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What’s the result when you combine unlimited computing power, a zealous desire to manipulate everyone but the elite class humans, and a morally crippled mathematical genius? Unfettered anarchy!
Can our ever-growing torrent of information, analyzed by sophisticated computer systems, neutralize freedoms of choice, and then steer us into a predetermined destination? Would mankind sit idly by and let that happen in the name of ‘easier for me’.
There are as yet unidentified power mongers plotting massive destabilization of the stock market, with the end game to not only optimize their wealth, but to also control the future. No need to cut a nervous investor off in traffic to initiate a stock market crash. All you need is unlimited computer power and the ethical nihilism to manipulate lives to your desired end game.
The R-Group, a high-level international information gathering and security team, believes at least one group - possibly several - are using Big Data analysis to customize the future to their whim. Jacob, Petra, and the rest of the R-Group battle along with Julie and Juan's fledgling group of Cyber Assassin Technology Services (CATS) teams to locate the source of the massive computing power required. If these cyber schemers are as good at analyzing the massive amounts of information gathered daily as the R-Group the ethical boundaries of information could be crushed.
Unless the R-Group can neutralize this unrelenting threat, humanity's future will be determined by a select few. Are people unwittingly feeding an ever-growing tsunami of information into increasingly sophisticated computer systems? This begs the question: who controls whom?
With the right analysis of the information could someone have a reliable method of predicting the future? Award-winning authors Breakfield and Burkey bring the fifth book in The Enigma Series, The Enigma Stolen, into the relevant world of Big Data and analytics. They take the foundation technology then add a huge dose of suspense, intrigue, romance, humor, and bad actors to make this story the best one yet.
Discover who are the winners and losers when humans are herded to a machine's targeted end point.
A secret organization is hellbent on using a supercomputer to predict future events in the fifth outing of Breakfield and Burkey’s techno-thriller series (The Enigma Wraith, 2014, etc.).
When a political candidate believes his campaign has been targeted by a cyberassassin, he enlists the help of the R-Group, an information-gathering and security team. This attack, however, seems to be one of many made possible with “heavy computer muscle.” The covert Werewolf Clan, with ties to Nazis, may be responsible and has been using a computer program to accurately predict stock futures. But it has an even more ambitious plan to link supercomputers around the world and potentially manipulate the future. At the same time, R-Group’s Julie, newly married and pregnant, is starting her own Cyber Assassin Technology Services but may have a mole among the recruits feeding info to an old enemy, Chairman Chang. The authors focus on characters in preceding books, but this time, they’ve breathed new life into the series with Julie’s CATS. Her subset, of sorts, allows for the introduction of unfamiliar faces, like employee Brayson, and fresh storylines. Breakfield and Burkey once again deliver the goods, as returning readers will expect—intelligent technology-laden dialogue; a kidnapping or two; and a bit of action, as Jacob and Petra dodge an assassin (not the cyber kind) in Argentina. Comedy, interestingly, comes from R-Group’s own supercomputer, aka Immersive Collaborative Associative Binary Override Deterministic system, who, as it happens, is invested in understanding humanity’s humor. ICABOD finds other supercomputers and, rather imperiously, names them himself; the Russian Binary Operations Recalculating Integers Simultaneously has one of the shorter acronyms. There are a fair number of romantic relationships, most established in earlier books, including Jacob and Petra’s, and ICABOD designer Quip and Eilla-Zan’s. But the romance between Julie and husband Juan is unparalleled. Their storyline warrants a spinoff novel or two.
Should lure readers who haven’t yet discovered the series.
Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite - 4 Star
The Enigma Stolen by Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne E Burkey is a superb thriller that will leave readers wowed and utterly entertained. What if man can be accurately defined with the help of technology? What if a group of people can define how others could act or react to situations and determine a future for humanity? A powerful, elusive group is about to play God and control the future of humanity by harnessing technology. Only the R-Group can apprehend this group, but it seems to be weakened from within. Who is the mole and can the R-Group solve its internal issues in time to go after the bad guys? In book five of the intriguing Enigma Series, Charles V Breakfield and Roxanne E Burkey offer great entertainment to readers, displaying a powerful imagination and a very high skill in the art of narration.
The Enigma Stolen, just like the other installments in this series, could make for a highly appealing motion picture, with high-tech guys wading through an intricate network of information to find clues that would help them solve problems that threaten the very future of humankind. The writing is accessible and the plot leads readers to unexpected and exciting places. Although a work of fiction, the authors have the knack of making readers feel like part of the plot. They write with an arresting sense of realism. This is another great book in a highly compelling series. A must-read!