Review: Silence of the Six by E.C. Meyers

“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. ~ Goodreads

Source: Copy provided by the publisher via BEA

---

I was so intrigued by the premise of teenage hackers involved in a government conspiracy and cover up, on the run to save their lives.

I guess the premise was more interesting than the delivery for me. And oddly enough it was the very thing that first intrigued me – the hacking – that ended up boring me.

There was so much hacking terminology and fictional company names thrown around that I kind of glazed over. I really think that’s just me though. The Silence of the Six had a very fast pace and interesting characters. They just weren’t enough to overcome my complete lack of understanding/boredom when it came to the hacking. The book had a very technical feel to it. But if you like that – then this is the book for you!

Our MC, Max, tries to decipher code, open hidden files, crack passwords and it just felt…boring in print. I think this would maybe be more interesting to me on film.

Things picked up around the 140 page mark when he meets a girl named Penny. And while I found Max interesting – I found Penny and her sister whip smart and fascinating. But it wasn’t really about them.

This was really a case of It’s not you , it’s me. The Silence of the Six is probably a better fit for people who like more thriller type stories with technical speak than I do. Also, very little to no romance – just a tiny hint of interest. I know that’s rare in YA these days for the people who are looking for books that aren’t romance focused.