ARC Review: Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs

Being recruited by the CIA to join a top-secret intelligence program should be the opportunity of a lifetime. For Issa, it's a shot at creating a new and better life for herself and her siblings. For clever con artist Harper, it's a chance to bury the secrets of her troubled past and make sure that those secrets stay buried. But for Owen--honor student, star quarterback, and computer-hacking genius--it sounds like a trap.

He's right. 

Owen discovers that instead of auditioning for the CIA, they've all been tricked by a multibillion-dollar tech company into creating the ultimate computer virus. It's called Phantom Wheel, and it's capable of hacking anyone on Earth, anywhere, at any time. And thanks to six teenagers, it's virtually unstoppable. 

Horrified by what they've done, the hackers must team up to stop the virus before the world descends into chaos. But working together is easier said than done, especially as the lines start to blur between teammate, friend, and more than friend. Because how do you learn to trust someone when you've spent your entire life exploiting that same trust in others?

Discussion:

⭐.5-DNF

Most people think hackers are bad, and some definitely are. But most of us are in it because we don't like secrets. We want to know everything, want to see everything.

Other than all the dreams that I have had of completing medical school to become a medical examiner and my plans of world domination with the use of Thanksgiving turkey dinners, my one dream is to hack my way into a book publishing company and *GASP* READ ALL THE BOOKS!

I know that my ideas of danger and delinquency are very scandalous. So much so that I think I should go sit in a corner all day and read books that will cause me to cry- if I could just find my dust bunny heart in my soulless body.

Although I may have a life of terrifying tales and the such, at least I do not follow in the footsteps of Tracy Deeb's characters in Phantom Wheel, a young adult thriller that desires to tell the stories behind the mysterious profiles of six hackers. Unfortunately, the only mystery these teens set to discover is why Jacento, a technology company disguising itself as the CIA, used them to create a virus that would allow them to access the world's population's private information. Instead of getting a scholarship and the chance to learn how to climb a train (and hopefully jujitsu) in a CIA program, everyone is slapped in the face with a butter sock when Owen Owen "Smarty Pants McGee" Heath hacks his way into his fellow hackers' brains with a singular message: You've been played. Along with the characters, I also got slapped in the face with butter since I not only had to read through some problematic qualities.

First, the characters are blobs of unflavored jello-jiggling in no direction and bland. End of that story.

Also, while Deebs is trying to teach her readers the important lesson of not judging others based on one's appearance, her characters contradict her SO many times. While also completing the life cycle of a sunshine smile, it's ridiculous that the characters cannot stick to their own morals. Can't the world have both smiles and the cake-blessed truth! The following quotes tell me that I cannot have them both:

"They forgot that hackers aren't like normal people. We don't just move on from something that interests us, and we rarely forget anything-especially if it matters to us."

Hahahahahahahahahahaha, yes, because the Chemistry degree that I just completed with the blood, sweat, and tears of ancient H2O buffalos does not lie in a special place in my cold, soulless heart. Fischer configurations, organometallic reactions, and Baeyer-Villiger oxidations might as well be cold, dried-out oatmeal compared to hacking, huh?

AND...

"In the grand scheme of things, it's not much trust. But she's a hacker and any trust is above the norm, so I'll take it. The fact that it's the hot Alika who went out on a limb for me...yeah, not going to let that matter."

So, if you came to the same conclusion as I did, hackers are super special, bionic, and just so different. Pick me girl/boy who???!!!!

The only reason why I decided to give it more than my usual one-star rating, or the only rating that I allow myself to give the discarded books in my closet, is due to the entertaining story Deebs tells. Although I find it problematic and the characters annoy me out of my sock life dreams, I laughed a few times at the characters' thoughts, found Seth to be an adorable web of sugar, and actually thought the future pages could hold an interesting tale of codes and kicking dudes in the booties! Objectively writing, this book can get a whole lot better if the characters were to hack me into liking them.

Anyways, welcome back! Let's get this blog on the road! 🚗

Love (and a warm hello),
newbookcats

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