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Charles O'Donnell
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The Girlfriend Experience (Matt Bugatti) Kindle Edition

by Charles O'Donnell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 87 ratings
See all formats and editions
Matt Bugatti is a phenom. A PhD at nineteen, he could land a post at any university or think tank in the country. But that would be too easy--and safe.
Instead, Matt joins a team to build a top-secret supercomputer for the NSA, powerful enough to spy on millions. The schedule is tight and the workload is brutal. When his best friend suffers a tragedy, Matt is ready to give up, go home, and teach. Then one night Matt meets Gina Bianchi, and sparks fly. For the first time in Matt's life, all the puzzle pieces fit. Then Matt has a breakthrough to put the program back on track. Time to relax.
But not for long. Matt's discovery has attracted unwelcome attention: Chinese State Security has their eye on him, and now, Gina. When Gina disappears Matt goes into hiding, faced with a terrible choice: Betray his country, or lose the woman he loves...
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  1. Part of series
    Matt Bugatti
  2. Print length
    348 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    December 29, 2013
  6. File size
    2656 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

★★★★★ This tech thriller is one of the best books I've read this year. A. R. Shaw
★★★★ Explore international politics, corporate boardrooms and high technology in this exciting debut novel. Lori Tatar
★★★★ An extremely well written and highly enjoyable thriller. Would recommend to any fan of thrillers. Andy Wormald
★★★★★ Gripping! Page turner! Hope Matt Bugatti continues as a series, since he is such a tenacious and likeable detective. Sheri Fischer
★★★★★ One of the best books I have read in this genre in quite a while. Alex Behounek
★★★★ You will find 'The Girlfriend Experience' a fast, fun-filled read that will leave you looking forward to the sequel or next book from O'Donnell. Franc Woods
★★★★ Each new chapter throws a different twist that I didn't see coming. The characters had so much life to them that it was hard to believe that they don't really exist somewhere. Ann Livi Andrews

From the Author

Also by Charles O'Donnell :Shredded: A Dystopian NovelHow do I erase my existence from the mind of God?
Grace, a recovering sex addict, wakes one morning to find that she's become a viral sensation: Her life has been hacked, turned into a full-immersion virtual reality experience that perverts can inhabit for a few dollars. Powerless to keep strangers from getting their thrills reliving her life, fearing that her teenage son, Dylan, might stumble upon her explicit lifestream, Grace finds a shredder, an expert in the ways of the infinitely detailed Worldstream. When he erases her life data, accumulated since the day she was born, Grace's life will be hers again, but she'll be outside of the Worldstream--and she can never go back.Moment of Conception: Matt Bugatti #2What...or who...is killing our daughters?A mysterious illness strikes down teenage girls, while a wave of abortion clinic bombings terrorizes the nation. As the death toll mounts, accusations fly and battle lines are drawn: a global drug company, a presidential hopeful, and a beautiful and brilliant political operative stake out their positions. When the president forms a commission to uncover the truth, he chooses Matt Bugatti, the famous young mathematician, to lead it. Matt accepts, entering a world of deception and danger. His life threatened, his loyalties torn, his most deeply-held beliefs shattered, Matt maneuvers among the warring factions, ultimately to discover the awful truth.Shade: Shredded #2When the lie is more convincing than the truth, how can I tell what's real?Three lives bound together in a struggle that will decide the fate of the world: Dylan, searching desperately for his shredded mother--Grace, risking everything to reunite with her son--Madeleine, scheming to force all of humanity into a permanent virtual existence. As the fiery demagogue Dax rises to power on a promise to eradicate the secretive Shade, the conflict escalates, Madeleine and Dax on one side, Dylan and Grace on the other. In the middle: a tiny community outside the Worldstream, faced with a life-or-death decision--ignore the threat and slowly perish, or make a stand for the last vestige of Real Life.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00ARXTGN2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Moon Lit. Publishing (December 29, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 29, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2656 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 348 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1970041099
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 87 ratings

About the author

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Charles O'Donnell

Charles O'Donnell

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Charles O’Donnell writes thrillers with high-tech themes in international and futuristic settings. In 2016 he retired from a career of thirty-five years in engineering to write full-time, leveraging his experience leading international teams to create compelling settings in faraway lands.

His latest books, Shredded and Shade, are an expression of his fascination with the progress of technology to either augment reality or to replace it entirely, and his concern over the erosion of privacy in a world in which everything is shared online, and nobody reads the terms and conditions.

When Charles isn't writing, he's reading, and when he's not reading or writing, he's woodworking, stargazing, lawn-mowing, grapevine-tending or meat-grilling.

Charles lives with Helen, his wife, life partner and fellow paranoid in Westerville, Ohio.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
87 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Eva Melusine Thieme
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2013
Verified Purchase
I loved The Girlfriend Experience and pretty much read it without stopping in one weekend. It's been a while since I've taken the time to do that. First of all, the subject matter - industrial espionage, cracking encryption keys, the NSA striving to gather more and more information on all Americans, and China trying to steal any breakthrough ideas - couldn't be more timely. The plot is carefully crafted and all the different lines are brought together beautifully, through the actions of a number of different characters who are all very believable. They way these characters compromise themselves gradually and end up committing more and more problematic acts, because each new one doesn't seem that much worse than the previous one, is simply masterful. Even though these rather ordinary people commit pretty outrageous acts that theoretically every one of us would condemn, you cannot help but develop a certain understanding and even sympathy for them. I especially thought the descriptions of the Chinese plot lines and characters were very well done. It's one thing to think of an interesting plot, but it requires a whole lot more skill to actually bring it to life with believable characters (where I think some bestsellers like the Da Vinci Code fall flat), which is precisely what this author has pulled off so brilliantly. I can't wait for more!
4 people found this helpful
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Franc Woods
4.0 out of 5 stars Fast paced high tech fun espionage read
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2013
Verified Purchase
One of the things I like about commuting on the bus to work is the chance to get about 60 to 90 minutes a day to read. Usually I can finish a 300 page book in a week with a little lunch time browse thrown in. On vacation, it's sometimes difficult to find the time with all the home catch-up chores and holiday bustle, to crack the cover on anything. But I did manage to finish the first book of the Ted Dekker, "The Martyr's Song" series before Christmas dinner and was anxious to try out my new Kindle Paperwhite.

Having downloaded " The Girlfriend Experience " by Charles "Gus" O'Donnell, just a few days before, I started in after dinner and was hooked! Having been part of the technology world myself, it was easy to relate to the story and agonies that were felt by Matt, Jon, Eric, and Kathy at Connectrix Corp. But this is not just a techy story about meeting schedules and making personal sacrifices just to get the product out... although present, it is also a story about people, relationships, and how far they will go to get what they want. It's a story that unveils the protagonist as someone with more than a PhD that is good with numbers, it is also a fun book that builds slowly and then churns into a fast-paced, action, espionage caper that has one stealing away to take in "just a few more pages". So, even on vacation, I was able to breeze through "The Girlfriend Experience" in just under a week. Bedtime reading usually puts me to sleep but with 'TGE' I had to force myself to stop. It almost reads like a movie script, which it very well could be at some point. (PG-13 for language and some sexual innuendo) One of the great things about reading versus watching movies is the opportunity to use your imagination to form your own picture story. 'TGE' leaves the reader, room to 'imagine' some of the physical aspects of the characters. Some readers may need to have more details where 'TGE' lets you fill in the character of Matt, with perhaps a Bill Gates character or Gina, with Kelly LaBrock (thinking "Weird Science" days). In either case, I'm sure you will find 'The Girlfriend Experience' a fast, fun-filled read that will leave you looking forward to the sequel or next book from O'Donnell.
Cheers
7 people found this helpful
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AlixandraSun
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant High Tech Encryption Novel Illuminating Chinese and USA Espionage
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
Thought that the author crafted the scenes within China beautifully. He has brilliant insight into the way the Chinese conduct business and their nuances in diplomacy. His characters held true and as others have observed the action really picks up about halfway through the novel. I read it in an afternoon. It would be a wonderful film if an actor could manage to convey the complexity and logic with which a brilliant mind thinks and is trained after many endless hours of performing equations. For example, in the middle of a gunfight the protagonist thinks, 'the undefined variable.' Only a real mathematician would have that thought. The scenes are crafted elegantly without resorting to the vulgar and one feels completed with the ending which holds true to both reality and its characters. It is always most difficult to craft the ending and he has done so brilliantly.
One person found this helpful
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Steve in Ohio
5.0 out of 5 stars thrilling story and highly recommended. I've bought his next work and can't wait ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
Charles brings this story alive wrapped in a high tech, international setting. With the author's engineering and technology background one might be concerned they'd be lost in the technology though Charles brings high-tech to life in a low-tech way anyone can relate to. As someone who has been to China several times and understands the culture and people as well as any Westerner can, Charles captures it spot-on.

Summary: A captivating, thrilling story and highly recommended. I've bought his next work and can't wait until I have time to read it.
One person found this helpful
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sls4ak
3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of fun!
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2017
Verified Purchase
There were so many turns where this could have been a great story, sadly the author played a little too safe and fell short of greatness. The resulting tale is however, a fun and entertaining diversion, well worth reading. At this point I have read two stories by this author, and while he gives credit in the second book for it's being far more polished this one remains my favorite. It is fresh and earnest in presentation with only a few rabbit trails that should have been either followed or cut out. Well done! I look forward to more from this author!
One person found this helpful
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