Jessica Alter reviewed $ git commit murder by Michael Warren Lucas (git commit murder, #1)
None
5 stars
To be perfectly honest, I was concerned when I was recommended this book to read. I am a Linux end user, and I'm familiar with BSD, and I even once was a BSD GUI-facing end user. I just don't have the depth of programming ability to get to a command line and start fixing things at terminal level without an inordinate amount of hand-holding.
So it started, for me, as an amusing 3 then 4 out of 5 that turned "unputdownable" about a quarter of the way in. M. W. Lucas beautifully portrayed the intense social anxiety of the main character, Dale Whitehead, on the ADD medication and then the mind-jarring experience being off the medication. The main character's journey through this novel was a beautifully intimate understanding of that inner world and the concerns of a sufferer just trying to get along in an overwhelming world.
The murder mystery …
To be perfectly honest, I was concerned when I was recommended this book to read. I am a Linux end user, and I'm familiar with BSD, and I even once was a BSD GUI-facing end user. I just don't have the depth of programming ability to get to a command line and start fixing things at terminal level without an inordinate amount of hand-holding.
So it started, for me, as an amusing 3 then 4 out of 5 that turned "unputdownable" about a quarter of the way in. M. W. Lucas beautifully portrayed the intense social anxiety of the main character, Dale Whitehead, on the ADD medication and then the mind-jarring experience being off the medication. The main character's journey through this novel was a beautifully intimate understanding of that inner world and the concerns of a sufferer just trying to get along in an overwhelming world.
The murder mystery was entertaining, the characters were wonderfully flawed, and the processes of investigation using the digital landscape were clear enough for me as a person who's always looked at that world from the outside in. For a person on the inside of the programming culture, I think it would be an entrancing murder mystery. While I did get tripped up by a few issues missed in the final proofreading pass, this story is an immersive read.
This is a Do Not Miss! read for classic murder mystery fans who love free and open-source systems, and a recommended read for everyone else. Also, I consider it has a good reread factor, so it's definitely a book to add to a personal library.