Synopsis

Art, math, obsession, and greed. An artist who confesses to murders through her drawings and a marginalized drifter involved in computer crime have their paths collide in Montana while both are struggling to make amends for past failures in love. Part Montana wilderness, part techno, and part misdirected love, Paper Targets is a story of confessed secrets. But more than crime, Paper Targets is infused with nature and solitude and unpacks questions about why people sometimes do bad things. Based on the actual fringe events of two of the world’s largest criminal frauds: the collapse of WorldCom and Enron.

Enzi, a drop-out and drifting runaway, becomes a criminal computer hacker who then falls in love with Kaori, an artist. When Kaori later confesses through her paintings to murder, Enzi starts questioning everything he has ever done. But as Enzi tries to extricate himself from the violent men he has become indebted to, he is pressured to keep “pounding code.” While Enzi plans his escape, he is forced to look inside for answers about his motivations.

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Review

This is a literary fiction novel that centers around Enzi.

The book starts off with his formative years, his home life, and the fact that he is dyslexic. We learn later in the book that he never learned to write and spells things phonetically. So it is somewhat surprising that he is now a computer programmer. He does love math and has learned how to look for patterns. Perhaps, his dyslexia is words only.

The story is told in first person, and the first few chapters (and they are long chapters) center around his life before this job as a programmer. However, when the transition occurs, we have no idea how he landed in this field until even later in the book. I felt disconnected from the character and had a hard time understanding what was happening. The story does start to flow when we meet Kaori, an artist that tells stories through her paintings. She is from Tokyo and has a different outlook on life and relationships. I don’t think Enzi had any idea what he was getting himself into when he bailed her out of jail. I don’t think any of us knew what was going to happen!

There are many fascinating supporting characters. Tsai is a fast-talking individual from Texas who wants Enzi to exploit the software he wrote for Tsai’s gain. There is also the bail bondsman, Pascal, that decides to take a step outside of his normal pattern when it comes to dealing with criminals. And, of course, Kaori. She has an outlook on life that doesn’t gel with what most people think, and is she capable of normalcy or not?

This book moves at a slow pace, and it is more about the human character than anything else. I noticed that there is a thriller label on this book. I wouldn’t count this as a mystery, suspense, or thriller. It has psychological aspects in understanding all of the characters and how they fit together.

This was an interesting read, and we give it 3 1/2 paws up.

About the Author

Steve Saroff was a 14-year-old runaway who started and sold several software companies to public companies. He is the host of the popular podcast ‘Montana Voice,’ and the author of numerous traditionally published short stories, first printed in Redbook, as well as several books.

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