Author: Kevin Nguyen
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
Book Description: Lucas and Margo are fed up. Margo is a brilliant programmer tired of being talked over as the company’s sole black employee, and while Lucas is one of many Asians at the firm, he’s nearly invisible as a low-paid customer service rep. Together, they decide to steal their tech startup’s user database in an attempt at revenge. The heist takes a sudden turn when Margo dies in a car accident, and Lucas is left reeling, wondering what to do with their secret—and wondering whether her death really was an accident. When Lucas hacks into Margo’s computer looking for answers, he is drawn into her private online life and realizes just how little he knew about his best friend.
With a fresh voice, biting humor, and piercing observations about human nature, Kevin Nguyen brings an insider’s knowledge of the tech industry to this imaginative novel. A pitch-perfect exploration of race and startup culture, secrecy and surveillance, social media and friendship, New Waves asks: How well do we really know one another? And how do we form true intimacy and connection in a tech-obsessed world?
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars
Review: This is a difficult book for me to review, but I will start with I very much enjoyed this.
Lucas is your lead. When this book starts we meet Margo and Lucas who are both in IT and just feel done. They decide to hack their company’s database. We find very early on Margo dies in a tragic accident and Lucas is left dealing with this loss.
Lucas gets his hands on Margo’s computer so he can close out her Facebook account, and what he finds leads him down a rabbit hole of a secret life he never knew about. You will meet other characters that Lucas meets through researching Margo which at times can lead to some dark places.
This book has so much. There is a lot of humor around startup culture, you will have sadness and know there is light at the end of this bleak tunnel. Again, this book seems so difficult to review, but in the end I really just enjoyed this journey.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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