The Hacker Chronicles — Patrick Oster

The Hacker Chronicles

An Aloysius Wachter Detective Novel

Aloysius Wachter, a clandestine hacker forced by circumstances to turn amateur detective, recounts several of his adventures that begin with spotting a murder on his first night on the job at a city agency that monitors everyone and everything through a 10,000 camera system.

The improbable hero starts sleuthing to save a beautiful young woman falsely suspected of the crime. He battles disbelieving cops, feds and Israeli hit men, and soon he's being chased by Chinese cyber-spies and Russian hackers in episodes ripped from 21st Century headlines.

Helping him are two pals: Vassily, a Russian hacker on the run from his former gang, and Michelle, Vassily's girlfriend, a Chinese hacker who used to work for the People's Liberation Army. By the end of their adventures, Vic, Vassily and Michelle muse that their lives seem like a bizarro tale out of Alexander McCall Smith's imagination, jokingly calling themselves the No. 1 Hackers Detective Agency.