Editorial Content for Broken Genius
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Reviewer (text)
BROKEN GENIUS shares its title with another book, one that details the rise and fall of William Shockley, dubbed The Father of Silicon Valley. Like Shockley, series launch protagonist Will Parker is an electronics wizard, but Parker became a billionaire in his 20s. In this astounding debut, Parker’s fortune bursts like the dotcom bubble, not by worthless stocks but during Japan’s 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. When Parker had planned to arrive in Japan, he’d “close a deal that would put [his] name alongside Jobs, Gates, and Zuckerberg.”
Parker’s deal was to sell his innovative quantum computer to Fukushima Semiconductor. The night his private jet was to whisk him to Japan, his company’s valuable livestreaming video-messaging system is hacked. College student Kate Mason has been kidnapped and mutilated --- while alive. Videos of the gruesome torture-murder are transmitted by Parker’s technology, but the location-tracking feature fails. His company CastorNet is doomed, its security features worthless.
"This classic good-versus-evil, high-tech novel will intrigue computer geeks and a squad of Comic-Con fans, along with anyone who enjoys a well-crafted thriller."
A genius broken by nightmares of Mason’s livestreamed homicide, Parker becomes a special agent for the FBI’s Cyber Division and is “called for any major case with a tech angle.” The FBI investigates the murder of convention-vendor Roger Caplan, finding traces of radioactive material matching the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown: the same radioactive fingerprint that contaminated the Fukushima Unicorn quantum computer prototype, one that makes a traditional computer “look like an abacus.”
Dragoniis is “the most skilled and prolific hacker in Asia” and is after the Unicorn --- as are other nefarious contenders, including Kremlin criminals. “Every cyber warfare tactic they’d employed would be elevated to unstoppable with a quantum computer.” Fortunately for the world’s salvation, Parker teams up with brilliant homicide detective Dana Lopez and dogmatic by-the-book FBI agent Thomas Decker. The trio chases Dragoniis through a crowded Comic-Con gathering in scenes reminiscent of those in John Grisham’s 1993 film adaptation of The Firm, differing only in that the good guys chase bad.
This classic good-versus-evil, high-tech novel will intrigue computer geeks and a squad of Comic-Con fans, along with anyone who enjoys a well-crafted thriller.
After a corporate technology career in Ontario, Canada, the author transitioned to education and writing. An avid fan of Comic-Con and escape-room games, Drew Murray honors the key tenet of other talented authors: Write what you know. Eh?
Teaser
In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company, makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, he pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division. Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic Con event, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO. He discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web --- and the bidding is still live. With bidders including a legendary Chinese hacker, Russian criminals sent by the Kremlin, and a corporate executive desperate to escape a scandal, Will once again finds a life in his hands when the victim’s daughter is taken hostage.
Promo
In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company, makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, he pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division. Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic Con event, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO. He discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web --- and the bidding is still live. With bidders including a legendary Chinese hacker, Russian criminals sent by the Kremlin, and a corporate executive desperate to escape a scandal, Will once again finds a life in his hands when the victim’s daughter is taken hostage.
About the Book
For Will Parker, it’s about personal redemption after a disastrous mistake.
In 2011, Will Parker, the young prodigy CEO of a big tech company makes a coding mistake that costs a college student her life. To assuage his guilt, Will pursues a career in the FBI Cyber Division.
Now, Special Agent Will Parker is called to investigate a murder scene at a Comic Con event in the Midwest, where the victim has ties to a radioactive quantum computer that Will was working on before he left his gig as CEO..
Working with smart local homicide detective Dana Lopez and FBI stuffed-shirt Thomas Decker, Will discovers the victim was holding an auction for the computer on the Dark Web --- and the bidding is still live.
With bidders including a legendary Chinese hacker, Russian criminals sent by the Kremlin, and a corporate executive desperate to escape a scandal, Will once again finds a life in his hands when the victim’s daughter is taken hostage. A trail of blood and high-tech breadcrumbs leads Will deeper into mystery, danger and a race against time to keep unlimited power out of the wrong hands.
