It is kind of sad, that this is one book closer to the end of an obviously wonderful and very well written trilogy. But I enjoyed it anyway and will write about it. Andreas Eschbach is no man of loud tones. And he has a fantastic way to bring even the most technical stuff simple and easy to understand closer to the reader. You don´t have to be skilled in IT or other communication stuff, to understand what is going on. But then Christopher notes to his horror, that he has to deal with a very special opponent – an enemy in his own head …
Hide Out*
by Andreas EschbachOut Trilogy #2
Publisher Arena on July 1, 2012
Genre Thriller
Pages 528
Format Hardcover
Source Library
Goodreads
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Hundreds of thousands of people thinking in common mode, act, feel: that is the coherence, the biggest thread to mankind. Only the 17-year-old Christopher, once the most famous hacker of the world, dares to take up the fight with this gigantic power. When the group around visionary Jeremiah Jones, where Christopher has taken refuge, gets blown up, he and Jones´ daughter Serenity can escape at the last second. But then Christopher notes to his horror, that he has to deal with a very special opponent – an enemy in his own head …
Story
Christopher tries to come to terms with his failure during the last operation against the coherence. He still got the chip in his head and his father is not doing well. Only time will tell if everything they went through was successful. But the coherence is cruel and never forgets anything. And when Jeremiah and his group get one day the code, that one of their helpful sources cover has been blown, they have to flee their camp within no time. For Christopher and his companions starts a new adventure in the war against the coherence and he has to learn that something has changed and that he has now two enemies to fight. A fight that seems forlorn.
Style
The thriller is written in the personal point of view from Christopher, but on some pages, you get the feeling that an invisible narrator is telling you the story and you get to know the feelings and thoughts from the other figures sometimes as well. I read Hide Out almost overnight and the more I read, the more I got hooked. The language is simply but straight and even the passages where the author goes deeper into some technical stuff are easy to understand and follow. For readers like me, who don´t know very much about the world of bits and bytes, this novel was one heck of a great book. Besides that Andreas Eschbach gives the reader an exciting insight into the world of a Native American reservation. And shows, that you shouldn´t always believe what you can see at first sight. Dig deeper, see behind the surface and you might get to see something great.
Characters
This second book in the Out series was even more action-filled than the first one Black Out and I enjoyed it very much. Andreas Eschbach shows an entertaining and very much diversified story in which his protagonist has to go through a lot of emotions. Christopher starts to figure out how girls work, how confusing feelings can be and that computers aren´t the only thing to fill life with pleasure and friendship. The author doesn´t spare his figures from harm, doubts or danger. And the way how Christopher and his friends go through all that, how they figure things out and try to make the world see what´s really going on, is remarkable and very haunting. They all go through an astonishing alteration, learn what it means to come closer and closer to the enemy and that sometimes a new start is the only way.
Conclusion
When I read the last words, I was not only very well entertained but also very surprised and thought: whoops, what an unexpected twist. Hide Out is an absolutely compelling thriller, very haunting and in many ways a fantastic read. A book I very much recommend – and that not only to lovers of Andreas Eschbach but to anyone else who likes the mix of science fiction and thriller.
Happy reading
*This book was at the time of review only available in the German language.
Andreas Eschbach
Andreas Eschbach, born in Ulm, Germany, studied Aerodynamics at the Technical University of Stuttgart. With his books, he climbed definitive into squad of the German Top-Thriller authors. His books for young readers are published at Arena Verlag. In 1996 he won one of the highest awards of German science fiction, the SFCD-Literature Award. And he is prize winner of the great German science fiction award, the Kurd Laßwitz Award, too. Today he is considered to be one of the most successful German SF writers ever. He lives as a freelance writer with his family at the French Atlantic coast.
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