Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Netminder
SERIES: Codename: Winger #4
AUTHOR: Jeff Adams
NARRATOR: Kirt Graves
PUBLISHER: Big Gay Media
LENGTH: 60,788 words (approximately 8 hours)
RELEASE DATE: June 29th 2021
BLURB:
The thrilling finale to the Codename: Winger series.
After a summer that was nothing like he’d planned, teenage secret agent Theo Reese is back to school and to work with Tactical Operational Support’s IT department. His world turns upside down arriving home from hockey practice to a major security breach.
On the run he soon discovers the TOS network is down and he’s cut off.
As he uses his unique skills to find out what’s happened, Theo discovers the evil agency Blackbird is responsible. A nemesis from Theo’s first field mission is out for him and will stop at nothing to force Theo to help Blackbird realize their goal of taking global control of the internet.
Getting help from some unexpected sources, Theo must stop the internet takeover while trying to keep those closest to him safe.
REVIEW:
This is the final installment in the Codename Winger series and I’m sad to see it end. This is NOT the typical YA LGBTQ book. It’s a techno-thriller with a main character that just happens to be a young openly gay man.
In prior books we’ve seen a savant-like computer security nerd with a preternatural level of maturity face challenges that many gay teens face. e.g. Trying to balance his secret life with his hockey and school commitments while keeping his boyfriend happy. Of course in Theo’s case he’s in the closet about being a spy, not that he’s gay. We’ve seen him face a kidnapping attempt, deal with coaching fellow computer geeks, while being hunted by a terrorist, suffer musical mental manipulation, and finally, actually have a major boyfriend crisis.
Of course THAT creates a bit of a cliff-hanger of sorts that needs to get resolved in this, the final book.
In this the final book, the challenges are greater, and the danger even more close to home. While in some ways, we see Theo become stronger in each book, we also see him open up more in each book, and let himself feel what other folks his age are feeling. That vulnerability only increases the empathy that the reader feels for this brave young man. The scenes in this book include more crying than what’s common among your typical “action hero”/James Bond types. However, if you’re like me, you’ll find that they just help make our hero more human, more relatable and more lovable. One warning though: Be sure and lay in a stack of tissues as there may well be some collateral crying fall-out.
Now that the series is ending, I’ll miss young Theo, but perhaps, someday soon we’ll hear about a new couple. I think that Max and Rodney (a couple we meet late in the book) sound like a couple I’d care to hear more about. I wonder if Iowa born Max is anywhere near as good at hockey as Theo seemed to be in these books.
Given our teen-aged main characters, there is still no graphic sex depicted here. Though toward the end we do get intimations that our MCs future will contain, as John Green puts it… “plenty of skoodelypooping.”
Kirt Graves does the audiobook narration and his youthful voice is perfect for the first person narration as seen by Theo. There is not as much scope here for his other character’s dialogue voices as in previous books, but those that are here are spot on.
RATING: 
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