Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down , knows how to write a nonfiction thriller. The Worm sounds like it ought to be science fiction, but the title refers to the Conficker worm, the most diabolical and potentially damaging computer malware ever devised. Conficker multiplies itself through internet connections, burrows into the operating system of Windows computers, and waits for instructions from its controller to do what? It is no exaggeration to claim that the entire worldwide internet was at risk from Conficker (actually, it still is) and its existing botnet of between six and twenty five million infected hosts still poses a threat to any site in its crosshairs. "Worm" is the inside story of how a loose confederation of computer security experts barely managed to avert disaster by defending the net. Chances are that you have never heard of any of the people involved (there are too many to list here), and it is also likely that you were oblivious as the first world digital war raged. It is a story deserving of a wide audience and this skilled storyteller.