A techno-legal thriller centered on a trial over cryptographic exportation. The chip in question uses properties of large Mersenne primes to provide an unbreakable code. This explanation seems to be the complete mathematical content of the novel, and it is mercifully cut off by the speaker's realization that he is being too technical for his audience.

Neither the legal nor the cryptographic aspects are credible.

"I disagree with [Emba's] assessment. This book was not written for professional mathematicians, but for general readers. In that context, the author's explanations, which are necessarily abbreviated and overview-ish, are superb. As for the legal aspects, everything is dead-on accurate. Just remember that the laws are changing all the time, and a writer can only be responsible for the state of things at the time of the writing."

I would describe leisure reading as precious free time spent taking a chance on a writer's ability to satisfy certain literary needs. After taking in three/ four hundred pages a commited enthusiast should be rewarded with a suitable climax, only fair. Of course these parameters are very subjective.

As someone with a computer background I found the story a modest return on investment. Only because the ending seemed too timid, conventional . A wordy way of saying that I don't want to give away the ending. The characters, theme, and the author's writing style kept the story interesting.