Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer
425 Pages

"The Committee, an international cabal of industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this secret battle stumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disillusioned non-profit worker; Leo Crane, an unhinged trustafarian; and Mark Deveraux, a phony self-betterment guru who works for the Committee. Leo and Mark were best friends in college, but early adulthood has set them on diverging paths. Growing increasingly disdainful of Mark's platitudes, Leo publishes a withering takedown of his ideas online. But the Committee is reading--and erasing--Leo's words. On the other side of the world, Leila's discoveries about the Committee's far-reaching ambitions threaten to ruin those who are closest to her."

Parts of the book were good and parts were boring.  I disliked the character Mark Deveraux and thus the parts that revolved around this character slowed down the pace of the book for me.  The ending also left me hanging, so I'm assuming there will be a follow-up novel to have some sort of resolution.

On A Clear Day

On A Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers, 244 pages

I honestly didn’t enjoy this book a lot.  Maybe the knowledge that this would be Myers’s last book spoiled it for me.  This is a story told in a not too distant future, of a world that has basically been taken over by technology and a conglomerate of corporations called the C-8.  They control the food production, energy resources, media, money, etc.  Most people live in gated communities, some better than others, but the people who are worst off are simply living on the streets.  Some people are part of gangs, trying to get by.  Dahlia is a girl who has been approached by a small group of older teens and young adults who want to help put a stop to C-8’s activities.  The group is idealistic and has good ideas but is that enough when dealing with something as large as the C-8?  The idea behind this story was really good but the execution fell a little flat for me.  The characters seemed kind of one dimensional, especially the more peripheral characters.  I didn’t feel like it was Myers’s best work, but fans of his other books and fans of dystopian stories may want to check out this book.