The Hanged Man's Song by John Sandford

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Reading The Hanged Man's Song took me into a world that I could never have imagined otherwise. The main character is a creative soul -- a painter -- who also happens to be a gifted computer hacker named Kidd. Kidd is part of an informal group of hackers and others who have worked together before on various projects; the man at the center of the group is a superhacker named Bobby who has been around since the beginnings of the internet. However, few people actually know the real names or identities of their fellow hackers, and Kidd has only met one of them face to face--John. When Bobby seems to vanish from cyberspace, Kidd investigates, with the help of his friend LuEllen and John.

The story focuses on their investigation into the murder of Bobby--and the theft of his laptop, which gives access to a treasure trove of highly confidential files. Whoever has taken the laptop begins leaking stories to the media, resulting in damaged reputations and careers for several members of Congress. Kidd's concern is that whoever has the laptop has figured out how to hack through the encryption protecting the files--and it is not clear whether or not there is information that might prove incriminating to Kidd, LuEllen, John or any of a number of others in Bobby's circle of cyberfriends. So they set out to recover the laptop and find Bobby's killer.

The characters are nicely developed, the dialogue is lively, and the writer makes the world of hackers very real. The shadowy world of Kidd, John and LuEllen is an intriguing one, and yet, also disturbing. They uncover the reason for Bobby's murder--and the identity of his killer. Woven into the story are themes dealing with racism in our society, and the bonds that go beyond race, as well as the ability of some people to use various identities, and the universal desire for justice--even for someone that others consider a criminal. However, the involvement of the federal government, and several prominent politicians, is also intruiging. It turns out that in its efforts to target terrorists, a group has begun to investigate a number of people, and turned up damaging information. It is this group's files that are on Bobby's laptop.

Now that I've discovered Kidd--and John Sandford--I have yet another author to add to my list. The Hanged man's Song is the fourth in a series about Kidd, so I have some catching up to do. In addition, the author has another series (Prey). The book is available in several formats at the Waterloo Public Library, including adult fiction, large print and audio book.