Book Review: Riot by Sarah Mussi

Tia Thomson is a 16-year-old girl who is rebelling against her father by being apart of a youth rebellion. She goes by different names like; Eve, Darknet7, and Janbond007 as she hacks into different sites to get information and help ADAM, another online hacker, organize non-violent protests against the government. She is young and submissive but with the anonymity of cyberspace she is able to be someone with the strength and courage to stand up for what she believes in and at first it proves to be empowering until she starts to get hunted down, gassed out, and been instructed by government officials to be killed upon sight.

“Riot” by Sarah Mussi is a powerful story about change and the subliminal power the government has on our own ideas of what is right and wrong.I won’t ruin the surprise element of what the youth is rioting for because the author brings that into play in an interesting and atypical manner. However, I will admit it is defiantly something I would stand up for as well and as more details kept being brought to light the more I wished I could venture into the book and be apart of the rioting crowds.

Everyone knows Eve as the organizer; ADAM is more of a mystery even to Eve throughout the novel. When trouble falls on Eve’s shoulders she has nowhere to turn but to Cobain, a self-styled guerilla with green eyes that can intimidate you, size you up, and kill you. Unfortunately, she has no other choice but to trust him to help her escape this mess he single handedly created for her. As her role of Eve becomes more apparent to Cobain he realizes he can use her for his own hacking benefits but Eve wont have any of it even if he saved her, she wasn’t just going to break the law for him and off she went to find ADAM and try to re-organize the riots.

As these two and ADAM fall into different dangerous adventures one thing becomes obvious, Tia cannot trust anyone and people are not always what they seem to be. This story seems too true at times, as everyone is rebelling and going against the politician’s propositions they are actually being targeted, exploited, and molded into the governments game of chess in which, they play both sides all the while making you think you have your own say. How do you win a game that has already been played out for you in every way possible? Between death staring Tia in the face and the hot blood dripping down her hands she decides to raise her hand and admit that, “attacks fail sometimes, submission fails always” do not fall into the hands of the politicians trying to make the choices for you fight for a cause fight for change!

This novel was spellbinding I couldn’t put the book down and when I finished the book all I wanted to do was rewind time and read it allover again. This isn’t a story you should let slip through your reading list!

Rating: 10/10
Source: NetGalley
Publication: May 1, 2014