Dangerous Data Book

Your privacy has expired, runs the strapline of Lury.Gibson's compulsive Dangerous Data--and the dot joining their names rather than an ampersand tells us that this is a hi-tech thriller, with the dissemination of personal data forming as much of a threat as physical violence, which makes this a salutary read. The duo's protagonist may be called Dogg, but he's a data detective rather than a gangsta rapper, and his speciality is the hidden strata of human lives. With just one fact , however bare, Dogg can fill in the details of a whole life. For a client called James, Dogg agrees to track down the mysterious, elusive Cynthia... and soon finds himself in a maelstrom of mystifying data. And Cynthia is slowly revealed as living a very strange life indeed. What makes Dangerous Data so insidiously beguiling is its unique format: Set against Dogg's first-person narrative are the data sheets by which he peels away Cynthia's protective cover, and as the plot advances, we're never allowed to forget that everything he learns about her is just as applicable to us--most of us might now be electronically stripped bare in quite the same fashion: I can even get into bed with our Cynthia. She's filled in one of those sex surveys, in a mag called Emmanuelle she gets on private subscription--membership stuff. But however private, the mag still has a database... so in the safety of a questionnaire, she feels her dark secret is being projected onto black walls. She runs her hands over the invisible words on the wall...how she feels about oral sex. Her favourite position. Her most complete sexual experience... --Barry ForshawRead More