Book Review — Zero Day by S. Hussain Zaidi

Zero Day by S. Hussain Zaidi

Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 224
Price: Rs. 299 INR(Paperback), Rs. 165 INR(Kindle Edition)
ISBN: 978–9354893650
Buy here: https://amzn.to/3EjB8fC

My take on the book:

All traffic signals in Mumbai city have suddenly stopped working, causing chaos, accidents and unrest; there are financial implications as well as multiple causalities. Shahwaz Ali Mirza, head of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad along with Cybercrime IG Vikrant Singh, and his team start investigation immediately. Deo and Vikrant identify it as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack and try to mask the identity and intentions of the hacker to reduce public outrage, as per Mirza’s advice.

Irritated as the cops deny him the intended fame and fear among the masses, the hacker Muntaqim launches a second cyber-attack, this time on the network of the local trains of Mumbai. While Deo is busy trying to trace Muntaqim on the dark web, Muntaqim has found a vulnerability in the Indian Government networks and is ready to launch a Zero Day attack.

Will Mirza’s team be able to identify and stop this Zero-day attack, who is Muntaqim and his reason for multiple cyber-attacks — this and more await the reader in the Zero Day.

While cyber-attacks have increased over the years, cyber terrorism as a topic is still niche in fictional writing. The author picks this topic and weaves a racy thriller around it with a very tout narration. From the word go, every single page is filled with adrenaline rush, as the author avoids any unwanted details or descriptions and sticks to the storyline all through.

The author provides authentic details on cyber security, how hackers exploit such vulnerabilities, and can even bring nations to a halt. The story also looks at the ugly side of bureaucracy, hierarchies and politics within them. All the main characters get equal footage and importance — Mirza, Vikrant, Deo, Vijayan, the reader is bound to admire each one of them for their specific personality traits,

I personally would have liked to read more about Major Shaina Verma and more of the antagonist’s perspective on these attacks. That aside, this book is one of the best thrillers of recent times, as it keeps the reader on the edge through, completely engrossing without leaving a loopholes.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one and would highly recommend everyone to pick this, especially if you are a fan of thrillers.

My rating:

5/5.

This review is part of the Blogchatter Book Review Program.