The Decryption Engine

by Philip Marks

In February 1943 the war is faltering on the Eastern front and a German SS major will risk all when an unauthorised Enigma message offers blueprints of an atomic weapon in exchange for a Russian national treasure. In May 2017, Professor Simon Millar finally makes sense of something no-one could expect - signals from his experiments in archives from 1943. As he prepares an announcement that will shock the world he finds a new message, and realises he’s terribly wrong. When ex-soldier, Ben Millar, travels to the Royal Observatory of Edinburgh after receiving a call about his brother’s state of mind, he finds the physicist dead - a suspected suicide after claiming responsibility for a terror attack - and the girl who found the body is fleeing in his brother’s car. With her help, Ben must stop a self-proclaimed treasure hunter sending messages to the past, messages that have caused a reaction in wartime Europe, a reaction which has left a sudden radiation hazard, not from a terror attack, but from research the messages have initiated seventy years earlier.

197 pages, Paperback

Published December 4, 2016

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in a few different timelines, this book is intriguing and enigmatic till the end. As such it also takes a little more dedication I found to follow the two separate but intertwined plot lines as the author switched back and forth between them. The change in point of views as well as the timelines was smooth and swift each time and there were no grammatical errors that tripped me up.
What are the connections between the German SS major from 1943 and the Scientist in England living in 2017? Why did the scientist appear to commit suicide? And why is the lone witness trying to flee in the victim’s car? Ben Millar, the scientists brother travels to Edinburgh to try and piece together the mystery and at the same time try to stop a nuclear/ radiation fallout. A ruthless treasure Hunter stands in his way, and will stop at nothing to get at treasures that should best be left alone. Will Ben and Lily be able to stop him in time?

[RR.Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book and after reading the synopsis in the Kindle store, knew I had to download it. The concept of a story being set in several different time periods in one book really intrigued me. I also loved the fact that parts of the book set in the past were set during world war two, since many stories, movies and dramas work really well during this period in history. I'm glad I read it too, since the author, Philip Marks, has executed this idea perfectly. The different stories of our protagonists ran perfectly alongside each other as the book unfolded and the mystery revealed itself slowly. The chapters were short and snappy and the way the book was written switching from scene to scene made it easy for me to see it clearly in my head. As a result, I could really see this book being turned into a movie easily.

[Pegboard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The flow of this book is fast, switching from the years 2017 to 1943. It starts in Edinburg, Scotland, with the death of Professor Millar. His discovery should earn him the next Nobel Prize, but he must be silenced in order to allow a thief to steal an artifact that has been lost for seventy years.
It then changes to Major Kessler of the year 1943. He is accused of having and using unauthorized German naval codes for his own use. The conflict begins when the breech is more important that the deadly information about a weapon that would insure the Germans win the war.
It is quite evident that the author, Philip Marks, loves history around the WWII period, and is rather knowledge about the decrypting that was necessary to transfer information secretly. I loved the intensity of this book, and the bound between Lily and Ben (Simon’s brother). But the best part is the twist about the wormhole.

[Chris Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well thought out plot and well written, with just a few typos here and there. Identifiable characters and fast pacing makes the adventure very readable.

[Sdan12 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intricate plot and thrilling action
The hero of this thriller is a British ex-military man, who is told that his brother has committed suicide. His brother is an eminent physicist who experiments using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. Not being a physicist myself the technical details of these experiment went above my head but that did not matter at all. The plot itself concerns a British spy selling secrets of the new atomic bomb to Nazi Germany in 1943. Two years run in parallel through the story: 2017 where Ben is racing to discover who murdered his brother, and 1943 where the German are arranging to sell a historical treasure in order to get their hands on the secrets which may help them to win the war. It is a tense and credible plot. There are double-crosses and unsavoury henchmen, treacherous secret-service agents and, at the bottom of it all, an unusual gentleman spy who deals in antiquities.

[LyndaVee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very modern thriller, set in May 2017, when ex-soldier ben Millar is summoned to Edinburgh because something has happened to his brother. Professor Simon Millar is assumed to have committed suicide but Ben refuses to believe this. So begins a plot which has Ben struggling to keep one step ahead of the police and the ruthless villains who are out to silence him. His own survival is at stake as he tries to discover who has murdered his brother and why. This search reveals a historical plot to sell British secrets to the Nazis in 1943, and the action jumps between these two timeslots. It is a very inventive story, rich in detail about wartime Britain and modern Europe. The characterisation is also excellent. I loved the implications of misuse of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and was totally caught up in the excellent plot. A very satisfying read.