Phreak - Softcover

Danks, Denise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752827375 ISBN 13: 9780752827377

Publisher: Orion, 1999

Synopsis

Computer journalist Georgina Powers is investigating a phone phreaking scam in the East End of London when her contact and toy boy, Abdul, is found dead at the bottom of a skip. And when the police arrive, Georgina is in the frame.

Not only do the police want to nail her, but a Bengali protection gang want to know what happened to Abdul. Georgina calls on an old friend, East End villain and ex-boxer Tony Levi, to help out and finds herself in the midst of a gang war in cyberspace and a turf war in real life.

About this title

Review

Computer journalist Georgina Powers, a hard-edged female investigator with a taste for rough sex, is one of the most memorable protagonists in current crime writing. In Phreak, Powers is investigating a phone scam (aka, "phreaking") which involves cloning counterfeit mobile phones. But her contact, Abdul Malik, a leading scam artist in the phone field--and someone with whom Georgina has been enjoying some vigorous couplings--is murdered and dumped in a skip. His neck has been broken, and lipstick smeared on his T-shirt. What's more, her hacker friend and local drug dealer, Chronic, is missing, leaving her the prime suspect. But that's just the beginning: a Bengali protection gang want to know how Abdul was killed, so Georgina is forced to enlist an old friend, East End villain and ex-boxer Tony Levi.

As in her earlier work, Torso, Danks conjures up a dangerous and atmospheric world for her hard, yet honest heroine with a messy sex life, substance abuse issues and techno-genius. The dialogue is delivered with impeccable timing, and the fusion of East End gang violence and cyberspace is handled with real aplomb. Danks also has few equals in creating some of the most indelible images in current crime fiction, such as a character flourishing a pretend firearm:

To the left, to the right, his shoulders jolted with the imaginary force of a recoiling machine-gun. Long red flares of burning tobacco streamed out behind him like the tails of a night kite while his body jerked back and forth and his hair fell over his face. He raised his no-show Kalashnikov aloft, pumping his arms in triumph and then he stopped, just like that, and turned to me, his eyes all craziness and confusion. He waited one speechless moment before he legged it, leaving me alone with the dead body of Abdul Malik.

-- Barry Forshaw

Book Description

A phone phreaking scam ends in murder - and Georgina Powers ends up a suspect.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orion
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0752827375
• ISBN 13: 9780752827377
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240