The Devil's Code (Kidd)

excellent series - writing, characters, plot..sandford never disappoints, always delivers..highly recommend to all fans..just finished reading..already downloaded next - hanged man's song..let's begin the next adventure..

I have read most of Sanford- but the beginning of the book, in my opinion, made too much effort to convey he knew about computers . . it delayed and distracted the plot. Once he got going it was a Sanford comfortable read

I always find Sanford's Prey and Virgil Flowers stories entertaining. They're not great, just fun and I'm fine with that. This book though, is just kind of stupid. I have trouble finding a character who is an accomplished artist, hacker and thief with a large circle of similar type friends even slightly believable. Sanford also often uses gratuitous profanity, even in the Prey series to illustrate how guys communicate and it's often way over the top. There's one expression in this book that just flat made me shake my head in wonder. Does Sanford really think men talk like that? Only morons trying too hard to impress talk like that. Maybe Sanford talks like that. Overall, the book is just not very good.

Sanford is a master, virgil is my favorite character. tne booh was in muchbetter shape than I'd hoped for. I bought it to fill a hole- read Devil's Code several years ago, now I have my own copy. Thanks to everyone. Great job.

Sanford is a master, virgil is my favorite character. tne booh was in muchbetter shape than I'd hoped for. I bought it to fill a hole- read Devil's Code several years ago, now I have my own copy. Thanks to everyone. Great job.

Another Great Book from John Sandford. He started the Kidd Books under his real name, John Camp. (2 Books) After the sucess of the Prey Series written by John Sandford, he continued the last 2 under this name. I have read ALL of his books to date & have loved them all.

. . . even though I've read all the Davenport and Flowers books, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. How nice to have a whole new Sandford series to follow, even though the technology in them is a little dated. I'd love to meet John Camp someday - I'll bet he'd be a lot of fun to talk to.

I've enjoyed reading many of John Sandford's books about Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers, so when I saw this book with a different protagonist, I jumped at the chance to read it.

Kidd is an artist who also participates in industrial espionage. A friend of his is mysteriously murdered, and that friend's sister comes to him to find out why he was killed and who killed him. The plot quickly escalates into a corporate/government adventure involving hackers and satellites. Lots of action, murders, and (of course) a little under-the-sheets activities with Kidd's associate, LuEllen.

The book was published in 2000, so some of the technology is dated. Nevertheless, if you have enjoyed Mr. Sandford's stories with Lucas and Virgil, I think you will also like this one.

After several excellent novels about Minneapolis police detective Lucas Davenport, John Sandford returns to his original character, Kidd. Kidd is very different from Lucas, although there are some similarities. One major difference is that Kidd is a crook. He steals technology and business secrets. He does this mostly for fun, but it does supplement his income as a painter. Returning from a Canadian fishing trip, Kidd is met at the airport by the sister of Jack Morrison, one of his hacker (and criminal) friends. Jack is dead, killed in a shootout with security guards at the high-tech business where he was a consultant. It appears that he had sneaked into the office to pirate some files and started shooting when a patrolling guard came by. Lane Ward, Jack's sister, doesn't buy it. Jack hated guns and would certainly not be carrying one, much less start shooting. Since he had told her that if anything ever happened to him she should call Kidd, here she is. Kidd isn't all that interested, until he discovers that she knows all about his nefarious side-Jack told Lane about his capers with Kidd. Kidd agrees to go along and at least look into the situation. Now the reader already knows that Jack was murdered and the shootout with the security guard was a setup. Sandford told us that in the first chapter. But Jack was the second murder in that chapter. The first was an official with the National Security Agency who was shot down on the street near Washington. Kidd and Lane start to investigate and are almost killed by accident when the bad guys burn down Jack's house with them in it. In a series of both physical and computer-driven investigations Kidd and Lane begin to uncover the plot. Kidd brings in LuEllen, his cohort from the previous novels. LuEllen is a real thief, not a computer hacker. She does second story work with precision and vigor. With LuEllen's help and his network of hacker buddies Kidd solves the mystery, makes a little money on the side, and straightens out the National Security Agency. The bad guys all get what's coming to them. There is a little collateral damage to some of the characters along the way. Kidd is not the kind of character to build a successful series on. Sandford was wise to drop him and create Lucas Davenport and the "Prey" novels. Returning to Kidd gives Sandford a break from developing Lucas plots, and perhaps Lucas will return with new vigor. There is just too much reliance on hacker buddies providing all the answers as soon as Kidd dreams up a question-Sanford's version of deus ex machina. The story is well crafted and an entertaining read.

Most readers of John Sandford are fans of the 'Prey' series featuring Lucas Davenport, but the Kidd series is a change of pace but still features the same action-packed pace that we've come to expect from Sandford (with a higher concentration on technology).
This was my first taste of the Kidd series and it was actually a good read. Kidd, the lead character, is a part-time painter, part-time hi-tech hacker/thief, who always seems to get dragged into the government's business...and not the good part of the government. Along with his partner, and sometime lover, LuEllen, they get in and out of messes several times over.
While there are a couple of lulls in the action, this is still a very well written book with an interesting, hi-tech plot that remains very easy to follow whether you're computer literate or not. THE DEVIL'S CODE may not be at the top of you "to read"
list, but it should be there somewhere. If nothing else, read it so you'll have a good level of familiarity with the Kidd series before you start on one of the great books of the last couple of years, and the fourth Kidd series book, THE HANGED MAN'S SONG.

This is the third novel starring Kidd, a computer hacker and painter and his partner in crime/lover LuEllen. After reading the first two books of the series ("The Fools' Run" and "The Empress File"), I had high hopes for this addition, especially regarding Kidd and LuEllen's on and off love relationship. However, it was diappointing. There was little or no character development since The Empress File. In the other two books, there was much character depth and the characters seem to come alive. Unfortunately, Kidd and LuEllen seemed two-dimensional in this story. The dialogue wasn't impressive either.
The plot revolves around the mysterious death of a fellow computer genius who was killed while supposedly caught breaking into AmMath, a computer chip technology firm that the government hired to design encrytion technology. Rumors of the existence of a group of radical computer hackers opposing the US government called Firewall started to spread and appear on the news. There's also a list of screen names of people that were supposedly in this group. The most astonishing thing is that Kidd's, Bobby's, and their friends' screen names were included in that list! Kidd, LuEllen and Kidd's computer friends team up to try to find out what's going on before the FBI tracks them down. Behind all this is a big conspiracy arbitrated by a small group of people at AmMath. They will stop at nothing to protect and hide their secret. Kidd and LuEllen is once again faced with a dangerous opponent.
The story is somewhat confusing and difficult to follow at times. Kidd's major breakthroughs and crack in the case were not apparent or easy to understand, even if he explained his train of thought. The story ended abruptly through the death of the villain. I still didn't understand how Kidd pulled that off.
The best parts of the book were Kidd/LuEllen's plan and execution of their breakins into apartments and tricks used. Fans of Kidd/LuEllen may enjoy this book just because it's been so long that we see this duo since their last adventure. Even though this book was a major letdown, I'm still looking forward to Kidd/LuEllen's next appearance. Hope the author continues to write about them.

John Sanford, author of the "Prey" series ("Easy Prey," "Certain Prey") brings back an earlier hero, Kidd, artist, computer whiz and criminal, and his even more secretive sometime partner/lover LuEllen in "The Devil's Code". Two contract murders jumpstart Kidd's entry into a high-tech, high-speed chase after a conspiracy fueled by greed and guarded by murder.
Kidd, looking into the shooting death of a friend and fellow hacker, soon grabs the disks that doomed his friend, making himself a marked man. Trouble is, there's nothing damning on the disks. But his efforts attract the notice of the FBI, the CIA, National Security and the cabal of villains who may themselves be part of the alphabet soup.
There's more flash than substance here but Sandford keeps the story hopping with plenty of action and clever stunts, high tech and low. Kidd and LuEllen are a likeable, if standoffish, duo and the writing is as pared down and smooth as a speeding Ferrari.

At his home in Dallas, John James Morrison knows he is in trouble by the nocturnal visit of the security agents. They escort John to AmMath where St. John Corbiel plays a tape in which they caught John violating company policy. John tries to bluff but Corbiel kills him. The security agents arrange a cover-up to make it seem like a night guard shot John while discovering him in a forbidden area late at night.

John's sister Lane Ward believes the official interpretation of her sibling's death rings false. She asks John's former partner Kidd to investigate her brother's death. Kidd, an expert on stealing data traveling along the information highway, agrees. He learns that John uncovered something major that led to his deliberate murder. Kidd and his partner LuEllen begin to uncover a monster conspiracy involving AmMath and the Feds using technology to hide murder and blackmail. That knowledge could make Kidd the next dead person.

It has been about a decade since John Sandford wrote a Kidd novel (see THE FOOL'S RUN and THE EMPRESS FILE) having switched to the popular Prey novels. Perhaps the earlier Kidd tales were ahead of the times, but with the Internet, Intranet, and Extranet explosion, THE DEVIL'S CODE plays like a modern day electronic thriller. The tale is well executed due to Kidd's intellect, witticism, and ethical beliefs. Although it may seem hard to accept an electronic thief has scruples, Kidd does and that propels his compulsion to investigate. Best selling author John Sandford has returned with one of his great characters in a story that will please more than just net conspiracy buffs because of its fast-paced, gigabit loaded hard driving plot.

Harriet Klausner

I usually love everything John Sandford writes. But this one was too confusing with too much information. You have to be really savvy when it comes to computers to follow this book. Would not recommend this to anyone that is not a computer guru.