Overall I’d say don’t bother although parts are pretty good. It’s not what I expected at all,  but it was on sale and I’d enjoyed a couple of Finder’s books in the past.   This particular book is kind of humorous in an odd way. 

 The set-up is believable enough,  Michael Tanner,  a young coffee bean entrepreneur, gets his laptop mixed up with that of someone else while going through airline security.  Turns out the laptop he gets belongs to a US Senator and it inappropriately has highly confidential information on it.  

*******
The Switch
by Joseph Finder
2017 / 381 pages
read by Steven Kearny – 9h 55m
rating:   B  / crime 
*******

But then it gets weird and the original believability is completely undermined when .the Senator’s aid, Will Abbott,  gets paranoid about anyone finding out about his boss’  laxity.   And Tanner,  who has the Senator’s computer, tells a journalist friend rather who fills him with conspiracy theories.  Then there are the unsavory characters who murder for hire and the dark web where things can be hidden and found,  things get highly unlikely.  

The tale takes a more thriller-type tone when Tanner’s journalist friend dies suddenly and Tanner ends up in a hit-and-run accident in which he is the driver-runner.  Meanwhile Abbott tries to clear things up with Tanner via honesty but Tanner is too paranoid by now and the overly-ambitious Abbot is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his boss.  It gets complicated.And then things get worse.  

It is rather entertaining though.  The twists include a journey to the dark web and bit coin.   It’s also about how ambition can play heavily in what people decide they can/should do.  And how average good guys can,  with a bit of fear,  get sucked into some scary stuff.  It’s a bit over-the-top in terms of how people connect to the dark side, but it might be spot on about how we’re tracked.