Yes, it's absolutely full of 80s references. However, that's the whole point of the contest in the book. Also, I think the author explained things well enough without hurting the story.

I think the core ideas were old hat. A small group of individuals fighting the big, bad corporation. People hiding from the world and eventually learning to deal with it. Perception vs. reality. As such, not very interesting to me, since they've all been done before. Still, it's a straightforward and fun read, in my opinion.

What about the finish did you not like?