Rating: 
Summary: Interesting spin on Y2K
Review: Mr. Pineiro approaches the "millenium question" from the fascinating perspective of a merging of computer science, anthropology, and astronomy.To avoid giving away too much information, I offer the following. The book opens with a computer virus suddenly locking up computers worldwide for 20 seconds. To search for the source and a cure for the virus, the FBI turns their top cybercrime investigator, Dr. Susan Garnett, loose on the problem. Meanwhile, a pair of married astronomers, a Japanese husband and Japanese-American wife, conducting SETI research with a radio telescope in Chile, note unusual activity from the constellation Centaur. Also meanwhile, a French bureaucrat, facing unemployment and disgrace, hires a team of mercenaries to steal a cure for the virus in the hopes that he can salvage his career by selling the cure to the rest of the world. Dr. Garnett, isolating the virus, traces its source back to a spot on the Yucatan peninsula. At this point she contacts Dr. Cameron Slater, an anthropologist and expert on Mayan culture. The story evolves from there. The book is an excellent read, with two qualifiers. The ending is a bit anticlimactic and Mr. Pineiro needs to spend just a tad more time researching the zoology of the areas he is writing about.
Rating: 
Summary: epilogue killed a great book
Review: This book has lots of technical information which I enjoy about Pineiro books. If you like computers, SETI, and anthropology this the book for you. I enjoyed the book up to the EPILOGUE. I felt someone else wrote the epilogue. The time period from ch 20 is 12/18/99 and you turn the page you are on 12/31/01 12:59:59. I felt cheated out of character building and plot line development. Disappointed in:
* wash over about SETI
* Love story wishy washy
* the ending
Rating:
Summary: Computer enhanced
Review: The plot was interesting and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had been more computer literate. The explanations of the computer programs went well over the head of most of the public, as most of us are not into programing and hacking. However by skipping most of that and reading the rest, the book was entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Confused...
Review: What is this book? A mystery? Harlequin style romance? Science fiction? Suspense? Who knows... Certainly the author doesn't appear to know. There is nothing that the main characters appear to be incapable of. They "outsmart" the Mayan culture and in the process reduce the intellectual abilities of the people to that of a computer addicted ten year old. Unrealistic emotional reactions to events (sorry I'm not going to elaborate since you might actually want to read it.) predominate. The first half of the book is the best. Before you read it, open it 2/3rds the way through and write..."and they all lived happily ever after"... Stop when you reach that point. Only then will it be worth your time to read... I did enjoy the first 2/3rds.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Book
Review: I know one thing never judge a book by its cover. I took one look at this book and said "ok, nerd book." Once i read it i took it into high consideration. This book also inspired me to keep practiceing at programming and soon I'll be just as good as these people. I highly recommend this book and other books by R. J. Pineiro
Rating: 
Summary: Worst line I've ever read in a novel
Review: I hung in to the end, as the writing continued to deteriorate, presumably as his deadline
approached, until being floored by the following (I'm quoting from memory here): "I assure you that in a hundred years, what
happened here today will be completely
forgotten, and in five hundred years will
be nothing but a distant memory". So I guess in a THOUSAND years it will be fresh in our minds? Jeez. Go read your cereal box. At least that's probably benefitted from an editor at some point.
Rating:
Summary: A computer thriller not worth reading.
Review: This novel had a very good start. With a gripping prologue and a promising idea, it was headed in a new intriguing direction. However, rather soon it became obvious that it wasn't about computers at all. (The pseudo-excerpts from C++ code were written in faulty BASIC, for example. The description of a virus was laughable, and so were the characters trying to understand it.) The book is about the Maya and the year 2000, hence the title. And it would still be an okay story, had it not been so incredibly redundant and vicious. The elements of gore, deaths, and suffering, add nothing to the storyline but a shiver through the readers' spines (thrillers are supposed to have an element of suspense, and not of disgust), and the repetition of certain phrases and ideas slow down the flow of the novel to a halt. By the middle of the book, the storyline gets so tedious and the events so repetitive, that the only motivation to keep reading is the desire to know how it ends. But the ending just kills all the hope that you saved up 'til that moment. There is no climax and no shocking discovery, just an old "and they lived happily ever after." The characters are as plain as the pages they are printed on. Therefore, with no suspense, no computer references, and no real characters, this book is pretty much empty. I suggest everyone to skip it and read something else.
Rating:
Summary: Save yourself the time and money
Review: This book was quite possibly among the worst I have ever read. As someone who is fairly knowledgeable about computers, this novel was downright painful to read, as it was replete with technical inaccuracies (e.g. C++ scripting???...C++ is a COMPILED LANGUAGE!) and fanciful computer drama. This is especially bad because the author claims to have a degree in computer engineering. The plot started out good, but soon became rather melodramatic and predictable to say the least. I almost quit reading it several times. The ending was even more of a let-down. On the plus side, the storyline was intriguing, though complex. I have to give the author credit for being able to tie the astrophysical and archealogical aspects of the book together. Obviously, he has done his research very well in some areas. Overall, I was disappointed in this book. Perhaps if I didn't know too much about computers, it would be slightly more enjoyable, but even that's a stretch. Please save yourself the time and money; buy something else.
Rating:
Summary: oh Pu-leeeez
Review: I bought this book looking to see what drivel someone would put into a book on the Y2K issue. I was not disappointed. I gave this two stars because I did bother to finish it. As far as the plot goes - been there, done that. There were some mildly interesting twists on occasion but overall it was too close to a rewrite of... On a whim, I looked to see if said 'author' had managed to get any other books printed since this abomination and lo I was amazed to see that not only had he gotten published again, but THIS WAS NOT HIS FIRST BOOK! Utterly mindblowing. This is one of the _least_ accurate computer books I have ever read (I'm a programmer). I was SHOCKED when I read that the author was "a 16 yr veteran of the computer industry". All I know is that he is no software guy. His attempt at trying to discribe a virus was totally laughable - dude, if you want to write more computer books, I'll be happy to consult w/ you - and I'll even do it for free. Flat characters, silly plot, technical inaccuracies over and over and over again and gratuitous violence is what you'll find. If you want a quick, mindless read this is your book. If you want a technothriller novel, well, look some place else. I'm not even going to waste my time reading any of his other books. Personally, I'd be embarrassed (if not richer) if I had my name on this book. Perhaps someone needs to tell this guy not to quit his day job.
Rating:
Summary: TRULY AWFUL
Review: A book so bad anyone who bought it (typically in an airport where publishers shovel their most meretricious garbage) deserves to suffer in hell for encouraging the like. Especially awful for software engineers, who will find the author's lack of understanding of his major plot elements too painful to endure.
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