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Pattern #1
The Pattern
Has one programming error killed hundreds of people in airplane crashes? A handful of west coast computer geeks know the answer. After reading The Pattern, you will too. Follow auto-pilot programmer Craig Walsh and his beautiful engineer girlfriend Stacey "Jack" Horner as they create, and then confront, a malicious computer virus that seems destined to destroy air travel as we know it...
- GenresFictionMystery Thriller
343 pages, Nook
First published April 21, 2011
20 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
J.T. Kalnay
14books4followersJT Kalnay is an attorney and an author. He has been an athlete, a soldier, a professor, a programmer, an Ironman, and mountain climber. JT now divides his time between being an attorney, being an author, and helping out with seven children.
JT was born and raised in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Growing up literally steps from the Bay of Quinte, water, ice, fishing, swimming, boating, and drowning were very early influences and appear frequently in his work.
Educated at the Royal Military College, the University of Ottawa, the University of Dayton and Case Western Reserve University, JT has spent countless hours studying a wide range of subjects including math, English, computer science, physics, and law. Many of his stories are set on college campuses.
JT is a rock climber and can often be found atop crags in West Virginia, California, Mexico, and Italy. Rock climbing appears frequently in his writing.
JT has witnessed firsthand many traumatic events including the World Trade Center Bombing, the Long Island Railroad Shooting, a bear attack, a plane crash, and numerous fatalities, in the mountains and elsewhere. Disasters, loss, and confronting personal fear are common themes in his writing.
While "boy meets girl" appears to be JT's dominant genre, readers will experience a variety of styles and themes in his simple yet complex writing.
JT has been writing novels for 25 years and has only recently began to release his work under his own name. See if you can recognize his work!
JT was born and raised in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Growing up literally steps from the Bay of Quinte, water, ice, fishing, swimming, boating, and drowning were very early influences and appear frequently in his work.
Educated at the Royal Military College, the University of Ottawa, the University of Dayton and Case Western Reserve University, JT has spent countless hours studying a wide range of subjects including math, English, computer science, physics, and law. Many of his stories are set on college campuses.
JT is a rock climber and can often be found atop crags in West Virginia, California, Mexico, and Italy. Rock climbing appears frequently in his writing.
JT has witnessed firsthand many traumatic events including the World Trade Center Bombing, the Long Island Railroad Shooting, a bear attack, a plane crash, and numerous fatalities, in the mountains and elsewhere. Disasters, loss, and confronting personal fear are common themes in his writing.
While "boy meets girl" appears to be JT's dominant genre, readers will experience a variety of styles and themes in his simple yet complex writing.
JT has been writing novels for 25 years and has only recently began to release his work under his own name. See if you can recognize his work!
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 6, 2013
A decent techno-thriller with a bit more detail on some of the IT aspects than is normal, which is interesting, and also a bit more romance. Enjoyed the book and finished it quickly, but couldn't help but feel that it never made the most of an interesting premise, and the last section felt rather rushed.
August 19, 2023
What am I reading here? A plane crash documentary? A computer programmer’s workload? A love story? This book could not make up its mind which direction it should pick and thus, became muddled in the process. In the beginning of the book, we see the main character, a brilliant programmer, getting involved with a fellow worker/lady. But every chapter ends with…”do you want to go into the bedroom�? That got old really fast. Fortunately, there were no graphic sex scenes, but, come on�.every chapter? I suspect there was some plot between the planes crashing, the program he was working on and some video game he was playing but the reader had to connect those. After a while, the “love story� began to take over the book and the planes continually crashing and a computer program to fix that problem became somewhat of a side-story. Too much computer lingo and too much personal stuff for my tastes. And what happened to the two “bad guys� in the office (Stan and some other guy)? All of a sudden, they were gone. The book took too many directions for me. One or the other please…just pick one plot line.
August 6, 2016
What do you do when your worst nightmare comes true?
“The Pattern begins with an intriguing, frightening premise. Airplanes keep crashing killing many people. What if you were to stumble upon the true cause of the plane's demise, but realize that knowing the cause brings you no closer to fixing the problem?
That is essentially the hook of this technothriller. I was impressed with author Kalnay's masterful grasp of techno-jargon. The small cast of characters features Craig and Stacey who are dating and the techies trying to unravel the software mystery. There is Stan, the boss, overseeing the project...and other colleagues. But the real conflict doesn't come from without. It comes from the software itself which is almost an antagonist in its own right. Anyone who's battled with a virus on their computer or whose email has been hacked will understand. The ghost in the machine. The novel is punctuated well by jarring, terse press releases which tell the reader of yet another plane that has fallen from the sky.
There are times when I wanted Craig to be more active in solving the tech issues, and I thought his boss could have had a stronger response to the screw-ups at work. But overall the author made me root for a solution to this airline nightmare. And he made me care about the relationship of Craig and Stacey in a way I didn't expect. (A frisbee played a part.) And there is a small moment when a cop passing in the night says something ironic and touching to Craig. He's trying to be encouraging, but fails miserably. This is a book that is a perfect reflection of the digital era we live in. Heaven help us all.
Dwight Okita
Author of The Prospect of My Arrival�
“The Pattern begins with an intriguing, frightening premise. Airplanes keep crashing killing many people. What if you were to stumble upon the true cause of the plane's demise, but realize that knowing the cause brings you no closer to fixing the problem?
That is essentially the hook of this technothriller. I was impressed with author Kalnay's masterful grasp of techno-jargon. The small cast of characters features Craig and Stacey who are dating and the techies trying to unravel the software mystery. There is Stan, the boss, overseeing the project...and other colleagues. But the real conflict doesn't come from without. It comes from the software itself which is almost an antagonist in its own right. Anyone who's battled with a virus on their computer or whose email has been hacked will understand. The ghost in the machine. The novel is punctuated well by jarring, terse press releases which tell the reader of yet another plane that has fallen from the sky.
There are times when I wanted Craig to be more active in solving the tech issues, and I thought his boss could have had a stronger response to the screw-ups at work. But overall the author made me root for a solution to this airline nightmare. And he made me care about the relationship of Craig and Stacey in a way I didn't expect. (A frisbee played a part.) And there is a small moment when a cop passing in the night says something ironic and touching to Craig. He's trying to be encouraging, but fails miserably. This is a book that is a perfect reflection of the digital era we live in. Heaven help us all.
Dwight Okita
Author of The Prospect of My Arrival�
May 3, 2015
When ace programmer and intrepid rock climber Craig Walsh starts to suspect that the unusually high number of recent plane crashes may not be coincidental it sends him and his friends on a cyber hunt that could either save or kill millions. This isn't a heart pounding action adventure novel. It is more of a slow boil techno thriller, but it never quite settles into a simmer. There is a decent amount of computer jargon thrown about, even a few snippets of actual code (C++ I think). I don't know anything about coding but wasn't at all put off by its inclusion.
The characters are quite well defined. You can really imagine them hunched over a keyboard in hard wearing Northface or Prana clothing that shows evidence of real world use, carabiners and the somewhat cliche Diet Coke and Doritos close at hand. But it all only served to further crystalize the character type. I really liked the contrasts of the cloistered offices and the majestic outdoors as well as the light romantic elements.
The novel hints at being more than just a techno thriller. Though the spiritualist angle is never fully explored, I would have liked to know a little more about Craig's experiences in this regard. Similarly, there are hints that there may be more to the virus than meets the eye. It would have been an interesting avenue to explore.
Overall, The Pattern is an enjoyable read. There is a tenderness to the main character, Craig, that is really appealing and it's nice to see someone trying to do the right thing.
The characters are quite well defined. You can really imagine them hunched over a keyboard in hard wearing Northface or Prana clothing that shows evidence of real world use, carabiners and the somewhat cliche Diet Coke and Doritos close at hand. But it all only served to further crystalize the character type. I really liked the contrasts of the cloistered offices and the majestic outdoors as well as the light romantic elements.
The novel hints at being more than just a techno thriller. Though the spiritualist angle is never fully explored, I would have liked to know a little more about Craig's experiences in this regard. Similarly, there are hints that there may be more to the virus than meets the eye. It would have been an interesting avenue to explore.
Overall, The Pattern is an enjoyable read. There is a tenderness to the main character, Craig, that is really appealing and it's nice to see someone trying to do the right thing.
January 20, 2012
I have to admit that I don't read a lot of thrillers. I think the only other book of this type I've read before was John Grisham's "The Firm," and this book ran along the same vein. It did start out a little slow as Jt Kalnay introduced the characters, but the book defiantly picks up pace. This story is not just about airplanes and computers it is about love, life and loss. I have say that a lot of the technical jargon had me lost sometimes, but at the same time, I feel I learned more about computer systems and airplane software. I'm sure more technical savvy people will understand better, however, I understood enough to grasp what was happening, and isn't that the point of reading a story, to learn new things. This is a must read for anyone!!
August 15, 2012
Can a video game hijack an airplane?
Slightly juvenile programming genius, Craig Walsh knows it can and he knows he's responsible. What he doesn't know is how he's going to purge the virus from the autopilot software on every plane in the world.
The Pattern is a brilliant piece of techno-sleuth drama with a perfectly balanced love angle. Mr. Kalnay has excelled with his character development in this 1990's period piece that is an ominous omen of the 9/11 attack. Once I took the hook I couldn't put it down.
July 1, 2012
Nothing special. Somewhat interesting story about what could happen if infected computer code got into the software that controls an aircraft's autopilot system.
August 15, 2012
Absolutly loved this book.....makes you wonder if this really could happen!....seems very very possible...would recommend to ANYONE!! suspense thriller!
September 17, 2012
It was kind of an interesting story for an older software guy like me. Three stars because the waiting was sophomoric.
December 29, 2012
free kindle book; commercial flight/computer terrorism..
March 22, 2013
It is 1994 and a computer game can bring down airplanes. Somebody's responsible.
July 29, 2013
Good story. Quick read.
March 13, 2016
AWESOME book :) :) Read ittttt :)
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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