Edwin Black's first novel, Format C:, a kabalistic, technological thriller with echoes from the Holocaust, was met with critical acclaim. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called Format C: a "gripping, fanciful, fast-paced tale." Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Massively conceived, neatly chiseled... Black throughout shows great smarts and at times displays virtuoso rhetoric." Bookbrowser called the novel "a brilliant allegorical thriller". In 1999, the author toured twenty cities and lectured to groups and appeared on media throughout as the millennium approached.