Review of The Enigma Factor, by Charles V. Breakfield & Roxanne E. Burkey
The Blurb:
Jacob Michaels, computer network security-tester extraordinaire, tries to settle into a quiet life of work to polish his technology skills after the death of his mother.
Cyber-criminals are hunting for new victims when they target the brilliant programmer to try to seduce into joining their cause. More people are hunting him than just the Russian cyber kingpin.
As Jacob sets off to find those who target him, he discovers other technologists’ views which puts him in direct contact with previously unknown global experts.
Buzz, when looking for the easy way inadvertently crosses the line to the dark side then begs his best friend Jacob for help. Jacob, brilliant as he is may not have enough experience to win this on his own. Of course, having your identity erased makes helping anybody else secondary to your problems.
Jacob battles against global cyber masterminds using his knowledge of programming, identity theft, and hacking, but learns more about security and encryption when he connects with the distractingly beautiful encryptionist Petra.
Jacob’s challenge is how to keep ahead of the criminals and identify who to trust.
In their debut TechnoThriller, The Enigma Factor, award-winning authors Breakfield and Burkey weave a complex tale of danger, intrigue, and international cyber combat. They use a relevant technology foundation, then layer on travel, romance, humor and mystery
Like rust, the cat and mouse game of the new cyber warfare age never sleeps.
My Thoughts:
I’m not the most tech-savvy humanoid on this blue marble, lucky for me that my oldest daughter is into coding, so at first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the lingo. There is a glossary of terms at the end of the book, so you might want to read through that first.
That being said, I soon found myself intrigued and completely immersed in the world of cyberwarfare and the unseen forces at work in this world. A wonderful ‘cloak and dagger’ mystery in binary code.
There are more plot twists than a rogue power cord, each one a pleasure to unravel. I loved the challenge!
I’m not naïve, but the technical expertise possessed by these authors, opened my eyes to the vulnerability of the general population. The skilled hacker can erase and/or steal an identity in a few keystrokes.
There was also an emotional and human side to the story. Our brilliant main character, Jacob Michaels, struggles with everyday desires and hurts.
This is the first in a series and you can bet I’ll be filling my Amazon cart with the next book, The Enigma Rising.
Five Stars!
Meet Charles V. Breakfield:
Charles V. Breakfield likes travel in Texas on a motorcycle, World War II history, wine & good food, and voice/data technology. As a colorful and somewhat controversial individual you can find him either in his shop building furniture, writing with his co-author Roxanne E. Burkey, or out riding his motorcycle, but always meeting people looking for suitable character material fpr the next installment of the Enigma Book Series.
Meet Roxanne E. Burkey:
Writing is a passion for Rox that incorporates many of her interests and dovetails nicely with her full time work in customer experience technologies. After successfully writing white papers and technology documentation she wanted a different more fun, less stress writing outlet. Her co-author Charles Breakfield agreed and The Enigma Series began. You are invited to explore their website
http://enigmabookseries.com/ and leave/read comments in the Enigma Chronicles Blog area. She enjoys learning, travel, family, outdoor activities, good food, wine sampling, reading, living and visiting good friends which helps to bring diversity and new ideas into the stories.
She is still learning humor and there is hope that she will master it this century!
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They are members of the Rave Reviews Book Club. You can visit their Rave Reviews Author Page