This is the third book in the "Little Brother" series, which started with "Little Brother" and "Homeland". Although this novel can be read on its own, it does make reference to several of the events and people from the previous novels so having read those first might add a little more depth.

Although these are nominally YA books, their themes are very serious and tech-heavy; the first book happens as a terrorist attach on San Francisco leads to the Department of Homeland Security using terrorism as an excuse to increase surveillance of its citizens, and follows the efforts of teen Marcus Yallow and his friends to create peer to peer un-monitorable networks through which to resist this. Homeland follows up to the previous book with more examination of state surveillance, political resistance, and Marcus's former acquaintance Masha Maximow surfacing as a whistleblower for Xyz, a corporate surveillance contractor working closely with various governments around the world to enable government surveillance.

Attack Surface switches the protagonist over to Masha, who in contrast to Marcus, reacted to the attacks on San Francisco by getting hired for the very same companies enabling the surveillance and developing new technologies. Based initially in the thinly disguised European country of "Slovstakia", Masha is extremely good at what she does, first for Xyz and then for Xoth, a similar but if possible even more morally corrupt surveillance company. However, she eventually becomes unable to ignore the fact that a large majority of the "suspects" she is helping to surveil are in fact no terrorists or terrible people, just regular citizens who want nothing more than privacy. And when her former friends back in San Francisco start experiencing similar problems due to their participation in the BLM movement, she's forced to make a choice.

It's quite a technology heavy read, and maybe overdoes the detail a little, although it's detail that really more people should know and pay attention to. As a technology writer and activist Doctorow is ideally place to write clearly and accurately about what can or soon will be possible, and it's pretty scary stuff. But, he also has a strong message that technology itself is not going to save us (or doom us); technology doesn't grant freedom, it just gives us the tools to fight for our own freedom.