A world where mystery and technology exist side by side
If the word “bookshop” — or bookstore, as they say in the USA — raises your spirits, then you will enjoy this slim volume. It is a “prequel” to a much longer novel, Mr Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, a gripping adventure story featuring both the skills of a traditional society of code breakers, and the world of digital hi-tech.
The result is closer to an updated version of the adventures of Stieg Larsson’s inspired hacker, Lisbeth Salander, than Dan Brown’s unconvincing “symbologist”, Robert Langdon — but has elements of both. It’s a classy and compelling kind of hokum.
