26 Below (Alaskan Cyber Hunters, #1) by Kimberley Woodhouse
Synopsis /
In her new role as Emergency Operations Centre director for Fairbanks, Alaska, Darcie Phillips prevents disasters. But none of her training can prepare her for the terror that's coming.
As a cybersecurity specialist, Jason Myers is determined to ferret out any threats to the town he now calls home--and that includes his reckless brother and his ecoterrorist friends.
When an old woman's wild prediction--widespread destruction as soon as the Fairbanks temperature falls to 26 below--hits national headlines, neither Darcie nor Jason sees a real risk to anything but tourism.
Then the bodies start dropping.
Darcie is relying on her experience and intelligence to stop a killer; Jason is relying on God to guide the way. They'll have to work together to find the truth and prevent their Alaskan town from becoming a city of nightmares. The first in a thrilling new suspense series from best-selling author Kimberley Woodhouse, 26 Below will delight fans of Lynnette Eason, Irene Hannon, and Lynn Blackburn.
My Thoughts /
The time was coming. They'd do whatever he said for the simple chance to stay alive.
I'm not going to lie, I read this one purely because it was set in Alaska, or more correctly - Fairbanks, Alaska. The rugged, remote terrain of glaciers, the frozen tundra which shelters polar bears, reindeer, and Arctic foxes; the Northern Lights which are visible during winter, and the “midnight sun” during summer. Anything about this area fascinates me.
[I DIGRESS]
I follow a young lady on "Insta" (sejsejlija) who documents her life living in Svalbard. Svalbard is part of the Kingdom of Norway and is located in the Arctic Ocean well north of the Arctic Circle. Her account showcases Svalbard and the surrounding area - from living and working, to its economic and socio-economic development, and I now have a much better understanding of what life is like because of her videos.
[BACK ON TRACK!]
blackout a period during a massive power failure when the lack of electricity for illumination results in utter darkness except from emergency sources, as candles.
In the air, hypothermia can develop in as little as five minutes in temperatures of minus -50°F/-45.5°C in people who are not dressed properly and have exposed skin. At -30°F/-34.4°C, hypothermia can occur in about 10 minutes. Death can occur in under an hour in extremely cold conditions. For the residents of Fairbanks, Alaska, where the temperature is regularly below zero, it's a nightmare scenario.
26 Below is a gripping story that doesn't look at the "what if" scenario, 26 Below goes head-on right into the "when it happens" scenario. Author, Kimberley Woodhouse has written a story of what if/when it happens, set in the deep dark of an Alaskan winter, when there is a massive power failure, and all power goes out.
Natalie hears voices. She's not sure at times whether those voices are real or imagined. The voices she's hearing are saying that once the temperature falls to 26 below zero bad things will happen, and people will die. Natalie wishes Tito was still alive, her husband would know what to do. Because she's unsure, Natalie keeps the voices to herself…..until she realises that she can't keep this information to herself any longer.
Our protagonist, Darcie Phillips, is the newly appointed director of the Emergency Operations Centre in Fairbanks, Alaska. Appointed by the Governor, Darcie has been tasked to get her Department fully operational within a year. But before she's even had a chance to 'warm' her seat, Darcie is faced with a crisis. She has received threats from an unknown group, that once the temperature gets to 26 below, the power grid to the town will be shut down. What if it was a cyber-attack? How quickly will things go from bad to worse? Everybody in town is looking to Darcie Phillips for answers, action, and more importantly, results. With help from her team, including cybersecurity specialist Jason Myers and her 'right hand' personal assistant, Misty; it's a race to find the cyber attacker before 26 below zero, when the bodies will pile up.
This is a bit of a slow burn beginning. Chapter One starts off at 50 Above Zero and from that point on we work our way down the temperature scale.
The descriptions of the setting and its residents rang true, it's obvious that Woodhouse has done her research well. While I'm not a 'techie' (I only know enough to turn my PC on in the morning and log off in the evening), the technical details added into the story surrounding the cyber-attacks were believable scenarios, and again, the author has researched her subject matter well. The first half of the book shuffled along at a slow pace, and it wasn't until you reached zero degrees that the pace heated up.😂
If you would have asked me at any time during the first half of the book, I would have said I wouldn't have bothered with book #2. But then I read the second half. So, ask me now and my answer is a definite 'yes'!