Assured Destruction with Zombies

by Michael F. Stewart

978-0-981269993

225 pp.

Ages 13+

2014

If you haven't read Michael F. Stewart's Assured Destruction (2013), reviewed here, and Script Kiddie (2013), its sequel (reviewed here), then don't read this review.  Get Books 1 and 2 in the Assured Destruction series first.  You won't be disappointed and you'll enjoy Book 3 all the more.

When Script Kiddie ended, tech savvy Janus had saved her classmate and friend Hannah from attempting to kill an online predator, and sustained enough injuries–including a broken ankle and bruised ribs–to slow her down a bit. But only a bit because she's still got a lot to do.  If she doesn't want to lose her semester, she must attend school every day and on time.  With mom hospitalized and undergoing electric shock therapy, Janus feels like she must take on more of the business responsibilities.  The mortgage on the business, Assured Destruction, is still in jeopardy and Janus is working on ways to make more money, including billeting ten international students (though she's got nothing ready for them, only space in their industrial park business/home).  She also has a plan to make the company more profitable by seeking out some of the clients that had worked with her dad before he disappeared several years earlier, although her mom's boyfriend, Peter, thinks she shouldn't be doing this.  

Her visits to these clients, including AAA Ltd. and A ZaZa Pizza, leave her more confused.  They don't have the number of computers that would make them customers of Assured Destruction; in fact, she's even warned away by a pony-tailed man she sees at several locations.  Janus is quick to recognize that these clients may not provide the business they need but she's sure they may be helpful in finding her father. But her investigations hit too close to home, and her determination to learn the truth ends up putting her life and the business in jeopardy.

While pursuing the mystery of her father's disappearance and his dealings with these special "customers", Janus again gets involved with the hackers online at Darkslinger to find a solution to something the media is calling the Zombie Worm, a malware program that is affecting the school server, her home computers, and businesses, traffic lights, etc.  But Janus doesn't realize that, as they say, when you play with fire, sometimes you get burned. And when she's trying to do everything-school, business, heal, friends, boyfriend, community service, investigate her father, liaise with the police-she gets burned really badly, metaphorically, though almost physically too.  

Michael F. Stewart has developed Janus into a character who can see beyond the moment and beyond the computer, although this is something that is difficult for her.  She is used to taking care of everything, not relying on anyone or anything. Her physical injuries at the end of Script Kiddie have required her to get help, whether she wants it or not. (Driving the van with hand controls is an especially funny scene.)  Too soon her mental health is in jeopardy as well. Janus needed to know, really know, that she didn't have to take on the world by herself.  Many of us don't like asking for help, assuming that it shows weakness.  Wrong.  The weakness is in not asking, especially when we know many hands make light work.  Between her friends and others watching out for her, Janus has a lot of support.  By continually going after things herself, she negates what they mean to her.  Not deliberately, but she still does. Not until she is able to accept help do things start to turn around for her and Assured Destruction. 

Assured Destruction with Zombies may have an edge-of-your-seat adventure with several mysteries to solve and a whodunit that will surprise you but it's Janus' character that took centre stage for me, finally becoming a person with whom I could empathize.  Her computer smarts are far beyond any that I will ever know, though I'm sure a few young readers will know exactly what she's doing always, but those are her skills and strengths.  Showing her weaknesses and working with them, rather than through them, has made Janus stronger and a more likeable character. And I'm reassured, after reading Assured Destruction with Zombies, that nothing can destroy her. Janus may become damaged but she's an invincible protagonist who could take on the world, cyberspace and all.

Script Kiddie: Assured Destruction, Book 2

by Michael F. Stewart
Non Sequitur Press
978-0981269962
212 pp.
Ages 12+
August 29, 2013

When I reviewed Michael F. Stewart's Assured Destruction on March 21, 2013, I knew that this computer thriller heralded a great new series for young adults.  The second book in the Assured Destruction series, Script Kiddie, has proven me right.

The 2000 hours of community service that 16-year-old Janus Rose was given (as a consequence of her indirect involvement in cyber-attacks on those whose hard-drives she'd not destroyed) in Assured Destruction has the teen helping Detective Williams and snarky Constable Ethan Chow of the Ottawa Police Department in the High Tech Crime Unit.  Janus' computer skills, honed at her multiple computers (and Shadownet personalities), are exceptional and her problem-solving, while sometimes impetuous, lets her think outside the box readily.

Janus' first police case involves discovering how credit card information is being stolen from the very bank that has tried to foreclose on their home and company! Unfortunately, her quirky ideas about undercover work and her sincere interest in warning potential victims gets her off that case officially (though Janus doesn't always follow the rules) and instead profiling a killer from his laptop.

At school, Janus is drawn in to helping her classmate/friend Hannah who's been lured by an older man to submit nude photos of herself and needs help in getting away online from the man who continues to harrass and even threaten her.  Soon after, though, Hannah wants Janus to back off, and Janus doesn't know how she can truly help the teen.

To help in her investigations, Janus looks to the internet for a community of hackers with skills beyond her own.  But, after trying to ingratiate herself into Darkslinger.net, she is expunged for being a Skiddie a.k.a. a Script Kiddie, a naive wannabee hacker. It's only when she gets a bit of assistance from her mother's boyfriend, Peter, a retired computer security consultant, that she finds a way to be accepted at Darkslinger and get some much-needed help.

I haven't even mentioned the turmoil going on at home as Janus' mother's multiple sclerosis progresses, leaving her weaker and going blind, and Janus looks into the state of their finances.  Sadly, it's evident that the business, Assured Destruction, is not making enough money to pay the bills and upcoming mortgage payments.

For a sixteen-year-old, Janus does incredibly and credibly well.  Michael F. Stewart has not created an unbelievable superhero-esque teen.  She gets people angry at her, she makes poor choices (though usually with the best of intentions), she doesn't know who to trust, she tries to make things right, she skips school occasionally, she worries about her ailing mother, she wonders about her father who left, she likes to make out with her boyfriend Jonny (though her time with him is limited), she's tech savy and willing to learn what she doesn't know, and she does her homework (usually).  She's a teen with a lot on her plate and sometimes it slips off and then she gets more loaded on, but Janus just keeps on trying.  Not surprising that one of her Shadownet alter-egos, Gumps advises that,

"If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.  H. G. Wells" (pg. 156)

There is no time for the Script Kiddie reader to wallow in Janus' turmoil either, as the plot is fast-paced and relentless in its subplotting. While some readers may relate to the circumstances of Janus' life and the situations into which she stumbles so easily and innocently, Janus is like no one else.  Janus and Michael F. Stewart's other characters, many who are virtual or unidentifiable, are still surprisingly real and distinct. I don't know whether Michael F. Stewart has based these characters on real persons or not but that's quite a feat when there's only voice to give them substance. Having learned that Michael F. Stewart is also Mike Stewart, author of a number of graphic novels for Oxford University Press' Boldprint Graphic Novels series, I suspect his creativity spans different media, beyond text alone. That would explain the depth and texture of his writing and its ability to extend beyond dimensions rarely experienced in novels. Younger readers will not need to worry but I hope that as a "mature" teacher-librarian I can continue to navigate the digital and virtual dimensions with ease as I am already anticipating Books 3 and 4 in the Assured Destruction series.

Touch

Written by Kim Firmston
James Lorimer & Co. Ltd.
978-1-4594-0371-0 (epub)
978-1-4594-0369-7 (pb)
101 pp.
Ages 13-18
2013

Most people would see having the magic touch -- finesse -- as a positive attribute, especially if used for charitable or beneficial needs.  If used to manipulate and sway others to your preferences, that same touch can be undesirable or shameful.

But sixteen-year-old Ethan is honestly impressed by his dad's talent to persuade everyone, whether at his IT security workplace or at home.  In fact, Ethan is eager to impress his father with his own skills in hacking, tech and engineering, hoping to emulate his father's success at age 19 winning a robotic competition.  He even tries to manipulate his girlfriend Maddie into cozying up to their competition, Antoine, to get a look at his plans.  Needless to say, Ethan soon learns he doesn't always demonstrate his dad's proficiency at enticing others to his will.

Though close to his father, Ethan is comfortable with his father's new wife and younger step-sister, Haley, and considers them his family.  But when Haley's attention-grabbing antics (e.g., cutting her long hair and dying it black with red tips; going Goth; having meltdowns) eclipse his successes and accolade-grabbing stunts, Ethan is less than compassionate about what may be troubling Haley.  Not surprising that when Haley tells her mother that Ethan's dad has been touching her inappropriately, Ethan does not believe her.

After his dad moves out without letting Ethan know, Ethan's confusion is exacerbated, having him wondering about his own place in the family and where his loyalty and trust should lie.  With his dad continuing to manipulate him to keep tabs on Haley and Mom, Ethan begins to see how control is not everything, especially when compassion, cooperation and compromise can achieve so much more.

Part of Lorimer's SideStreets series, Touch offers a contemporary story line, based on the issue of sexual abuse, in a hi-lo format i.e., high interest, low vocabulary.  While it is too predictable from the title and opening scenes that Haley is being sexually abused, Ethan's responses offer the perplexity needed to deepen the story.  While dealing with his own disbelief and conviction of his father's innocence, Ethan comes to see his father's manipulative techniques as selfish and detached, not admirable or effective.  With that change in perspective, Ethan is able to redirect the skills he was using to impress his father to expose him instead.  That twist in his purpose saves Ethan from his own narcissistic path and unexpectedly has him becoming a real big brother to Haley, protecting her as much as he can.

While the hi-lo format can restrict the story development and expression of characters, a good writer can augment the base story elements with enough details, secrets and innuendo to take a story from ordinary.  Personally I would have appreciated more evidence that Ethan could develop a change of heart, but Kim Firmston has a good solid plot here in Touch, adding Ethan's finesse with technology, to provide readers with greater substance on which to focus our story demands.