Stephen Johnson's Reviews



	***************************************** Posted on April 24, 2008: If you need a free and easy to use website to promote your books or any business for that matter, I highly recommend OnePageWorks.com. I just put a webpage on there for my book. My page is at www.onepageworks.com/steve. If you put a page on there for your books, email me and I'll link to you from my page. I want to get a network of aspiring authors going on that site to help us all promote our work. Send me an email at stephen@stephen-johnson.com with OnePageWorks in the subject line if you want any more info. *************************************** I'd really like to hear from you, so please send your review of Assassins Game to reviews@stephen-johnson.com so I can post it here for others to read. Thanks. Amber March 27, 2004 Hi. My memory is a sieve lately, so I may have already told you, but Mom got the book for her birthday, was THRILLED with the inscription, and read it and LOVED it. Now she's pushing for a sequel. {Hmmm, THAT's where I got my pushy streak from...) Anyway, thank you so much for setting up the original ray and then for autographing/inscribing Mom's copy. Craig March 22, 2004 I absolutely loved this book. Some times it's hard to describe a book without bringing up all the cliches. However, cliche or no cliche, I was hooked from the very beginning and to borrow another cliche, I could not put it down. Every free moment I had on my vacation was spent grabbing for and reading this book. I even began reading before breakfast a few mornings (which is saying a lot given my appetite). The book was very cleverly written with characters you could picture, identify with and cheer for. The book was so descriptive that many intense scenes produced heart pounding drama - literally! I've recommended this book to several friends. It has all the excitement, twist and turns and second guessing who done it drama as all the great novels. John Grisham should be looking over his shoulder at Stephen Johnson. Mike Feb. 22, 2004 I'm a big John Grisham and James Patterson fan. I always get the books from both authors when they first come out. I lived in Madison and found out about this book from the local paper review. This book ranks right up with any of Grisham or Patterson's books. The story line keep changing, once you thought you knew what was going on. He would throw a wrench into it. This keeps you suspense until the very end. I would recomend this book to anyone who likes suspense thrillers. Ron E. Feb. 10, 2004 Excellent! The pace you set as the book progressed hooked me and I didn't stop until I finished it this last time! Nice twists - just the way I like it. I didn't see Major Plot Point** coming at all! I had already mentioned the book to several people and will now be sure to recommend the book to others. Looking forward to your next book. MZ Feb. 3, 2004 Clear your day if you start this book,..., because you aren't going to want to put it down. (I'm glad I started it in the morning!) Clever plot-- kept me guessing. I loved the characters-- I liked that Seth wasn't a type-cast computer geek but an intelligent believable person you might actually know. (Or at least want to) The pages seemed to be turning themselves as I lost track of time. I went to sleep last night mentally casting the characters of what I hope will be a movie. I'm bummed there aren't a list of other books I can run out and read by this author. Posted on BookCrossing.com by BookCrossing member - Jan. 2, 2004 So glad that I received ASSASSINS GAME as part of a bookray! Good read that got better the further into the novel I progressed! Posted on BookCrossing.com by BookCrossing member - Dec. 15, 2003 Arrived in Thursday's mail. I drug it with me doing errands both Friday and yesterday -- couldn't put it down. It reminded me of a cozier Jeff Deavers due to the plot twists and clever double- triple- crosses. [Can't go too far discussing this without giving too much away.] I finished it this morning and regretted that it was over. There seems to be a bit of hope for a sequel in the ending, maybe? PM'd BusyBookLover for her address. Well done, Stephen. I really enjoyed your book. It's a very impressive first novel. Two minor quibbles. [I always quibble...] 1) I feel that the front cover art and back cover blurb together give away a major plot point and 2) there were at least three gramatically incorrect commas that were distracting enough for me to lose the story flow. Me: "Say what?? ...reread, reread ... oh, they must have stuck an extra comma in here for some reason. Bother! On with the story..." Other than that, I've no complaints. Well done! Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy this. Posted on BookCrossing.com by BookCrossing member - November 30, 2003 I'm about 2/3rds through with this book and it has me totally hooked! I have to admit a fondness for the geeky, computer type and this book really has me wanting to read more and more... I have been working really long hours and I find myself falling asleep over it, waking up, reading another page or two... (yep, it's THAT compelling!) I still don't trust Alicia, but... I'm not the trusting type!!! ::Laugh:: I can't wait to finish this (and see what's gonna happen!) _____________________________________________________________ Finally finished... and I must say, I really enjoyed this read, not just because the author was kind enough to send it to me! I won't spoil the ending, but lets just say it was close, really close. Stephen, your book was fantastic, the guy was just computer geeky enough, just clever enough, just enough of a good guy... and your assassins were smarmy, and a force to be reckoned with! Your writing is smooth and forceful, you are a superb storyteller and I can hardly wait to see what you come up with next! My only regret is that this is a bookray and I won't have time to lend it to my mother... and my friend... and my sister... and my dad.... and my brother-in-law... Posted on BookCrossing.com by BookCrossing member - November 15, 2003 Finished the book. Really enjoyed the story and it was exciting reading a book written by a fellow BookCrosser. I did think Seth was a more believable character than Alicia. And what a scary thought - using websites for encrypted messages for all the wrong reasons. Roundtable Reviews - November 5, 2003 The first novel by Stephen Johnson, ASSASSINS GAME takes the reader into the life of Seth Green, a University of Wisconsin graduate student doing his doctoral on unlocking secret codes hidden in web sites. Together with some of his classmates, they work around the clock in their lab on a fancy computer system Seth has created for this very purpose. However, an agency is onto his program and wants to sabotage the project for fear that their secret codes – sending targets to a hit man – will be revealed. They will stop at nothing to protect their identity. When a very attractive and distracting Alicia Woods enters his life, the shy and unconfident Seth falls head over heels. Alicia has the looks and the brains and is extremely interested in Seth’s work - a little too interested. As they spend more and more time together, Seth starts to notice that wherever he and Alicia go, death follows. Was it just coincidence Alicia entered his life at this point or is she part of the agency out to get Seth? Stephen Johnson has written a thriller that will keep you holding your breath with the turn of each page. He covers a topic that most people fail to think about – just how safe is the Internet and how much do we really know about it? Johnson does a great job at making Seth the unknowing bookworm turned hero. He is vulnerable yet courageous and Johnson mixes these two characteristics with such perfection. ASSASSINS GAME is a must read. Sandy T. from Strawberry, Arizona - October 6, 2003 I have been an avid reader all my life and this ranks right up there with the best. I especially enjoy suspense novels. I was fascinated with your characters, you really developed them well. You had a great idea and it was a suspenseful puzzle. The plot really grabbed me and held me to the end. It was obvious you knew what you were writing about, the details were well covered. I couldn't put the book down. I was on vacation in Colorado and I read first thing in the AM and stayed up late reading it. I was supposed to play with my grandkids and I read instead. I will recommend it to all my firends. Claudiu O. from Salt Lake City, Utah - October 11, 2003 The bottom line is: I've really liked your book! This being your first I am sure you have a very good career as a writer ahead of you! And I'm not just saying so... What I liked: - the plot and the unexpected twist at the end - the way the story-telling point of view switched a lot at the very beginning and again whenever was needed (concentrating on different characters' point of view) - the build up of the story and the happenings to say so, slow in the beginning and more alert gradually - nice resolutions for some scenes (like when Seth and Alicia escape from his apartment: simple solution and not some fancy jumping through the window or the sort that some authors use) - characters defined as much as needed to support the action... What I didn't think was so good: - a lot of computer related stuff that had no place really in the action. for example: you say is some place in the lab there were computers running Windows, Linux and Unix -> nice but not relevant. sometimes these computer related stuff just complicated a bit the understanding (not mine, I know what these are; regular reader's I mean) like when talking about ISPs and IPs and the stuff -> in my experience doing Customer Support lots of people that go on the Internet have no idea what an ISP is, even less an IP - sometimes the descriptions are very detailed but with no real purpose (like describing rooms in the library and other interiors). I was reading some of the descriptions carefully thinking there might be a scene at some point where it will be important how the furniture was arranged but in fact it wasn't - I've found 2 words "out of place" or wrong: in one place there is a "their" instead of "they're" or instead of "there" I don't really remember; and at some point the boss and the athletic guy are named "compatriots" which is correct but it didn't sound good in the context I told you what I considered not very good just to be honest. But don't get me wrong: overall I think the book is great. Dynamic, well constructed and gradually increasing in tension. Murder And Mayhem Review (Barbara Wright) - October 18, 2003 Seth Anderson is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin. He is working on his PhD in Computer Science. His doctoral project is underway and is designed to search web sites for embedded secreted messages. Since he knows there are really none currently in existence, he sets up some dummy sites for the program to find. When the program finds not only the sites he set up but some others as well, he is quite surprised. After decoding the message he soon discovers that the information relates to someone who has recently been murdered. It almost appears as if someone was providing information on the prospective victim so that the murder could take place easily. An unexpected, but pleasant surprise for Seth is his recent meeting with Alicia, the woman of his dreams. The fact that she is also interested in him is almost to good to believe. But when she ends up being near the scene of suspicious deaths, he begins to wonder if she is too good to be true. The more his computer program discovers, and the more he falls for Alicia, the greater his personal danger becomes. Seth thought graduate school was hard, but nothing in his studies has ever prepared him for untangling the mess in which he is now enmeshed. “Assassins Game” is the author’s first novel. Since Stephen Johnson was born in Wisconsin and holds a Masters degree in Computer Science, he is very well versed in both the area where the story takes place, plus in all things relating to computers. Mr. Johnson has presented an innovative twist to the traditional cloak and dagger type adventure. In our modern world, with the availability of computers and digital technology, I wonder if his story is only the imagined beginning to a far too real tomorrow. djf1968 from San Ramon, CA - October 29, 2003 I read this during my recent Las Vegas vacation and want to thank Stephen for sharing it. It's a quick read -- very Grisham-esque (although a touch more believable in most cases :) ). It's challenging to write a mystery/suspense novel without breaks in logic, and I was quite impressed with how easily (and logically) Assasin's Game flowed (while still keeping me guessing).

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