Dr. Xavier Pekoni, a rich evil scientist has worked on his fountain of youth project for years using questionable research methods. Using nanotechnology and DNA mapping he is close to extending human life tenfold. Desperate for the missing pieces to complete his scheme, he locates the key element needed in an unexpected condition.
The R-Group is called in by a U.S. Agency to find Pekoni then determine if he is really continuing his unethical practices. Funding for Pekoni’s project were halted years before when it was uncovered the project volunteers, or unwilling participants went inexplicably missing. The background information the R-Group uncover surprises and sickens them to the point that verification of the data may be the only saving grace for someone close to the team.
The personal demons of Petra and Jacob prevent either of them from effectively contributing to the team. Jacob distances himself from the R-Group and becomes unwittingly entangled with Zara, the villainous femme fatale leader of the Russian Dteam. After the seductive Zara steals €5 million in diamonds, she tries to hide in New York City where she learns something unexpected. Meanwhile, Buzz resurfaces to try to restart his life. Petra is hiding out unwilling to admit she is the same person as before the attack in Argentina. Each of their journeys takes them to a crossroad of decisions for the rest of their lives.
With Petra and Jacob missing in action, EZ and Quip, supported by Julie and Juan’s fledgling CATS team, are thrust into the forefront of the cyber battle. The feisty redhead and her wisecracking techno-genius team up with ICABOD against an evil force seeking to harness his supercomputer technology driving Pekoni’s agenda. The team question their ability to meet the goals of the assignments without the full complement of their resources.
Award-winning authors of The Enigma Series, Breakfield and Burkey, take readers on an accelerated adventure with old and new characters to tell the tale of human DNA changes gone wrong. Book 6, The Enigma Always, continues the unique blend of technology laced with world travel, relationships, intrigue, suspense, romance, and mystery.
In the latest volume in Breakfield and Burkey’s (The Enigma Stolen, 2015, etc.) techno-thriller series, a disreputable doctor’s life-extension project calls for abductions and human experiments with unwilling participants.
Su Lin nearly died from an accident that caused her to lose her memory. Formerly known as Master Po, she’d been an expert in cybertechnologies. When someone tries to kidnap Su Lin, a digital-security team called the R-Group suspects that the baddies are after Su Lin’s laptop. But the woman can’t remember what’s stored on her computer or how to bypass its complex encryption. She may have a connection to Dr. Xavier Pekoni, whose Fountain of Youth project—complete with unsanctioned human testing—had devastating side effects for its test subjects. A U.S. agency hires the R-Group to find Pekoni, convinced he’s attempting to finalize his research to increase human life spans. The authors excel at breezing through exposition, quickly setting up their newest tale: this time around, returning R-Group lovebirds Jacob and Petra are separated, the latter having isolated herself due to her physical and mental scars. Familiar bad guys abound as well: Jacob’s freelance work inadvertently entangles him with Zara of the villainous Russian Dteam. Zara, meanwhile, is on the run from Chairman Chang, from whom she stole €5 million in diamonds. There’s mystery throughout, as readers don’t immediately learn why Pekoni is trying to snatch Su Lin or if her teenlike behavior (she’s 50-something) can be remedied. By now there are enough recurring characters that many have paired up romantically, but Breakfield and Burkey still manage to churn out fresh interactions between the couples, as with Jacob and Petra, who, during a conference call with the R-Group, privately message one another to discuss their fractured relationship. The authors have likewise mastered scenes that are simultaneously cool and comical: Jacob’s tracking program is “his secret sauce,” and Zara gets help fencing the jewelry from her boss, Dmitry, who, by sheer happenstance, offers to sell the goods to rightful owner Chang.
As always, loaded with smart technological prose and an open ending that suggests more to come.https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/charles-v-breakfield/the-enigma-always/
Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite - 5 Stars
The Enigma Always is volume six in The Enigma series by Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne E Burkey, featuring the R-Group and a world characterized by high technology with advanced techniques in gathering and diffusing information. But there is something more. With the advanced technology, human cells and DNA can be enhanced to prolong human life much longer, but there could also be devastating consequences. Humanity may face a serious threat if the experiments of the unscrupulous Dr. Xavier Pekoni come to a neat conclusion. Only the R-Group, working in collaboration with CATS team, can stop him, and that is if they use all their skills and resources, but can they succeed without two of their key players, Jacob and Petra?Fast-paced and gripping, there is no waste, not of words, not of a single plot element. The reader is immediately drawn into a mysterious world of covert activities with codes being exchanged and the R-Group rushing around with their investigations. The characters are well-developed, the complicity between some of them lived through very threatening and dangerous moments. Breakfield and Burkey are expert storytellers, entertainers who create a story that will have readers oblivious to their immediate reality for the whole time and characters they will remember long after they are done reading. Fans of sci-fi and thrillers will fall for The Enigma Always, and they will fall really hard. I enjoyed the excellent writing, the complex plot, and the monumental conflict. One has the feeling they are holding a bomb that could go off any moment as they race through the pages. I am a huge fan of this series.
