Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

By: David Shafer

Narrated by: Bernard Setaro Clark

Three young adults grapple with the usual thirty-something problems - boredom, authenticity, an omnipotent online oligarchy - in David Shafer's darkly comic debut novel.

The Committee, an international cabal of industrialists and media barons, is on the verge of privatizing all information. Dear Diary, an idealistic online Underground, stands in the way of that takeover, using radical politics, classic spycraft, and technology that makes Big Data look like dial-up. Into this secret battle stumbles an unlikely trio: Leila Majnoun, a disillusioned non-profit worker; Leo Crane, an unhinged trustafarian; and Mark Deveraux, a phony self-betterment guru who works for the Committee.

Leo and Mark were best friends in college, but early adulthood has set them on diverging paths. Growing increasingly disdainful of Mark's platitudes, Leo publishes a withering takedown of his ideas online. But the Committee is reading - and erasing - Leo's words. On the other side of the world, Leila's discoveries about the Committee's far-reaching ambitions threaten to ruin those who are closest to her.

In the spirit of William Gibson and Chuck Palahniuk, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is both a suspenseful global thriller and an emotionally truthful novel about the struggle to change the world in- and outside your head.

©2014 David Shafer (P)2014 Hachette Audio

More, please

Great story and leaves you wanting the sequel. Many intriguing plot elements, not adequately resolved. Narrator did a good job with different voices and accents.

Just OK

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Maybe it was the fact that it was the first time I've done an audio book since I was a kid, or maybe the narrator just wasn't my type.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was finally picking up its pace and getting good when it ended.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Just a little tame. With slightly boring characters, but again, it could be due to my issue with teh narrator.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Depending, if it was a low budget foreign film done really well maybe. This woudl just be dumb if Hollywood had its ways with it.

Any additional comments?

I think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it myself, as it had all the ingredients I look for in this type of novel.

WTF indeed

Good story and great performance BUT is this part one of a multipart book or did the author just run out of electrons in his word processor? The book just ends in the middle of, what seems like it should have been, an ongoing scene and adventure.

A little bit of pop fiction

Would you be willing to try another book from David Shafer? Why or why not?

Great writing just not what I expected. Left me waiting for a sequel in a series I wish had one stand alone book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sure. It had a great voyage just didn't end at all.

Good read but not riveting

Great character development. The Big Brother theme just didn't grab me....but I still enjoyed the book. I thought it would make me want to dig a little deeper and it didn't.

A Light-Hearted Paranoid Thriller

Edward Snowden has shown us where all the information in our information age is going; David Shafer works out the implications in a clever, fast read that channels the zeitgeist. The set-up (which may seem familiar): a ravenous addiction to digital connectivity has seduced us into handing over vast amounts of personal information to ... who, exactly?... which has provoked an equally frenzied panic about the loss of privacy. A serious topic, surely, but Shafer has made of it a shapely comedy/thriller. The three characters he has chosen to save the world are truly unimpressive: a serious-minded NGO worker, a mentally unstable trustafarian and a deeply hypocritical, self-loathing self-help guru (whose tribulations are especially, hilariously awful). This is a very entertaining read with a serious premise and a solid heart.

An NPR reviewer compared this book to Neal Stephenson's work, but the resemblance is only superficial. Stephenson is an idea man, with a dazzling gift for multi-level narrative and a tough, comprehensive and witty view of technology and its history. Shafer is also witty and inventive, but his concerns are essentially moral. He is less interested in the technologies that have led us to this sorry state of affairs than in what we will make of them.

long intro to a story that never quite delivers ;(

Mr. Shafer writes very well. He has created interesting characters that have the potential for considerable depth; they are appropriately "snarky" & hip! His world is terrifying possible, and the thesis could be right from tomorrow's news.

My disappointment is that (IMHO) the plot took forever to develop and the best part - the last part of the book was what i was hoping to encounter throughout the whole piece. I wish there had been considerable editing and the end of the book actually be the middle of the book. This book would make more sense if these characters will be part of a series...

Mr. Clark's performance is terrific and the reason I stayed with the book until the end.

WTF Indeed

I am not one for leaving negative reviews, however, this book has also been unfairly hyped. I really, really wanted to like it and for the most part I did. However, that ending, that ending that ending. WTF was that all about?

Wonderful world building, nice characters, good story - all for naught. I shouldn't be angry at the end of a story.

Maybe there's a Part Two coming?

Did they mention this is the first in a series?

Would you listen to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot again? Why?

No. While the writing is clever, the story quickly becomes so far-fetched with too many unbelievable coincidences that suspense fades. Then, to top it off, the book ends like a Marvel movie -- with a cliffhanger that screams "Sequel to Come".

Would you recommend Whiskey Tango Foxtrot to your friends? Why or why not?

No. Read Gibson or any of a dozen more accomplished cyber pop writers.

Which character – as performed by Bernard Setaro Clark – was your favorite?

None rose high enough to be considered favorite

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Originally, yes. However, half through the book I began to wonder if the author knew where this was all going. Since he ends the book without ending the story, I suspect he doesn't.

Any additional comments?

After reading the glowing review in the NYTBR, I was very disappointed in the book.

Science fiction or plausible future

Esoteric and philosophical themes are cleverly woven into reality and unbelievability in tandem. Common themes of oligarchy and conspiracy with new twists. Ideas for salvation are science fiction, but are reality based with current research support. this books gives hope to the possibility that humans can survive as a species once we are aware of the connectivity between us and the universe. Yes, these ideas are not novel, but this tale makes you see them from another perspective.