THE PROGRAMMER

by Bruce Jackson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 9, 1979

Jackson, who has devoted his non-fiction to somber surveys of criminal life in and out of prison (In the Life, A Thief's Primer), turns here to a far lighter look at crime -- in a highly agreeable first novel that chronicles one man's byzantine revenge on the oppressive ways and means of today's computerized bureaucracies. He's 40-year-old Eddie Argo, deputy computer programmer for the city of Buffalo, a gentle fellow saddled with a TV-rerun-obsessed wife, a distant son, a lazy boss, an inadequate salary, skyrocketing bills . . . and torture-by-computer: his requests for a car loan are turned down because of a credit-bureau computer error, and his efforts to have the error corrected only make things worse. Jackson piles on nice Eddie's frustrations effectively, so we're right there beside him when he decides to live out his double dream -- Escape and Revenge. He escapes by using his office computer to write himself a city check for $25,000, then by planting his identification on a dead drunk's drowned, disfigured body. And his revenge? Well, it starts when Eddie uses his money to buy a van, equips it with a computer terminal, and (thanks to computer access codes lifted from the city computer's national hookups) makes himself a ""portable computerized superpower"" capable of hooking in with (and stealing from) all the major commercial enterprises . . . especially American Express, one of Eddie's (and Jackson's) prime targets. He can then create and destroy credit-card identities, bilk those travelers-check dispensing machines, move into a deserted cabin, and begin his real revenge: Robin-Hoodish redistributions of wealth and the gathering of embarrassing financial info on Washington hypocrites. He also rediscovers sex, in the person of freewheeling mountain neighbor Carla. Can this idyll last? Not if FBI man Francis X. Kelly has his way. He's determined to nab the Computer Bandit, even if it means moving a computer terminal into his bedroom to try to tune in when the Bandit strikes. Computer cross-ups and car chases ensue; and, like the whole escapade, they're not wildly original. But it's all neat and low-key and likable -- a leisurely caper featuring genial tirades against Big Businesses, juicy How-to-Steal details, and a blessedly life-sized, ordinary-guy hero.

Pub Date: Nov. 9, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION