After his release from the army, computer prodigy Ziv is tossed into the dark world of Israeli cyber security. With a steep paycheck, a new apartment, and a job hacking cellphones, Ziv should be on the top of the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Perhaps he is weighed down by the guilt he carries over the decade-old episode with his younger sister Shiri. As Ziv kicked around a soccer ball with his friends, he forgot to fetch little Shiri from school. She’s picked up by a stranger and returned to her family a broken vessel. 

So Ziv supports his family while Shiri is consumed by addiction. At work, Ziv hacks into personal information, and anybody could be a target: the leader of a country, their political rivals, the staff of a newspaper or a high-powered firm. As long as Ziv doesn’t ask too many questions, the paychecks keep coming. 

But soon Ziv begins to use his cyber power for his own benefit. First, it’s the girl he is in love with, then old friends he bumped into, then even Shiri’s pimps and drug dealers – how better get inside one’s head than by getting inside their phone?

In Yishai Sarid’s seventh novel, we follow Ziv into a black box of his own making. Is he just seduced by the high-tech money? Is he a villain? Or maybe he’s just the loneliest boy in the world.

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Rights Sold:

France: Actes Sud; Germany: Kein & Aber; Spain: Sigilo

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Reviews: 

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“The achievement of HACKED lies in the voice of the narrator…creating such a deceivingly simple voice is complex, and Sarid achieves it convincingly….” – Haaretz