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The high-tech industry is the industry of the new millennium, where fortunes are made overnight, where technical innovation makes leaps forward every day on the backs of a new generation of computer engineers, where starting salaries, bonuses, and stock options lure young talent away from traditional professions. One such individual drawn toward these financial rewards is Michael Patrick Ryan, who ranks top of his computer engineering class at Stanford University. Ryan chooses SoftCorp, Inc., headquartered in Silicon Hills, the nickname for the booming high-tech industry of Austin, Texas. SoftCorp's one client: the Internal Revenue Service.
But Mike Ryan has also fallen in the sights of the FBI. The bureau suspects that SoftCorp and the IRS are smuggling millions of dollars out of the country. The feds, however, can't prove it. The FBI's previous informant, an IRS employee, was mysteriously killed in an auto accident, while the agent running the investigation was brutally murdered. Now special agent Karen Frost takes over the case but needs a new insider to jumpstart it. The seasoned FBI agent bides her time, making her selection and then waiting for the right moment to make contact, well aware that SoftCorp monitors its employees. She manages to get Michael a message about the criminal agenda lurking beneath the surface of SoftCorp.
Now Ryan is forced to use his computer skills to seek the truth behind his company's facade, peeling through the layers of software that disguise a conspiracy reaching beyond SoftCorp and the local branch of the IRS. His search leads him north, to the nation's capital, where an inner circle of politicians and businessmen who consider themselves above the law are conspiring to reshape our nation's future. What they do not realize is that they are puppets in a show masterminded by a man with a single agenda—an agenda that could bring the nation to the brink of nuclear destruction.
But Mike Ryan has also fallen in the sights of the FBI. The bureau suspects that SoftCorp and the IRS are smuggling millions of dollars out of the country. The feds, however, can't prove it. The FBI's previous informant, an IRS employee, was mysteriously killed in an auto accident, while the agent running the investigation was brutally murdered. Now special agent Karen Frost takes over the case but needs a new insider to jumpstart it. The seasoned FBI agent bides her time, making her selection and then waiting for the right moment to make contact, well aware that SoftCorp monitors its employees. She manages to get Michael a message about the criminal agenda lurking beneath the surface of SoftCorp.
Now Ryan is forced to use his computer skills to seek the truth behind his company's facade, peeling through the layers of software that disguise a conspiracy reaching beyond SoftCorp and the local branch of the IRS. His search leads him north, to the nation's capital, where an inner circle of politicians and businessmen who consider themselves above the law are conspiring to reshape our nation's future. What they do not realize is that they are puppets in a show masterminded by a man with a single agenda—an agenda that could bring the nation to the brink of nuclear destruction.
- GenresFiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2001
49 people want to read
About the author
R.J. Piñeiro
34 books52 followersBorn in Cuba and raised in Central America, R.J. Pineiro spent several years in the midst of civil wars before migrating to the United States in the late 1970s, first to Florida to attended Florida Air Academy in Melbourne. There, RJ earned a pilot's license and high school diploma in 1979, before heading to Louisiana for college.
R.J. earned a degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1983 and joined the high-tech industry in Austin Texas, working in computer chip design, test, and manufacturing.
In the late 1980s R.J. began studying to become a novelist. Reading everything from classical literature to contemporary novels, R.J.'s love of storytelling became uncontrollable. Using an aging personal computer, R.J. decided to launch a writing career.
R.J.'s first published work, SIEGE OF LIGHTNING, a novel about a sabotaged space shuttle, was released by Berkley/Putnam in May of 1993. A second novel, ULTIMATUM, about a second Gulf War scenario, was released the following year, 1994, by Forge Books, which went on to publish R.J.'s next 12 novels over the following 13 years.
In 2015, R.J. teamed up with TV News military analyst Colonel David Hunt to kick off the "Hunter Stark Book Series." The first book in the series, WITHOUT MERCY, about ISIS gaining acquiring nuclear weapons, was released on 3.7.17. The second book, WITHOUT FEAR, about the war in Afghanistan, was released on 8.7.18
In 2017, R.J. also teamed up with New York Times bestselling author Joe Weber. The result is ASHES OF VICTORY, a novel of global terrorism and international conflict released by Ignition Books on 9.3.18
In 2018, R.J. penned a nineteenth novel, AVENUE OF REGRETS, a mystery revolving around sex trafficking and domestic abuse released on 11.16.18
R.J. is married to L.M. Pineiro, an artist and jewelry designer. They have one son, Cameron & Daughter-in-Law Sarah, and two crazy dogs, Coco and Zea.
R.J. earned a degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1983 and joined the high-tech industry in Austin Texas, working in computer chip design, test, and manufacturing.
In the late 1980s R.J. began studying to become a novelist. Reading everything from classical literature to contemporary novels, R.J.'s love of storytelling became uncontrollable. Using an aging personal computer, R.J. decided to launch a writing career.
R.J.'s first published work, SIEGE OF LIGHTNING, a novel about a sabotaged space shuttle, was released by Berkley/Putnam in May of 1993. A second novel, ULTIMATUM, about a second Gulf War scenario, was released the following year, 1994, by Forge Books, which went on to publish R.J.'s next 12 novels over the following 13 years.
In 2015, R.J. teamed up with TV News military analyst Colonel David Hunt to kick off the "Hunter Stark Book Series." The first book in the series, WITHOUT MERCY, about ISIS gaining acquiring nuclear weapons, was released on 3.7.17. The second book, WITHOUT FEAR, about the war in Afghanistan, was released on 8.7.18
In 2017, R.J. also teamed up with New York Times bestselling author Joe Weber. The result is ASHES OF VICTORY, a novel of global terrorism and international conflict released by Ignition Books on 9.3.18
In 2018, R.J. penned a nineteenth novel, AVENUE OF REGRETS, a mystery revolving around sex trafficking and domestic abuse released on 11.16.18
R.J. is married to L.M. Pineiro, an artist and jewelry designer. They have one son, Cameron & Daughter-in-Law Sarah, and two crazy dogs, Coco and Zea.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 26, 2020
Very well written with lots of knowledge and research. It started off a bit slow for me but then got to a point where I couldn't put it down.
November 1, 2021
Excellent cyber-thriller!
February 8, 2024
An enjoyable B Movie type thriller. Far fetched in places, but still very readable. It kept me turning pages and rooting for the Ryans and Karen.
July 29, 2010
I enjoyed this one, at least in part because the IRS (or part of it) is the bad guy, and because it's set in Austin TX, so there were a few references to places I've been or seen.
Good action, though it's easy to wonder why the hero and his wife didn't see the trouble coming. I mean, really? The FBI agent is a little off in the head, in my opinion, and not quite real. But humans are not quite real, if you ever get the opportunity to be on the outside looking in at someone's motivations.
Apropos of nothing, the author writes as R J Pineiro, and his first name is Rogelio. I love the way that sounds rolling off my tongue, but then I grew up in South Texas. As a weird quirk, I might even be more likely to buy a book with Rogelio on the cover. :D
Good action, though it's easy to wonder why the hero and his wife didn't see the trouble coming. I mean, really? The FBI agent is a little off in the head, in my opinion, and not quite real. But humans are not quite real, if you ever get the opportunity to be on the outside looking in at someone's motivations.
Apropos of nothing, the author writes as R J Pineiro, and his first name is Rogelio. I love the way that sounds rolling off my tongue, but then I grew up in South Texas. As a weird quirk, I might even be more likely to buy a book with Rogelio on the cover. :D
May 13, 2008
I'm slightly embarrassed that I didn't just put this down and not finish it. In my defense, I was bored. It's a thriller, but not a page-turner. I managed to understand it without really understanding the vast amounts of programming and virtual reality mumbo jumbo. It was not worthy of one star, because it was mildly interesting, but it has swearing and "scenes" I wouldn't recommend it.
May 4, 2008
If you liked The Firm, then you will like this book. Very similiar plot although it got a beef up in the technical department, which I enjoyed.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews