cover image Deadline Y2K: a novel

Deadline Y2K: a novel

Mark Joseph. St. Martin's Press, $24.95 (294pp) ISBN 978-0-312-20202-6

The worst fallout from the Y2K problem won't be this marginal thriller, but it's reason enough to regret the whole crisis. The dawn of the next century is greeted by a chain of catastrophic computer failures that leave a trail of disasters behind; the reaction is working its way east to threaten New York with chaos and the world financial markets with paralysis. In response, a stalwart band of hackers led by one Michael Downs rallies, defeating the nefarious schemes of venture capitalist Donald Copeland in the process. There's little to recommend this novel other than its timely title, which should attract a few buyers, and some cursory scenes of panicked America that may be prescient. The characterizations are stock, the dialogue wooden, the exposition lumpy and the plotting simplistic. Joseph has published two naval thrillers, To Kill the Potemkin and Typhoon. Both were far better than this. Agent, Nick Ellison. (Feb.)