Why You'll Love This
A man who can browse the internet with his thoughts and read minds is the only thing standing between terrorists and a live global massacre — and he's been hiding for good reason.
- Great if you want: high-concept tech thrillers with a genuinely unusual protagonist
- The experience: fast, propulsive, and relentlessly escalating — barely lets you breathe
- The writing: Richards keeps the science grounded while the plot swings wide and bold
- Skip if: you prefer character depth over plot momentum — this leans hard into action
About This Book
What would you do if you could surf the internet with your thoughts and read the minds of everyone around you — and still feel utterly powerless? That's the impossible position Nick Hall occupies in BrainWeb, Douglas E. Richards's propulsive near-future thriller. When terrorists seize the Academy Awards and threaten to execute the world's most famous faces before a global audience, Hall is dragged out of hiding, forced to deploy abilities that were never his choice in the first place. The stakes are cinematic, but the tension is deeply personal — a man who wants nothing more than to disappear, thrust into a situation where only he can act.
Richards writes with the momentum of someone who trusts his readers completely — no hand-holding, no wasted scenes. The science feels plausible rather than fantastical, grounded in the kind of extrapolation that makes you glance sideways at your own devices. BrainWeb works as a standalone, so newcomers won't feel lost, but returning readers will find Hall's character deepening in satisfying ways. It's the rare thriller that keeps both the plot and the ideas moving at full speed, without either outrunning the other.
