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Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite
Nate Idle left medical school to become a journalist for neuroscience. He has done well in his field, becoming a go-to journalist after writing a series of articles about a capitalist with ties to the military who is developing how to store secrets inside the fallow part of the human brain. Nate does discover that a local San Francisco company called PRISM is working with a local home for troubled teens, helping them to multitask with their brains and to adapt to the onslaught of computer information. While waiting in a San Francisco subway, Nate is attacked by a man who leaves behind a piece of paper with his name and that of a PRISM worker named Sandy Vello who works with these troubled teens and who may have been hit by a car and killed. A woman named Faith helps Nate after his subway accident as does his office mate Samantha Leary and her husband, Dennis, who enjoys meeting Nate after hours in the Pastime Bar. Nate's subway accident leaves him with a form of second sight. Can he deal with what PRISM is developing? Can Nate also deal with the reality of his estranged wife Polly and their young son Isaac?
"The Cloud" by Matt Richtel is a well-written thriller that looks into what technology might do to people's lives and behaviors. Main character Nate Idle and his friends Samantha and Dennis Leary are anchors in this story filled with characters who may or may not be "good guys". That a company is developing a technology that purports to expand unused areas of the brain is a scary theme and one well-developed by the author. The subplot of Nate and his private life is well-integrated into the major storyline and thriller readers who can deal with "what ifs" will immediately put "The Cloud" on their must-read list.
