What do you think?
Rate this book
End of Days #1
Zero Day Code
Every modern city has one week’s worth of food to feed itself. Then it will collapse.
Cut off the resources to New York, Sydney, or even a mid-size metropolis, and millions will soon starve. In Zero Day Code we see those immense and open, hyper-complex, networked supercities of the new millennium die. And in the last moments we see their vengeance take form as all the best and worst traits of humanity bubble to the surface.
Zero Day Code is set in a realistic near future with dwindling global food supplies under increasing pressure from worsening droughts, floods and extreme weather events. Written by prolific Australian writer John Birmingham, the thriller follows a handful of survivors from the first day of society’s descent into violent, uncertain futures.
James, a consultant to the US National Security Council, is the first to suspect that the worldwide emergence of a crippling computer virus is actually a cover for something else - a devastating cyber-attack by China on the food distribution system of the United States. The attack is a bid for the Middle Kingdom to distract America as it seizes the food bowl of South East Asia and feeds its starving population. But Beijing has miscalculated.
Follow the missions of an embittered activist chasing salvation, a single mum rescuing her child from a frantic San Francisco and an army veteran who has long retreated from society, as the world they knew crumbles around them.
Please note: this audiobook contains mature content and listener discretion is advised.
Cut off the resources to New York, Sydney, or even a mid-size metropolis, and millions will soon starve. In Zero Day Code we see those immense and open, hyper-complex, networked supercities of the new millennium die. And in the last moments we see their vengeance take form as all the best and worst traits of humanity bubble to the surface.
Zero Day Code is set in a realistic near future with dwindling global food supplies under increasing pressure from worsening droughts, floods and extreme weather events. Written by prolific Australian writer John Birmingham, the thriller follows a handful of survivors from the first day of society’s descent into violent, uncertain futures.
James, a consultant to the US National Security Council, is the first to suspect that the worldwide emergence of a crippling computer virus is actually a cover for something else - a devastating cyber-attack by China on the food distribution system of the United States. The attack is a bid for the Middle Kingdom to distract America as it seizes the food bowl of South East Asia and feeds its starving population. But Beijing has miscalculated.
Follow the missions of an embittered activist chasing salvation, a single mum rescuing her child from a frantic San Francisco and an army veteran who has long retreated from society, as the world they knew crumbles around them.
Please note: this audiobook contains mature content and listener discretion is advised.
Audible Audio
First published July 4, 2019
About the author
John Birmingham
69 books1,097 followersJohn Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He currently lives in Brisbane.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
July 10, 2019
My first reaction to Zero Day Code was, "Yay - Australian narrator!"
Then the world building hits you. It's usually the first thing that sucks me into John's books, and this is no exception. You just know there is a veritable fuck-tonne of research behind this thing. Set mostly in the present day United States, not John's homeland, ZDC requires certain level of convincing detail to make it work, and it felt to me as though it had authenticity in spades.
But then all that detail slips under the story, easing along like lava through sunterranian caves, bubbling up every now and then, but not in a jarring way. In the kind of way that you don't realise it's there until it slides back down again under the plot and characters.
I have to admit I've always struggled with audio books. 'The voice' is important to me. It can make or break the experience, and most times, it's broken me. Not just the dialogue of the characters (is there a technical term? Voices? Accents? Whatever, you know what I mean), but the reading voice of the narrator. Sometimes it's like being yelled at for hours by a movie trailer voice over guy, or bored to sleep by a droning Shakespearian actor who didn't make it far in their stage career. I've started audio books where I KNOW it's a great book, but it falls flat when the dialogue is delivered with no emotional punch or natural variation, as indicated by dialogue tags and the surrounding story.
None of these are an issue with this story. Of course, a narrator can only work with the text they are given, and ZDC is full of the snarky, sarcastic humour and sharp turns of phrase I've come to love in John's work.
The story, of course, rests under all of this. This stuff is just the decoration on the framework that is the plot and without a solid foundation on which to sit, the rest might as well be fancy but useless window dressing.
At the outset we're introduced to a wide ranging cast of seemingly unrelated characters, some paired up quickly, but all their stories running parallel for some time as the larger plot unfolds around them. We see events through the eyes of an alt-right meat head, some NSC analysts, a war veteran, an ex-police officer and a photographer down on her luck. There are others, but I'll leave you to discover them in your own reading journey.
There are interludes that throw the story wide, in heartbreaking fashion, to the world beyond the US, where drought, pollution and dwindling fish stocks are destroying the lives of everyday people. It's a grim picture that shows a planet in the grips of something dark, something man-made and horridly irreversible. A planet that is dying before the eyes of the population reliant on it for income and sustenance, and setting up the conflict to come. These vinnettes show us why, in a slow reveal, the world as our characters know it, is about to implode. They are masterfully done, but to say more I fear might spoil the tale and the careful progression of drip fed information that John gives the listener.
Alongside that woe, are moments of laugh out loud hilarity and gorgeous tenderness. I may have almost crashed my car at the traffic lights while cackling at the dialogue of an Australian restaurant owner, Damo.
Zero Day Code was the first book I have started and finished, and truly devoured voraciously, after almost six months of reading drought. It brought me back to enjoying reading in a way I have since I was a teenager, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Then the world building hits you. It's usually the first thing that sucks me into John's books, and this is no exception. You just know there is a veritable fuck-tonne of research behind this thing. Set mostly in the present day United States, not John's homeland, ZDC requires certain level of convincing detail to make it work, and it felt to me as though it had authenticity in spades.
But then all that detail slips under the story, easing along like lava through sunterranian caves, bubbling up every now and then, but not in a jarring way. In the kind of way that you don't realise it's there until it slides back down again under the plot and characters.
I have to admit I've always struggled with audio books. 'The voice' is important to me. It can make or break the experience, and most times, it's broken me. Not just the dialogue of the characters (is there a technical term? Voices? Accents? Whatever, you know what I mean), but the reading voice of the narrator. Sometimes it's like being yelled at for hours by a movie trailer voice over guy, or bored to sleep by a droning Shakespearian actor who didn't make it far in their stage career. I've started audio books where I KNOW it's a great book, but it falls flat when the dialogue is delivered with no emotional punch or natural variation, as indicated by dialogue tags and the surrounding story.
None of these are an issue with this story. Of course, a narrator can only work with the text they are given, and ZDC is full of the snarky, sarcastic humour and sharp turns of phrase I've come to love in John's work.
The story, of course, rests under all of this. This stuff is just the decoration on the framework that is the plot and without a solid foundation on which to sit, the rest might as well be fancy but useless window dressing.
At the outset we're introduced to a wide ranging cast of seemingly unrelated characters, some paired up quickly, but all their stories running parallel for some time as the larger plot unfolds around them. We see events through the eyes of an alt-right meat head, some NSC analysts, a war veteran, an ex-police officer and a photographer down on her luck. There are others, but I'll leave you to discover them in your own reading journey.
There are interludes that throw the story wide, in heartbreaking fashion, to the world beyond the US, where drought, pollution and dwindling fish stocks are destroying the lives of everyday people. It's a grim picture that shows a planet in the grips of something dark, something man-made and horridly irreversible. A planet that is dying before the eyes of the population reliant on it for income and sustenance, and setting up the conflict to come. These vinnettes show us why, in a slow reveal, the world as our characters know it, is about to implode. They are masterfully done, but to say more I fear might spoil the tale and the careful progression of drip fed information that John gives the listener.
Alongside that woe, are moments of laugh out loud hilarity and gorgeous tenderness. I may have almost crashed my car at the traffic lights while cackling at the dialogue of an Australian restaurant owner, Damo.
Zero Day Code was the first book I have started and finished, and truly devoured voraciously, after almost six months of reading drought. It brought me back to enjoying reading in a way I have since I was a teenager, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
October 23, 2021
This book scared the wits out of me, because it is all possible. Birmingham takes present day USA and shows us how easy it is to stop our technology based society and plunge it into the stone age.
Birmingham can spin a tale and this one had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know where this was going to end up. The characters are fleshed out and you get a real sense of who and what they are,and who and what they will end up being.
I feel I should point out that there is a lot of swearing in this, it doesn't bother me but it may bother some readers. This is book one in a series nd it ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. I will be reading the following two books.
Birmingham can spin a tale and this one had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know where this was going to end up. The characters are fleshed out and you get a real sense of who and what they are,and who and what they will end up being.
I feel I should point out that there is a lot of swearing in this, it doesn't bother me but it may bother some readers. This is book one in a series nd it ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. I will be reading the following two books.
April 30, 2021
Zero Day Code is the first part of an audiobook trilogy which was free with my Audible subscription, about a near-future devastating cyber-attack on the USA’s food supply network designed to cripple the country and prevent a response to Chinese expansionism. It is not a complete story, serving mainly to introduce the key characters and establish the reasons behind the apocalypse, but the next two parts are already available so there won’t be a delay before we can continue the story. We listened to it over a few long car journeys and while it did take a long time to get going, we did both enjoy it.
The plot follows four key characters and their associates - James, a tech analyst recruited by the NSC for his work on China, who teams up with NSC threat assessor Michelle on his first day to discover all his predictions were true - but he’s too late to warn anyone. Rick is a disabled veteran living a quiet life in Washington with his beloved service dog Nomi, who has finally managed a date with beautiful British ex-policewoman Mel when the world goes crazy. Jody is a photographer whose day goes from bad to worse when she is mugged while trying to collect her young son from her estranged husband, but is rescued by an unlikely guardian angel, and Jonas is a thuggish alt-right blogger who sees opportunity where everyone else sees chaos. Their stories are interspersed with brief vignettes featuring people all around the world whose lives are impacted in various ways by the various factors leading up to the attack - climate change, food scarcity, geopolitics & a relapse of Cold War style military tensions.
This was a scarily believable premise that certainly had me wondering how much more food we should be stockpiling without turning into an out & out prepper: here in NZ we do tend to keep weeks worth of food (and toilet paper!) in case of earthquakes, but this shows how quickly that goes wrong if you’re either away from home, or if men with guns come to take it for me. The plot did take quite a while to get going, finally moving into thriller territory just before the end.
The narrator does a good job with the male voices, but his renditions of the female characters are truly awful - they all sound like drag queens, and the foreign accents are equally cringe-worthy. There characters are impressively diverse, with some true heroes and some enjoyably boo-hiss villains - but if you are bothered by swearing then you won’t enjoy this as some characters’ inner monologues are full of expletives. Overall I enjoyed this and look forward to continuing the trilogy soon.
The plot follows four key characters and their associates - James, a tech analyst recruited by the NSC for his work on China, who teams up with NSC threat assessor Michelle on his first day to discover all his predictions were true - but he’s too late to warn anyone. Rick is a disabled veteran living a quiet life in Washington with his beloved service dog Nomi, who has finally managed a date with beautiful British ex-policewoman Mel when the world goes crazy. Jody is a photographer whose day goes from bad to worse when she is mugged while trying to collect her young son from her estranged husband, but is rescued by an unlikely guardian angel, and Jonas is a thuggish alt-right blogger who sees opportunity where everyone else sees chaos. Their stories are interspersed with brief vignettes featuring people all around the world whose lives are impacted in various ways by the various factors leading up to the attack - climate change, food scarcity, geopolitics & a relapse of Cold War style military tensions.
This was a scarily believable premise that certainly had me wondering how much more food we should be stockpiling without turning into an out & out prepper: here in NZ we do tend to keep weeks worth of food (and toilet paper!) in case of earthquakes, but this shows how quickly that goes wrong if you’re either away from home, or if men with guns come to take it for me. The plot did take quite a while to get going, finally moving into thriller territory just before the end.
The narrator does a good job with the male voices, but his renditions of the female characters are truly awful - they all sound like drag queens, and the foreign accents are equally cringe-worthy. There characters are impressively diverse, with some true heroes and some enjoyably boo-hiss villains - but if you are bothered by swearing then you won’t enjoy this as some characters’ inner monologues are full of expletives. Overall I enjoyed this and look forward to continuing the trilogy soon.
October 2, 2021
I gave Zero Day Code a go as I needed a book starting with Z for a challenge and, bonus, it’s free on Audible where it’s narrated by Rupert Degas who I’ve listened to before and thought was fabulous.
I quite liked Zero Day Code’s premise. A war is started but instead of guns or nukes, it’s started with a computer virus which causes havoc across the US and her allies. Apart from the obvious internet and banking issues, a lot of the plot focuses on the mayhem created from the virus taking out the main food distribution centres. It's assume the cities' inhabitants, without the basics of food, water and electricity will go ahead and kill each other, eliminating the need for the Chinese to have to lift their trigger fingers.
For the most, this was believable. I would have said a few years back that no one would carry on like they did in this book but that was before Covid made these types of storylines much easier to imagine. (This was obviously written prior to the Covid outbreak as there wasn’t one mention of people shooting each other over toilet paper or rice…)
I did like many of Birmingham’s humorous metaphors and his frantic writing style at times, but at others I found it a little over the top. Sometimes it also got a bit repetitive (I got to hear once or twice or ten times that the positioning of a man’s testicles is the direct result of just how scared he is).
Birmingham is Australian and a lot of times I wondered how US readers would think of the many Australian references and slang used throughout. I’m not sure why he didn’t just set the book in Australia and be done with it. (The only reason I could think of was that we don’t have such easy access to guns in Australia.)
The lead characters were okay but none stood out. They’re the usual mixture from this type of book - ex special ops and army veterans, nerdy computer analysts, doctors.
I was disappointed by the ending also. I know it’s a trilogy but this part did stop rather abruptly and didn't really have any definitive ending.
Will I be reading the next two books in the series? Actually, yes, I think I will. I wouldn’t say I’m dying to learn what happens but I am mildly curious about some plot points. It’s not the best book I’ve ever listened to but it’s certainly not the worst and I will say it’s a handy choice if you’re searching for a Z book. 3 out of 5
I quite liked Zero Day Code’s premise. A war is started but instead of guns or nukes, it’s started with a computer virus which causes havoc across the US and her allies. Apart from the obvious internet and banking issues, a lot of the plot focuses on the mayhem created from the virus taking out the main food distribution centres. It's assume the cities' inhabitants, without the basics of food, water and electricity will go ahead and kill each other, eliminating the need for the Chinese to have to lift their trigger fingers.
For the most, this was believable. I would have said a few years back that no one would carry on like they did in this book but that was before Covid made these types of storylines much easier to imagine. (This was obviously written prior to the Covid outbreak as there wasn’t one mention of people shooting each other over toilet paper or rice…)
I did like many of Birmingham’s humorous metaphors and his frantic writing style at times, but at others I found it a little over the top. Sometimes it also got a bit repetitive (I got to hear once or twice or ten times that the positioning of a man’s testicles is the direct result of just how scared he is).
Birmingham is Australian and a lot of times I wondered how US readers would think of the many Australian references and slang used throughout. I’m not sure why he didn’t just set the book in Australia and be done with it. (The only reason I could think of was that we don’t have such easy access to guns in Australia.)
The lead characters were okay but none stood out. They’re the usual mixture from this type of book - ex special ops and army veterans, nerdy computer analysts, doctors.
I was disappointed by the ending also. I know it’s a trilogy but this part did stop rather abruptly and didn't really have any definitive ending.
Will I be reading the next two books in the series? Actually, yes, I think I will. I wouldn’t say I’m dying to learn what happens but I am mildly curious about some plot points. It’s not the best book I’ve ever listened to but it’s certainly not the worst and I will say it’s a handy choice if you’re searching for a Z book. 3 out of 5
January 23, 2021
Really interesting and scarily realistic premise for an apocalyptic fiction novel, but includes some really messy storytelling with characters we didn't need to see at all. Not bad for a free audible original listen though, so it's a good pick if you're out of credits!
May 10, 2021
I didn’t enjoy this book. I kept waiting for something to happen and instead the book is just one loooooong introduction. I know this is the first book in a trilogy however even as part of a series ANY book should be able to be read as a standalone. I also didn’t enjoy the narration, the characters’ voices were annoying to be frank. I won’t be reading books 2 or 3.
January 5, 2020
Some true laugh out loud moments and fantastic character development and world building. Definitely worth a read
March 6, 2021
Deeply disappointed at the machismo and sexism
December 17, 2021
I honestly had zero expectations for this book (yeah, you see what I did there) and I grabbed it because I needed it for an alphabet challenge.
I totally enjoyed this audiobook. Although it is not a full cast, it sure felt like one. The narrator was fantastic and had me me laughing out loud several times, and this is not an LOL book let me tell you.
Set in present day, the story was engaging and could be all too real in today's world. I did wonder for quite some time how the different storylines were going to connect but some of them finally did and although some of the jargon was not always something I understood, the gist of this story was clear. An enjoyable listen!
I totally enjoyed this audiobook. Although it is not a full cast, it sure felt like one. The narrator was fantastic and had me me laughing out loud several times, and this is not an LOL book let me tell you.
Set in present day, the story was engaging and could be all too real in today's world. I did wonder for quite some time how the different storylines were going to connect but some of them finally did and although some of the jargon was not always something I understood, the gist of this story was clear. An enjoyable listen!
September 24, 2021
World War III? Mankind has been wondering what would happen in the next world war. In this version, it doesn't come with nuclear weapons, hackers will be the front line warriors in the next war. Destroying the internet will lay nations down faster than a few nukes, and with much less chance of retribution. Ironically one of my cousins joined the USMC last year, his MOS? Hacking and internet security.
April 6, 2021
From about halfway through this book, the story setting and character development really started to pay off. It was so engrossing that I honestly had to keep reminding myself after each session of reading that the real world was not coming to an end, to try to soothe the uneasy feeling in my stomach. Although relatively untouched by COVID where I live, I have seen how it changes people’s behaviour with even very minor scares, and there is always the small but persistent thought that our society is extremely fragile and could unravel without much effort. I’m looking forward to reading the other two books in the series. Oh, and my favourite character is the dog.
April 14, 2021
I'm just not a fan of how short a period a time this book covers. The premise is solid (with tech being in the forefront) but I needed less depth to not get bored.
I will not continue with this series.
I will not continue with this series.
June 14, 2021
As an Australian, I really try to be supportive of Australian authors, but I really struggled with this particular book. Don't get me wrong, I loved the premise and the story, but the story telling just pissed me off. Although the stories were mostly set in America, people still used phrases like "gross" and "big fella" and "mad as a cut snake" and I just can't help but feel that these phrases are not really used in America in comparison to Australia. There were also very Australian-specific news stories in the book like the baby formula which was being bought in large quantities from Australia and being sold to China. It made sense why it was part of the story, but I don't understand why an American character paid so much attention to it. This made me feel that it wasn't really Americans telling the story which was distracting.
There were a few characters that were very crass, which is fine, but when the book changed to their storyline, it wasn't just their thoughts that changed, but the whole way of telling the story. When a book is told from different points of view, it makes sense that the story telling would change from character to character. But in this story, there is a narrator explaining what is happening to each character. The story telling is consistent the whole way through the book for a huge number of characters (including those from a wide variety of countries) except for two characters who were hyperagressive. When the narrative switched to their storyline, Asian people started being referred to a "f*cking slants" and there were a lot more f bombs describing simple actions like "then he started driving his f*cking car to work through the f*cking traffic". It just didn't make sense to me why the narration changed just for those two people.
Speaking about characters, I think this book told stories from about five different countries. There were also about eight different main characters from America (I listened to the audiobook, so I can't tell you the exact number). Then there were multiple other minor characters and storylines. When there are that many people floating around, I don't understand why it was important to bring in perspectives from different countries for one or two chapters each. Especially the short chapters that ended with people dying. It just made the whole thing harder to follow. Why build up people by explaining what they look like and their life experiences and memories and their worries and their favourite past times just to kill them off at the end of a short chapter? I can understand wanting to bring about the emotional realness of war and personalise the destruction, but I'm not attached to someone after such a short period of time. It would have been better to just say something like "Meanwhile in a little town in _____, a little old lady drew her last breath when the war reached her village and the first bomb exploded." It would have been much more simple and straightforward. Alternatively, people were getting specks of news online, through the radios and on the news, these overseas updates could have easily been a lot simpler if heard by the main characters rather than building a whole new character.
So why did I give this two stars? Well, I really did like the premise. The story was mostly believable (though, I don't think that people would immediately start stealing and looting as soon as a shop lost their internet connection). Especially in America where people have the right to bear arms, I can imagine things getting post-apocalyptic relatively quickly when food storages start to run low. This cyber warfare and the ensuing chaos seemed believable and made me second guess how much extra food I should be keeping in my house at any given time. In the world of COVID-19 and generalised panic, it was interesting to read a book about how close we may be to the end of civilisation if cyber warfare was enacted. Honestly, this and it's two sequels were free to download from Audible. I will likely read the next two as well because it was just starting to get really interesting when the book finished.
There were a few characters that were very crass, which is fine, but when the book changed to their storyline, it wasn't just their thoughts that changed, but the whole way of telling the story. When a book is told from different points of view, it makes sense that the story telling would change from character to character. But in this story, there is a narrator explaining what is happening to each character. The story telling is consistent the whole way through the book for a huge number of characters (including those from a wide variety of countries) except for two characters who were hyperagressive. When the narrative switched to their storyline, Asian people started being referred to a "f*cking slants" and there were a lot more f bombs describing simple actions like "then he started driving his f*cking car to work through the f*cking traffic". It just didn't make sense to me why the narration changed just for those two people.
Speaking about characters, I think this book told stories from about five different countries. There were also about eight different main characters from America (I listened to the audiobook, so I can't tell you the exact number). Then there were multiple other minor characters and storylines. When there are that many people floating around, I don't understand why it was important to bring in perspectives from different countries for one or two chapters each. Especially the short chapters that ended with people dying. It just made the whole thing harder to follow. Why build up people by explaining what they look like and their life experiences and memories and their worries and their favourite past times just to kill them off at the end of a short chapter? I can understand wanting to bring about the emotional realness of war and personalise the destruction, but I'm not attached to someone after such a short period of time. It would have been better to just say something like "Meanwhile in a little town in _____, a little old lady drew her last breath when the war reached her village and the first bomb exploded." It would have been much more simple and straightforward. Alternatively, people were getting specks of news online, through the radios and on the news, these overseas updates could have easily been a lot simpler if heard by the main characters rather than building a whole new character.
So why did I give this two stars? Well, I really did like the premise. The story was mostly believable (though, I don't think that people would immediately start stealing and looting as soon as a shop lost their internet connection). Especially in America where people have the right to bear arms, I can imagine things getting post-apocalyptic relatively quickly when food storages start to run low. This cyber warfare and the ensuing chaos seemed believable and made me second guess how much extra food I should be keeping in my house at any given time. In the world of COVID-19 and generalised panic, it was interesting to read a book about how close we may be to the end of civilisation if cyber warfare was enacted. Honestly, this and it's two sequels were free to download from Audible. I will likely read the next two as well because it was just starting to get really interesting when the book finished.
May 26, 2021
For some reason, the text version isn't on good reads? Weird.
Anyways.
My feelings on this book are _complicated_
tl;dr; Fails at suspension of disbelief due to me being a relative subject matter expert, but a strong finish and looking forward to the next one.
H'okay. So this'll be a long one, for me, at least.
Apocalypse and apocalypse-lite stories are some of my favorites. Loved the "After America" trilogy by Birmingham, still re-read "Lucifer's Hammer" every couple years, and so on.
There's a trick to them though, that I think is a careful balance of having a triggering event that is either a) plausible enough for willing suspension of disbelief b) is so bonkers out there that who gives a rip or c) is sufficiently handwaved and made clear that it's not actually the point of the story. B/C is what "Without warning" did great. The event (basically melting everyone in the US) *worked* because it was so weird, and it wasnt about the event. It was about how people *reacted* to it.
This is where I think the book stumbles. Zero Day code goes into a lot of detail on the _how_ part of the collapse. As the title suggests, its largely hacking/cyberwarfare. Now, admittedly I'm a _terrible_ audience on some level for this cause, throwing out false modesty, I'm a professional computer scientist and researcher in distributed storage systems. I'm not a security expert compared to some of my professional peers who, but that's a damn high bar.
There's nothing inherently wrong with any of the "hacks" that occur in the book as the start of the rodeo. They're largely plausible on an individual level. What makes me go "ehhhh, no." is that they coordinate this giant disparate set all at once. And frankly, that's not actually realistic. Not even remotely.
Security is an endless game of whack-a-mole. Even if you find a true "zero day" vulnerability, the chances of being able to uniformly exploit it are effectively zero. Modern distributed systems are a chaotic mess of versions, software, and myriad firewalls (literal and metaphorical) and vulnerabilities. Same with social media, etc.
It's like yes, technically you have thousands of parts in your car that could fail. Absolutely true. The chances of them all exploding at once are functionally zero.
Anyways, after that extended bit of nit-picking, once it gets past the well-researched-but-naive build up, it's a good romp. The conservative D-Bag character wears a bit thin, but I get the motivation behind it, and some of the tics of the character are based in sadly well founded stereotypes these days.
Ended on a great bit of melodrama/cliff hanger and looking forward to the next one.
Anyways.
My feelings on this book are _complicated_
tl;dr; Fails at suspension of disbelief due to me being a relative subject matter expert, but a strong finish and looking forward to the next one.
H'okay. So this'll be a long one, for me, at least.
Apocalypse and apocalypse-lite stories are some of my favorites. Loved the "After America" trilogy by Birmingham, still re-read "Lucifer's Hammer" every couple years, and so on.
There's a trick to them though, that I think is a careful balance of having a triggering event that is either a) plausible enough for willing suspension of disbelief b) is so bonkers out there that who gives a rip or c) is sufficiently handwaved and made clear that it's not actually the point of the story. B/C is what "Without warning" did great. The event (basically melting everyone in the US) *worked* because it was so weird, and it wasnt about the event. It was about how people *reacted* to it.
This is where I think the book stumbles. Zero Day code goes into a lot of detail on the _how_ part of the collapse. As the title suggests, its largely hacking/cyberwarfare. Now, admittedly I'm a _terrible_ audience on some level for this cause, throwing out false modesty, I'm a professional computer scientist and researcher in distributed storage systems. I'm not a security expert compared to some of my professional peers who, but that's a damn high bar.
There's nothing inherently wrong with any of the "hacks" that occur in the book as the start of the rodeo. They're largely plausible on an individual level. What makes me go "ehhhh, no." is that they coordinate this giant disparate set all at once. And frankly, that's not actually realistic. Not even remotely.
Security is an endless game of whack-a-mole. Even if you find a true "zero day" vulnerability, the chances of being able to uniformly exploit it are effectively zero. Modern distributed systems are a chaotic mess of versions, software, and myriad firewalls (literal and metaphorical) and vulnerabilities. Same with social media, etc.
It's like yes, technically you have thousands of parts in your car that could fail. Absolutely true. The chances of them all exploding at once are functionally zero.
Anyways, after that extended bit of nit-picking, once it gets past the well-researched-but-naive build up, it's a good romp. The conservative D-Bag character wears a bit thin, but I get the motivation behind it, and some of the tics of the character are based in sadly well founded stereotypes these days.
Ended on a great bit of melodrama/cliff hanger and looking forward to the next one.
May 11, 2022
You must give Birmingham credit even if you do not like his genre. I read his Axis of Time trilogy which was his first. At that time, I was traveling a ton for work. It was a great plane read. It followed a familiar premise of a force from current day going back to fight WW2. To be frank, you could skip chunks and not lose a bit.
When I speak of his genre, he is a mix of Harry Turtledove and Tom Clancy. Both are lengthy, detailed and technically obsessed writers. Birmingham is that plus a combination of dense and sweeping sagas (previous trilogies contain upwards of a 100 characters). He goes technical with lots of rationale behind how things work along with a Winds of War emotional relationship component. His works are like a long running soap opera mixed with an owner’s manual. That is why you can skip plenty of content.
None of that stopped me from reading another series from him. In the trilogy, Without Warning, the population of the United States along with the Canada, Mexico, and Cuba disappear. The hook being, this was set in 2003 and America was about to go to war with Iraq. This one held my interest less but I saw it through.
I just got around to this 2019 release. Zero Day Code shows maturity in his writing and better character development but it still carries that deathly mix of manual and soap opera. What deserves kudos given when he would have conceptualized and written the book is the premise. Birmingham centers on a scary end of the world scenario that has more validity given current world events (I write this May, 2022).
It is about the food supply and supply chain, computer viruses that disrupt world systems, and extreme weather events. I prefer that latter descriptor to “climate change” and “global warming”. As soon as you mention either, you know the political stripe of anyone’s reaction.
This will also be a trilogy which is his thing. He loves length. I have come to the conclusion that books are not the right channel. Birmingham should be writing limited series for streaming services. I would watch this planned trilogy. I was once a fan but now in print, this 437 page book seems double that.
When I speak of his genre, he is a mix of Harry Turtledove and Tom Clancy. Both are lengthy, detailed and technically obsessed writers. Birmingham is that plus a combination of dense and sweeping sagas (previous trilogies contain upwards of a 100 characters). He goes technical with lots of rationale behind how things work along with a Winds of War emotional relationship component. His works are like a long running soap opera mixed with an owner’s manual. That is why you can skip plenty of content.
None of that stopped me from reading another series from him. In the trilogy, Without Warning, the population of the United States along with the Canada, Mexico, and Cuba disappear. The hook being, this was set in 2003 and America was about to go to war with Iraq. This one held my interest less but I saw it through.
I just got around to this 2019 release. Zero Day Code shows maturity in his writing and better character development but it still carries that deathly mix of manual and soap opera. What deserves kudos given when he would have conceptualized and written the book is the premise. Birmingham centers on a scary end of the world scenario that has more validity given current world events (I write this May, 2022).
It is about the food supply and supply chain, computer viruses that disrupt world systems, and extreme weather events. I prefer that latter descriptor to “climate change” and “global warming”. As soon as you mention either, you know the political stripe of anyone’s reaction.
This will also be a trilogy which is his thing. He loves length. I have come to the conclusion that books are not the right channel. Birmingham should be writing limited series for streaming services. I would watch this planned trilogy. I was once a fan but now in print, this 437 page book seems double that.
August 28, 2021
Haven't read JB since the Axis of Time a few years back. Returning to his books is like an addict rediscovering cocaine. Been tearing through the Apple iBook version over the last few days which I got from being on JB's Patreon. Join up, it's worth it.
ZDC has a host of cool characters, explores an interesting idea (almost prophetically after the multiple cyber attacks over the last year) uses showing-not-telling to explore character motivations/backgrounds and occurs at breakneck speed, with the whole book taking place over a few days. This shit needs to hit the big screen or one of the streaming services.
The complaints from other reviewers seem the same - too much cursing and the impossibility of an apocalyptic cyber attack. To that I say JB's an Aussie and Aussies swear the most out of the English-speaking countries. It's how it is. It's also necessary for several characters (former miner guy and alt-right extremist guy) - if they weren't foul-mouthed, they'd be less real and less unique people. As for the apocalyptic cyber attack, the whole point of the book is exploring what would happen if such an attack occurred. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.
My gripe is some spelling/grammar errors in the Apple iBook version. Work should be polished before it hits the reader because every typo yanks you outta the story. In the grand scheme of things it's a minor gripe and an easy fix for later digital editions. Still giving it 5 stars. Now onto the sequel...
ZDC has a host of cool characters, explores an interesting idea (almost prophetically after the multiple cyber attacks over the last year) uses showing-not-telling to explore character motivations/backgrounds and occurs at breakneck speed, with the whole book taking place over a few days. This shit needs to hit the big screen or one of the streaming services.
The complaints from other reviewers seem the same - too much cursing and the impossibility of an apocalyptic cyber attack. To that I say JB's an Aussie and Aussies swear the most out of the English-speaking countries. It's how it is. It's also necessary for several characters (former miner guy and alt-right extremist guy) - if they weren't foul-mouthed, they'd be less real and less unique people. As for the apocalyptic cyber attack, the whole point of the book is exploring what would happen if such an attack occurred. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.
My gripe is some spelling/grammar errors in the Apple iBook version. Work should be polished before it hits the reader because every typo yanks you outta the story. In the grand scheme of things it's a minor gripe and an easy fix for later digital editions. Still giving it 5 stars. Now onto the sequel...
January 20, 2022
This is a terrifying examination of what could happen with an attack on our food and other infrastructure happened and was effective. There was a couple of times I got a kick out of the British Author using terms for things in the US that would not actually be used here like the doctors surgery, its just a doctors office here, we do not call the doctors normal office a surgery. Its not a complaint I just got a kick out of those minor linguistic differences.
The terrifying thing about this book is how realistic it actually is. We are just a few days from not being able to feed ourselves at any given time. If someone were to disrupt that system we would be in serious trouble.
I think one of the best things you can say about a book is that it really made you think. I believe I will be thinking about this book for quite some time. I will definitely be reading the sequel as well.
The terrifying thing about this book is how realistic it actually is. We are just a few days from not being able to feed ourselves at any given time. If someone were to disrupt that system we would be in serious trouble.
I think one of the best things you can say about a book is that it really made you think. I believe I will be thinking about this book for quite some time. I will definitely be reading the sequel as well.
September 2, 2021
This book started off slow. Very slow, too slow for my tastes, but I stuck with it. By about the 1/3 mark, you are immersed into plausible scenarios of disaster. There are different points of failure in a system, different ways characters address the failures, and different obstacles depending on the geography. Consider this book a Tom Clancy-light. You get all of the systems-level problems (well through-through and plausible) without having to slog through reading an air craft carrier manual.
Great start to this series.
Great start to this series.
November 10, 2022
I should stop listening to audible free books. Not worth it.
December 20, 2022
There is a lot of bad language, but the story is sobering. All too believable, which is a worry.
Read
February 10, 2024This was my first ever DNF and I've read a lot of subjectively bad books.
March 8, 2021
I quite enjoyed this. Some very good turns of phrase.
January 31, 2021
Last book I read by Birmingham was "He Died with a Falafel in his Hand". There aren't any falafels here, and it looks like there won't be in the succeeding books in this series.
April 2, 2021
A great read!
Good and interesting characters and a fantastic plot. Loved the humour and the Aussie voice coming through, loud and clear. My only issue was the editing. Omg so many missing words, and cut and paste errors. And the odd incongruity (eg the apartment block that didn’t allow dogs but that had the dog that alerted Mel to the plight of a neighbour). That stuff isn’t on the inimitable Mr Birmingham but perhaps the editor could up their game and do the job the work deserves.
Back to the book... I enjoyed the snippets from other places that weren’t involving the main characters, they added a global feel to what might otherwise have been a bit of a narrow view. The scope of the disasters and the ideas that underlie this book are diabolical. At this point I am really hoping that no one is using this as a ‘how to’ guide... For anyone who doesn’t know- John Birmingham is a Bond villain ...
10/10 for the latest apocalypse! (and you’re forgiven for not guessing about the loo paper!)
Good and interesting characters and a fantastic plot. Loved the humour and the Aussie voice coming through, loud and clear. My only issue was the editing. Omg so many missing words, and cut and paste errors. And the odd incongruity (eg the apartment block that didn’t allow dogs but that had the dog that alerted Mel to the plight of a neighbour). That stuff isn’t on the inimitable Mr Birmingham but perhaps the editor could up their game and do the job the work deserves.
Back to the book... I enjoyed the snippets from other places that weren’t involving the main characters, they added a global feel to what might otherwise have been a bit of a narrow view. The scope of the disasters and the ideas that underlie this book are diabolical. At this point I am really hoping that no one is using this as a ‘how to’ guide... For anyone who doesn’t know- John Birmingham is a Bond villain ...
10/10 for the latest apocalypse! (and you’re forgiven for not guessing about the loo paper!)
April 20, 2024
Much better than I was expecting, but still very clichéd characters. And, seriously, how many times can someone’s “balls crawl up into himself” before they should seek medical attention?
April 25, 2024
⭐️ 3.5 stars ⭐️
March 16, 2021
This was a freebie (for all) from Audible Aust so I thought I’d give this dystopian audiobook a go, especially since it was by an Aussie author (though it is primarily set in the US).
The most awesome part of this story was the characters. We get to meet an assortment of characters that we can both cheer on and shake our heads at. But in saying that the plot was awesome too. Set in a time where this could all start today... mm... really makes you think.
I recommend you concentrate at the start of this book. There is lots going on. I really liked that we got to spend more time in the pre-end of the world part of this story.
Are all the best dystopian books scarily real? This was written before the current pandemic and the madness that ensued in 2020. While the book is not about a pandemic, you can certainly see that the author’s thoughts on how a population acts in a crisis were eerily spot on.
Well I am lining up for Book 2. Well not really lining up as it is out now, so thank goodness I could instantly download book 2 and keep listening. I love knowing this trilogy is complete.
So I recommend you check it out, especially as you can grab it now for free on Audible Aust if your a member. If your not then this is a credit well spent.
March 16, 2021
Received this for free as an Audible (narrated by Rupert Degas, who might over do the accents a bit but as an Australian I found it wonderful).
This book was frightening in it's "cyber warfare" take on the whole Doomsday genre. It was a sharp look at how much we rely on tech now-a-days. Actually had me taking stock on my own food stores and bug out plan.
Loved it and dove head first into their honey trap and bought the next two books straight away.
This book was frightening in it's "cyber warfare" take on the whole Doomsday genre. It was a sharp look at how much we rely on tech now-a-days. Actually had me taking stock on my own food stores and bug out plan.
Loved it and dove head first into their honey trap and bought the next two books straight away.
August 11, 2021
As someone who adored Birmingham's Axis of Time series and then felt diminishing returns in some of his subsequent work, I really enjoyed most of Zero Day Code. There's a lot of 'when things fall apart' fiction out there at the moment, and while much of it is higher concept or has more emotional complexity, Zero Day Code delivers as more of a pulpy, fun, back to basics read. There's a palpable Tom Clancy influence, especially Debt of Honor, and I think one outright homage to Red Storm Rising.
There have been a number of nonfiction writers moving into this kind of space, many of whom have impressive bona fides, but whereas I found something like Ghost Fleet to be pretty cringe, Zero Day Code was generally less tacky. The premise of a limited cyberwar engagement spiralling out into unintended consequences makes a lot of sense, and some of the particular attacks Birmingham mentions are clever and entirely plausible. He also avoids having it all happen as a single apocalyptic event. There's information asymmetry and different areas falling into disarray on different timelines, which feels much more realistic than 'instant Mad Max'.
On the negative side, there are definitely some tropes, and not all of the characters feel entirely fully formed. One thing that really took me out of the book–and perhaps this was just a flaw with my Kindle edition–was unfortunately lax editing. The book somewhat limps across the finish line in trite fashion, and some of the later chapters have the odd typo or repeated mistakes when it comes to product and gear, which is usually a strong suit for Birmingham. For example, a truck keeps getting called an "F-100" instead of an "F-150", another changes from being a truck to an SUV, etc. It just made things feel a little sloppy and rushed.
There have been a number of nonfiction writers moving into this kind of space, many of whom have impressive bona fides, but whereas I found something like Ghost Fleet to be pretty cringe, Zero Day Code was generally less tacky. The premise of a limited cyberwar engagement spiralling out into unintended consequences makes a lot of sense, and some of the particular attacks Birmingham mentions are clever and entirely plausible. He also avoids having it all happen as a single apocalyptic event. There's information asymmetry and different areas falling into disarray on different timelines, which feels much more realistic than 'instant Mad Max'.
On the negative side, there are definitely some tropes, and not all of the characters feel entirely fully formed. One thing that really took me out of the book–and perhaps this was just a flaw with my Kindle edition–was unfortunately lax editing. The book somewhat limps across the finish line in trite fashion, and some of the later chapters have the odd typo or repeated mistakes when it comes to product and gear, which is usually a strong suit for Birmingham. For example, a truck keeps getting called an "F-100" instead of an "F-150", another changes from being a truck to an SUV, etc. It just made things feel a little sloppy and rushed.
February 23, 2021
This is how the world ends - not with a bang, but with malware.
I've ripped through this book (got it yesterday, finished it today) - I couldn't, to use the hackneyed phrase, put it down.
This book struck home to me how dependent we are on the interconnected systems that now run our businesses/governments/daily lives, and how a cascading malware attack escalates out of control of those who started it.
The book's slow build up gives you time to invest in the various (and varied) characters, with occasional side-trips to see how the world arrived at where it is, by seeing snippets of ordinary people's lives from different parts of the world, and their viewpoints. No one's really a hero, just (mostly) ordinary people responding to extraordinary events beyond their control.
I can't wait for the next book in the series to be published.
I've ripped through this book (got it yesterday, finished it today) - I couldn't, to use the hackneyed phrase, put it down.
This book struck home to me how dependent we are on the interconnected systems that now run our businesses/governments/daily lives, and how a cascading malware attack escalates out of control of those who started it.
The book's slow build up gives you time to invest in the various (and varied) characters, with occasional side-trips to see how the world arrived at where it is, by seeing snippets of ordinary people's lives from different parts of the world, and their viewpoints. No one's really a hero, just (mostly) ordinary people responding to extraordinary events beyond their control.
I can't wait for the next book in the series to be published.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews