How can older hydroelectric plants like the one in Brazil be exploited by a virus that triggers a flood threatening significant losses to people and property? Smart cars are taking advantage of built in safety specifications, but is it really just a trap? What could possibly cause all the funds from an Irish financial institution to vanish? Could a NATO base in Europe be infected with a mysterious yet untraceable code that sends all of their combat supplies to the wrong location? What happens when your plane’s on-board computers tell you they belong to someone else while in flight? Are these all a glimpse of the new viral danger of the Ghost Code designed for devastation on a personal and industrial level?
A new mysterious pair of cyber pirates, known only as Mephisto and Callisto, plot to deliver their destructive payloads for computing control. Worse, the code has been trained to evade detection and wreak havoc on its target victims. And while their agenda appears to be a blackmail plot for financial gain, their true goals are far more menacing and capricious in nature.
In an intriguing game of digital cat and mouse with assassins from the Dark Net, the R-Group's technology experts are brought in to make sense of the individual issues and maybe stitch together a larger view of the problem. Jacob, Petra, and Quip find themselves pitted against their most nefarious enemies to date. Stretching their considerable talents to the max, they struggle to track down the source of the Ghost Code and craft a solution that can secure the world's technology infrastructure before it completely collapses.
In the fourth book of the Enigma Series, The Enigma Wraith, the R-Group team expands their computing power to assist their brilliant technologists. The award-winning authors, Breakfield and Burkey, serve up yet another captivating techno-thriller novel racing forward with romance, humor, to the looming catastrophe.
The fourth entry in Breakfield and Burkey’s (The Enigma Ignite, 2014, etc.) techno-thriller series pits the R-Group against a seemingly untraceable computer virus and what could be a full-scale digital assault.
A series of cyberattacks targets an Irish bank, a Texas winery and a hydroelectric dam in Brazil, among other places. They also attract the R-Group, an organization specializing in information gathering and analysis. The rogue code leaves messages behind, calling itself the Ghost Code, before apparently wiping clear any evidence of its existence. Jacob, his love, Petra, and the rest of the team believe these attacks are indicative of “training exercises” that precede a much larger strike. The R-Group’s involvement becomes personal when Juan’s plane is hacked; there’s a possibility that he’s dead after communication is lost. Juan’s brother Carlos and Juan’s newly pregnant lover, Julie, go undercover to stop Zara, a beautiful cyberassassin, who may play a part in the Ghost Code and who, interestingly enough, could pass for a Petra doppelgänger. The authors’ latest novel—their fastest-paced yet—dives headfirst into the plot and maintains an engaging mystery based on the R-Group’s investigation. The person responsible for the Ghost Code, they discover, is Mephisto, corresponding with hacker Callisto, though the true identities behind the handles aren’t initially clear. There’s a veritable hodgepodge of characters, most of whom are returning, but the authors include context for new readers without weighing the story down with a laborious retread. As in prior novels, characters are colorful and indelible. Zara is particularly engrossing. She was a dominatrix at a young age, which instilled in her an obsessive desire for control. There’s even a sex scene with Zara in which she humiliates her bodyguard, Dante; while it’s evident what’s happening, the scene manages to be as subdued as the rest of the novel, with few vulgar words. The main plot ends with over 50 pages remaining, so while the coda might have been better were it truncated, it once again leaves room for another sequel.
Another stellar installment. Breakfield and Burkey show no signs of slowing down in an ever improving series.
Reviewed by Sefina Hawke for Readers' Favorite - 5 Star
The Enigma Wraith (The Enigma Series) by Breakfield and Burkey is the fourth book in the Enigma series. The Enigma Wraith is a mystery thriller and suspense read that will appeal most to an audience made up of a mix of young adults and adults who enjoyed the previous books in the Enigma series, as well as those readers who enjoy mystery, thriller and suspense stories. The Enigma Wraith follows Jacob, Petra, and Quip as they work against the cyber pirates known as Mephisto and Callisto in order to protect the world’s technology infrastructure before the host code can be used to alter the technological state of the world.
The Enigma Wraith is a fast paced technological thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. I liked how even though The Enigma Wraith is the fourth book in the Enigma series, I was able to follow the plot without any confusion. I would personally recommend reading books one through three first to have a better grasp of the setting and characters, but it is not an absolute requirement for enjoying the book. I really liked how authors Breakfield and Burkey made everything seem so realistic; I could almost imagine something like the Ghost Code really happening and how truly damaging it could be. I greatly enjoyed reading The Enigma Wraith by Breakfield and Burkey and I look forward to reading book five.
