Hacker Fiction Net

John Wilander

Portrait of John Wilander, author of near-future hacker fiction.

John Wilander writes hacker fiction where hackers are the heroes. He is the author of the West William Wilder series: Identified and Submerged, with a third novel, Yield, in the works.

John holds a PhD in computer science and has dipped his toes in history and law. As a kid, he was always told he had a “wild imagination,” and he never really grew out of it. These days he puts it to work in near-future fiction.

Go to John's Books

Hacker Fiction History

  • The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton, 1972
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, 1992
  • The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis, 1999

A project to document hacker fiction, currently spanning over 80 entries. From sci-fi by Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick, via 80s cyberpunk by William Gibson and Pat Cadigan, to thrillers by Daniel Suarez and The Wachowskis.

Go to Historical Timeline
Review excerpts for John's books
  • If you enjoy hacker thrillers, check out John's debut novel, Identified.

    – Daniel Suarez, author of Daemon

  • This is a true technological thriller. A crack team doing a more realistic mission impossible, complete with real consequences, massively researched Russian locales …

    – Bradley Horner

  • Fantastic book! I enjoyed it from cover to cover. I will be recommending this book to everyone on my social media accounts.

    – Joseph Bruce

  • This was a good book! It makes you think and it seems like these hacking scenarios could actually happen, since there is so much unknown with computers.

    – Megan Davan

  • This digital age thriller was tense and very well written, probably more so than the first book because I could connect a little more to West and his fight.

    – Heather Stewart

  • What impressed me the most is all facts can happen in real life! All the hacks, the government decisions, the behaviours of the heroes of the book …

    – Carette Antonin

  • Fabulous book!! I want more!! Excellent story, plots within plots, technically sound regarding the hacking, great character development, exciting pacing …

    – L. J. Erste

  • Fast-paced, great characters, and grapples with technology and society issues that are near-and-dear to hackers and will make any reader think.

    – Dan Cornell

  • This was a really fun read in the vein of Hackers, Sneakers, the Net, and other great hacking movies. I loved the characters. The stakes felt real.

    – John Wilker

  • Do you love Tom Clancy, submarines and Russian espionage? How about Artificial Intelligence, undersea cables and foreign attacks on the global internet?

    – Kirk

  • It's a page turner. The suspense, the romance, the stage for the security-privacy near future plot make this a quick and delightful read.

    – Adam Baso

  • If you enjoyed Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Homeland and Attack Surface, this book will feel just right, and fits in with their dystopian surveillance nightmare.

    – KJ

  • Identified reveals the near future, in which the government surveillance apparatus, as revealed to us by Snowden, has grown immeasurably powerful.

    – Ryan G

  • The story is great, the main characters are memorable, and the ending was satisfying.

    – Mark Papadakis

  • I love the realistic but futuristic use of technology and how everything feels 10 years ahead of where we are.

    – Dale

  • More technically accurate than a typical hacker book.

    – Adriana Porter Felt

  • A caper for computer geeks.

    – Eric Lawrence



Identified by John Wilander. Read more about the book.


Submerged by John Wilander. Read more about the book.

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