to gloss over such indelicacy in their characters, lest they all appear as boorish as Keen's. Probably these internal spaces are closer to the truth for most people, which explains the studied refusal to acknowledge it for a lot of readers. Not entirely sure how realistic it is that everyone is married and having an affair, but it serves to underline the secrecy/betrayal themes of the corporate and political world, and obliquely points to the intersection of one self's interest with another's as the cause of 'conspiracies'.
This was an entertaining read, the pacing improved about half way through, and the story began to cohere once I was able to define the characters in more than one dimension. There is astute social commentary hidden in the way people interact, from the prevalence of the word 'mate' at high level business meetings, to the entirely natural depiction of the twittersphere's pervasive background commentary on all aspects of public life. If someone told me that this was a true story, it is this aspect that would convince me. I also appreciated the implication left by events at the very end, which bear further thought in the real world.
Most of all, I like that this novel isn't written in a typical style, and that it generated some reflection on my own society from a perspective I hadn't really taken before.
August 5, 2015
Surveillance is a timely and racy read. In today's world of secrets and surveillance according to Bernard Keane even Australia is not immune from knowledge that the government wants to keep to itself. However a new activist group calling themselves Kittehsaurus Rex hack into the Cabinets secret archives much to the embarrassment of the Government. Kat Sharpe, journalist and self appointed cyber expert is persuaded by KSR as their newsbreaker and becomes an overnight sensation. Alongside the releases which become increasingly revealing Veldtech, a cyber security company is vying for more Government contracts as their flagging fortunes require urgent new business. Behind all of the more obvious aspects of the story lurk even more interesting realities.
September 11, 2016
I THINK I enjoyed this book .... Certainly the writer knows his stuff and it is a good if not totally novel plot ; The shady IT company that needs to boost its profits by gaining a Government cyber protection contract so they surreptitiously get inside the Govt computers then link info to indicate they current system can be easily hacked - Why I query the tale however, was the full on technical jargon that was used repeatedly, and also the innumerable number of characters that were introduced. One more or less needed a computer of their own to keep track of the 50+ characters that were introduced and their various roles within the IT Company, its American partners, the Govt, the Police cyber crimes unit and the media.
October 15, 2015
The premise of this book was quite enticing and I think Keane gave it a red hot go, but didn't quite get there. And while I'm a bit partial to the occasional sex scene in a book, this did at times read like a long lost Harold Robbins manuscript. Ultimately the plot had too many implausibilities to make this a great read.
However I really did enjoy a book with such a close local flavour. Having lived in Sydney previously it did make me feel like I was back there again. Keane captured the essence of the city very well.
I have a nagging feeling that with more time spent on the core plot and less on the "airport romance novel" style relationships, this book would've been much, much better.
However I really did enjoy a book with such a close local flavour. Having lived in Sydney previously it did make me feel like I was back there again. Keane captured the essence of the city very well.
I have a nagging feeling that with more time spent on the core plot and less on the "airport romance novel" style relationships, this book would've been much, much better.
November 12, 2015
I was surprised that a male author could have so much female sexual fantasizing. It seemed that all these people could do was to sexualized every encounter. Nonetheless I was quite intrigued by the story
February 14, 2016
Lightweight spy novel. Novel also in having familiar Sydney as the setting hacking as the theme.
May 27, 2016
Loved it. This is the kind of book I want to write.
November 17, 2016
A great thriller that kept me engrossed.
April 17, 2016
"Asymmetry" is the one word which can sum up this fine book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews