The Minerva Virus
Brian Shuster
Night Candy, Dec 2005, $24.95
ISBN: 0970365225

He announced last year to his hacking peers that he had an IDEA for a supervirus like none ever seen hit the Internet. Over the next 365 days Jupiter works on Project Minerva and now feeling more like Zeus as he launches his Goddess on a suspecting world.

In San Jose First Bit Protection computer-virus security expert Quinton Grant and the President's daughter biochemist Stephanie Daniels realize separately that the latest supervirus Minerva is more powerful than even MyDoom and doing something never seen before. It is changing into something else. If the evolution continues, Minerva will affirm Darwin's survival of the fittest theory as an independent sentient Internet essence that could devastate the information age and send humanity back into CHAOS. Minerva lives simultaneously in every computer in the world. She controls anything that depends on computer technology. As leaders become frightened over their loss of power, Minerva vows to serve all of mankind. While Quinton and Stephanie team up to prevent Minerva from succeeding others try to kill the courageous pair.

THE MINERVA VIRUS is a great hi tech thriller that grips the audience from Jupiter's first email and accelerates from there as Minerva evolves while opponents rally to stop her and others to protect her (as always the world is divided between the haves and have-nots). The lead human couple is a fascinating pairing of brilliant people as Quinton works anti-virus remedies and Stephanie conducts research into artificial intelligence; each admire the creation and have doubts about stopping Minerva, who may be just the thing for the better good of all humanity though they also fear Lord Action's warning that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"; Minerva is absolute power.

Harriet Klausner