HACKER by Ted Dekker

New York Times best-selling author Ted Dekker packs an amazing punch with his novel, Hacker, one of The Outlaw Chronicles.

Hacker Nyah Parks is a seventeen year old with nothing to lose. Her mother is suffering from brain trauma from the car accident that killed her father and little brother. Nyah is banking on an experimental treatment to save her mother's life, but the catch is... it's 250 thousand dollars. She decides to use her skills to gain access to a billion dollar corporation and convince them to hire her to fix the security breach she creates.  Now the corporation wants her dead and will stop at nothing to reach that end.

Austin, Nyah's friend, is a recluse with a brain tumor that has activated his intelligence to the extreme. He is also racing against the clock to discover a cure. Nyah and Austin join forces, but it may be too late... the evil is closing in.

Dekker loves to challenge reader's perceptions of reality and presumptions of such things as: what does it mean to be human? What is thought? Is matter defined by our senses--and can our senses be trusted to interpret phenomena accurately? In other words, I imagine Ted typing away with a mischievous grin on his face, plotting mayhem that is guaranteed to blow your mind... and his characters' if they're not careful!

Though Hacker is the third book in the series (I haven't read the others...where have I been???) it stood alone beautifully. Needless to say, I am completely addicted.

Hacker reminded me a bit of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time--on steroids, and I warn you that you may experience a figure ground shift from the mind to the soul and back again.