After a rough couple of chapters that almost caused me to pack it in, this one took off - and kept me flying through the pages until the end. It's the first of what I assume will be a series featuring filthy rich former tech CEO and FBI Special Agent Will Parker, whose ego is exceeded only by his computer savvy. Put another way, he likes himself far more than I liked him (to which, of course, he'd say, so what?)I'd also caution that if you're a total Luddite, this may not be the book for you. I'm probably somewhere in the middle - relatively undaunted by "everyday" devices like computers and cell phones and at least familiar with most techie jargon - but I admit to being a little confused about some of the finer details here. Basically, as I see it, Will left his uber-successful company and joined the FBI after a coding error resulted in a young woman's death. He can't seem to forgive himself for the error; whether that's because he truly believes he caused her gruesome demise or simply can't deal with the fact that he screwed up is a matter of conjecture, but for the purposes of this review, I'll go with wanting to compensate for the death.
Will gets a call for help when a murder happens at a Comic Con event; no big deal on its own, but the murder seems to be connected to a radioactive quantum computer - known as the Unicorn - that Will's company had sealed the deal to purchase when it went missing in a disaster. Needless to say, Will wants that Unicorn back - partly because it could wreak untold havoc if it fell into the wrong hands and, I presume, partly because his company owns it and would stand to reap substantial profits by bringing it back where it belongs.
At the Comic Con, he works mostly with local homicide detective Dana Lopez, who is (as expected) extremely competent, drop-dead gorgeous and has psychological issues similar to Will as well as FBI agent Thomas Decker, who gets off on being pushy, stubborn and generally a pain in the neck. Will soon learns that the murder victim may have been in possession of the Unicorn - at least, he was trying to auction it off on the Dark Web - and that there are high-stakes bidders who will stop at nothing to win, even if it means other murders and a kidnapping all too similar to the one that prompted him to ditch his company a few years earlier.
Sorting everything out makes for an action-packed chase that comes to an exciting end with more than a few bits, bytes and twists in between - as well as the most on-target words of advice I've read in a while (social media privacy complainers take note here), to-wit: "If you don't pay for the product, you are the product."
All told, I'm intrigued and totally down with trying the next book (well, except for one note to future copy editors: Puleeeze - unless you're British - there's only one "e" in the word "judgment"). That said, thanks to the publisher for offering me a copy in exchange for an honest review and introducing me to a solid new series.
Broken Genius by Drew Murray (Oceanview Publishing, June 2020); 336 pp.
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