During World War II, a young mathematical genius, Lawrence Waterhouse, takes part in cracking German cipher systems. In our time, his grandson Randy, a computer hacker, helps build an autonomous “data haven” in Southeast Asia. The grandson’s fate is bound up with his grandfather’s work, with an international conspiracy that could bring the world a new totalitarian yoke.
Sometimes lighthearted and packed with information on a wide range of topics—from cryptanalysis and hacking to treasure hunting—this novel is a true modern epic. On the one hand, it offers an astonishing, completely original portrait of the wartime era. On the other, it is a provocative meditation on how science and technology help shape and alter the course of human history. A work of great erudition and equally great creative force, it is—and will remain—one of the significant literary achievements of the modern age.