“What is the silence of six, and what are you going to do about it?”

These are the last words uttered by 17-year-old Max Stein’s best friend, Evan: Just moments after hacking into the live-streaming Presidential debate at their high school, he kills himself.

Haunted by the image of Evan’s death, Max’s entire world turns upside down as he suddenly finds himself the target of a corporate-government witch-hunt. Fearing for his life and fighting to prove his own innocence, Max goes on the run with no one to trust and too many unanswered questions.

Max must dust off his own hacking skills and maneuver the dangerous labyrinth of underground hacktivist networks, ever-shifting alliances, and virtual identities — all while hoping to find the truth behind the “Silence of Six” before it’s too late.

What. A. Book.

I will admit that I was uncertain going into The Silence of Six, as I do not usually read books dealing with computer hackers and conspiracies, but I am so glad that I decided to pick up this book.

After his best friend publicly kills himself on live television, Max is thrown into a wild chase to figure out exactly what Evan meant by ‘the silence of six’ and why it is so important.  Max has to dust off his old hacking skills while on the run from the FBI to finish what Evan started, and he’ll make some allies along the way – and some more enemies as well.

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time while reading this novel and I was quite surprised at some of the twists that were thrown into the story.  I thoroughly enjoyed all the characters, especially Penny and her sister Risse.  This is a very timely novel and I feel as though something like this could happen in our lifetime (or could be happening as we speak).  It also left me feeling like I need to be more aware of my own computer security and that I should probably take some bigger measures in securing my information.  Thankfully, I don’t have to sorry about the government chasing me down for computer hacking anytime soon… my skills stop at coding a basic website.

I definitely recommend this book if you have any interest in computers, hacking, conspiracies, or are just looking for a new young-adult thriller to read.

Rating: 5/5 stars