Quantum Chiller

by Rubin Johnson

The sizzle of quantum computing is breaking cryptography—unraveling secrets and cracking passwords. Lee Wilson, tech whiz and salesman, is marketing that sizzle. Now, his company has attracted attention from intelligence agencies, anti-secrecy hackers, and the criminal element. A mysterious dead body in his lab is only the beginning of his troubles.

Lee learns that not everyone likes change, especially not disruptive quantum leaps. With the calendar closing in on the company’s initial public offering, pressure mounts for Lee to figure out what is going on. Then the threat gets personal and Lee must act—to save his technology, his company, and his family.

Quantum Chiller, a techno-thriller, explores the impact of disruptive technology in the idyllic Southern California town of Mayberry in the near future.

Genres: Fiction

338 pages, Paperback

Published June 6, 2017

About the author

Intent on squashing memories of his formal academic education, Rubin took to the road for over a year of adventure travel—backpacking first across Africa, and then across Asia.

Being schooled by the world enhanced life lessons and fostered even more appreciation of history, economics, science, and literature. With luck, some of these ideas inform Rubin's writing.

Rubin is an avid endurance athlete having completed multiple Ironman distances including IM Canada and IM Lake Tahoe. When he writes, his Chesapeake Bay retriever, Hunter, is often nearby.

Find out more from the website mayberryoil.com.

Reviews

[Elizabeth Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate enough to serve as a beta reader for this book and receive a free copy.
Readers of Johnson's previous Mayberry Multi-Sport Mysteries might be expecting more teenage sleuths solving crimes with technology in the near future, but that's not what Quantum Chiller is. This is a modern thriller with an adult protagonist. Lee Wilson, a minor character from Well-Oiled is front and center. He is a grown man, not a teenage boy, and his problems are fittingly more complex and serious. Lee deals with everything from corporate espionage, debt, money laundering, fatherhood, and national security. Parents may want to give this a quick skim before handing it to a 12 year old, something that I would not say about previous Mayberry stories.
The action centers around Lee and his company and their invention of a prototype quantum computing chip. While still in trials, the chip is stolen. Suspicion swirls and Lee is forced to go on the run to clear his name. Like previous Mayberry books, Quantum Chiller boasts a complex plot full of supporting characters inhabiting a convincing and compelling vision of the near future of (mostly) California.
It is, in my opinion, the strongest Mayberry story to date.

[Kilby Blades · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quantum Chiller is the story of an innovator, Lee, who develops a quantum computing technology so disruptive that it (predictably) attracts the interest of government agencies, profiteers, and cybervillains. As the CEO of his enterprise, Lee is focused on launching a successful IPO, which will not only require to him develop a fully-tested, fully-viable version of his flagship product but also finds him negotiating a tense relationship with his bank, which attempts to strongarm Lee into restructuring their deal prior to the offering.

Saboteurs are everywhere, and the book is, essentially about Lee trying to sidestep various forces working to obtain the technology so that he can save his jeopardized company and pursue his own plan for commercialization. A loan shark smells money and wants to get Lee under his thumb in order to get in on the deal. Constant evidence of hacking and cybertheft hint at players eager to snoop and steal. It is implied that government agencies are circling and, indeed, later in the book this turns out to be true. With all parties working in the background toward their own agendas, myriad obstacles, each one larger than the last fall in Lee's path. A visit to jail, a murder attempt, a chase, and Lee's subsequent re-emergence all play out over the course of this lengthy novel before culminating in an end that I won't spoil.

The story concept and writing were very strong, but the editorial choices (particularly the pacing) killed what could have been an award-winning novel. At nearly 500 pages, this story is simply too long, and slows significantly toward the middle. Though interesting characters and situations are introduced throughout, many of the sub-plots and secondary characters Johnson chooses are either inessential or only partially realized.

Most notably, there was a big miss in the relationship between Lee and his wife. When Lee finds himself fighting for his life, it is fitting that what he cares about most is returning to, and protecting, his family. The relationship between he and his wife is on the rocks (which has the potential tension) but Johnson never really convinces us that there's much glue holding them together. Lee is a workaholic absentee husband but, apart from fond memories of their much earlier relationship, it's not clear why he's still with her, or she with him (maybe for the kids?). Later in the book, when a strong reunion/recommitment could have been a nice cherry on top of a few other things, Johnson never really seems to resolve a relationship that he took the time to highlight.

With that said, this will be a good read, particularly for someone who likes exciting themes and a slow burn. Four stars.

[Justin Bohardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good Crichtoneque techno thriller with some near-future science fiction elements that really kept me gripped for the first 2/3 of the book. It does bog down a little bit between the complicating incident (not wanting to spoil that) and the climax, but the ending is rewarding for those who push through. I really enjoyed this look into a potential future of humanity and how many emergent technologies that we see in our present are in uniform use in Johnson's world.

I would echo some of the comments that there is a large amount of techno-babble bandied about by some of the characters that gets limited explanation. Again using Crichton as an example, in his books, there is always a Luddite character that gets the tech explained to him, so that the reader can have a better understanding of what is going on.

Overall though, I would certainly recommend.

[Shari Branning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still trying to figure out if this is more science- fiction, or thriller, or what. The term 'spec-fic' comes to mind, since Quantum is set within the next two decades, and Johnson fills in imagined leaps in technology that seem pretty realistic to expect.

After starting off with a bang-- or more accurately, a dead body, this turned into slow-burn technical mystery/thriller with a lot of complexity. Seems everyone wants a piece of protagonist Lee Wilson and his company, Q-CHLR (Love that name!) The straightforward style and overall feel to the writing reminded me a bit of the few James Patterson books I've read, while the technical complexity, which I appreciate, but don't understand in the least, reminded me of trying to plow through Tom Clancy's Red October. I'm giving this four stars, more because of the book's quality than my actual enjoyment of it. Part of that is probably from being too busy and trying to catch a few paragraphs here and there, which didn't allow for really getting sucked into the story, and part of it is...simply stated, this is definately a guy's book. Not that gals can't enjoy men's fiction, or vice-versa, but it's not my typical go-to genre. I do occasionally read thrillers, etc, enough to know that Johnson's writing is pretty solid for what he's doing.

My biggest complaint with the book is that there seems to be a little bit of an emotional disconnect. I really didn't feel it, if that makes sense. It wasn't any huge, glaring issues, or bad writing, or even bad characterization per se, and characters emotional responses to their situations seemed right, for the most part. It's hard to really pin down, but I never felt like I really got to KNOW the characters, or to care about them over much. There was just something missing there. Which was why I cited that I'm probably not the target audience. I think if you're reading it because you love a complex plot, lots of detail, and an amazing amount of research/realism, along with some pretty awesome action sequences, then this is definitely for you, in which case the lack of emotional grounding probably wouldn't be as annoying to you.

Overall, well done! My favorite part of the book is this awesome father/son scene where they're making a Father's Day breakfast together and where dad is explaining both how to make waffles as well as his trip to jail to a young son. AWWWWWWWW (see that girly comment there? Mwaahahahah. Couldn't resist). Oh, and the archery. That was pretty sweet as well.

[Scott Spotson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quantum Chiller is quite a different book. It’s almost like an intellectual, entrepreneurial version of a thriller. Science fiction… not so much, more like a thriller and chase. The only science fiction is imagining the future in 2034… instead of smartphones, citizens use holos. Not sure how a holo is different from a smartphone—it’s not really described in the book—but it seems more functional, as it can project holographs, like reports or photos. And, law firms use artificial intelligence to offer on-call services and use a robot to figure out basic needs when you call in. Love the housebots though, the robots that clean your house as you wish and even offer services personally like pour you a glass of cold wine. So, incremental technology.

Since the book has many brilliant and yet clunky moments, I’ll draw up a list of strengths and drawbacks.

Strengths:

The author sure knows his stuff about entrepreneurship, corporate governance, and computer programming. I kept imagining that the author had already done start-up technology ventures and initiating initial public offerings for stock. Although it dragged down the book at times, I was impressed with the depth.

There is a good story in there about having a product that is too popular and too vital to many interests of deep state agencies and corporations. This book basically explains that it doesn’t matter what your intentions are or how good they are, if someone feels threatened and has the vast resources, they will kill to get it. This is a plausible story line and the author used it well.

Grammar, spelling, and punctuation was perfect as far as I could tell in this long book. No typos.

The author is keen about this story, and it shows.

Drawbacks:

First of all, the name Lee. I keep thinking Lee is a woman’s name, but by the time I was underway, I managed to keep it straight.

This book can be full of detailed scientific, computer, or corporate gobbledygook that makes it hard to follow. For example, this passage: “Your system gets qubit state from the software running on the supercomputer, not by polling the coprocessor chip, right?” And this is very persistent all throughout the book.

The author is careful to sprinkle in the dutiful and housekeeping tidbit that Lee is thinking of his loved ones from time to time, but the overall impression is that Lee doesn’t worry about his life. He doesn’t feel the pain of his loved ones as they should worry about him. Even his loved ones don’t seem to feel sorrow or anguish from Lee being in danger all the time. It seems like the entire book is about Lee going off on a tour of Switzerland and being chased by an angry storeowner demanding his money back. That’s the emotion I felt in this book.

In a similar vein, Lee, who is not trained in intelligence gathering or combat by a dedicated agency or government, seems to bounce off from one near-death experience to the next. He shrugs it off each time and gets into danger again, like walking into a store. He doesn’t sweat or change his behaviour to be more cautious. Either he has no emotion processing like that of a normal human, or he’s quite an idiot.

The targeted plane subplot seemed to be unbelievable. First of all, bad guys don’t do that, no matter how evil they are… terrorists against nation-states or ideology may do that, but not cunning crooks who want just one thing. Secondly, I can’t believe the pilots of such a plane couldn’t simply use hand controls—they’re always trained to do that. Thirdly, if the bad guys can access the inner workings of the plane, they can certainly also target the passenger list, live and updated. Fourth, the passenger list is up-to-date as of the moment the plane leaves—see those ticket agents at the boarding station, and the family would have known within minutes of the crash what happened to Lee, and the public would find out hours later.

Some moments in the book were far-fetched… mainly those involving a bow and arrow. Yes, a bow and arrow are pretty lethal, but there’s a reason they’re not used in modern combat (never mind Green Arrow)—they’re too slow in a shoot-‘em-out game.

The pacing overall is quite uneven. Sometimes Lee would be in danger, then he chats with his family, then back to danger again. Sometimes, Lee just seems lucky with all his escapes. See comments above about the lackadaisical nature of this thriller. Everyone seems very relaxed. And what’s with scooping up ice cream in a cold lab? How’s that possible? Where does the sugar and cream come from? If it’s just thick frost layered over like that in an old freezer, why would they love the taste of it? This does not occur once, but many times, so that made me scratch my head.

[Wesley Higaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quantum Chiller is a self-published techno-thriller by Rubin Johnson. Set in the year 2034, where holos replace smartphones; autonav driverless cars are commonplace; and quantum computing is nearly a reality; the main character, Lee Wilson, CEO of Quantum Computing Hybrid Logic Research (Q-CHLR) struggles to stay alive while getting his company to its initial public offering.
The story opens with Lee finding a dead body in his computer room where his company’s key technology, the Q-CHLR chip was being tested. Quantum computing is a hot technology topic. It offers the promise of being the “next big thing.” Lee’s company is developing a computer chip that could make quantum computing a reality. This makes it a target for many with differing objectives.
The US intelligence agency (CSA) wants to own and control Lee’s unproven quantum computing technology because they see it as a threat to national security. With the power of quantum computing, all of the nation’s secrets could be exposed. Chinese intelligence (PLA) wants the tech for the same reason. The banks wants the Q-CHLR chip out in the public because they see it as a way to destroy its main rival, bitcoin by breaking its cryptography. A whistle-blowing organization (Leaking Aid) wants the tech out in the public and out of the government’s control.
At every turn, Lee is confronted with obstacles. His banker wants to take over his company; he can be neutralized if Lee can come up with $200,000. A shady gambler makes Lee an offer he can’t refuse. That deal goes awry. Someone has introduced a counterfeit chip resulting in overly-optimistic test results. Someone tries to kill Lee. Someone steals the counterfeit chip. Someone else tries to kill Lee.
This novel is a self-published work. It avoids the formulaic, predictable feel of mystery/thrillers from large publishing houses. It is well-edited; unlike many works I’ve read recently form the large publishing houses.
The author obviously knows a lot about cycling, archery, cryptography, ice cream making, and Native-American rituals. I rate this book four stars out of five because there are sections of the book that drift off-topic. There is a fine line between providing the reader with enough detail to produce a vivid picture of the setting and the characters in the reader’s mind and boring them with too much detail. There are points in this book where I found myself skipping ahead past some technical details (e.g., specific computer commands and how to make ice cream) because they were not important to advancing the story.

[Ryan Troske · Rating 3 out of 5]

For starters, Quantum chiller doesn't seem to fit in a typical sci-fi mold. Not to say it wasn't a good read, or entertaining, but there didn't seem to be very many sci-fi elements to it at all. I think it would be better to market it differently, but that's just me.

The story started off well, a good opening chapter leaving the reader with lots of questions and a cliffhanger ending: quantum computers, a dead body, etc. From there, though, things slowed down considerably for awhile. At times it was a struggle to get through a chapter, finding myself getting easily distracted by other things rather than being immersed in the story. The plot wasn't bad, but there seemed to be a bit of filler that could've been cut out.

Lee and Mel's relationship, though supposed to be strained at times, seemed unreal. The way they talked to one another, diverting everything, not expressing any emotions. There's no communication, but then everything is always just shrugged off. Who does that?

I found it odd that when Lee visited a bike store, the owner let him, a stranger, crash there for the night and have him lock up? No one is THAT trusting, and probably for good reason. I realize at times you need something to move the story along to the next scene, but it needs to be more believable.

A fight in a bus station and now some strange woman is offering to run away and harbor Lee for awhile? What is the mindset of these people?

Near the end of the book, the confrontation the trail was just terrible. Dialogue was laughable, no sense of believability, and no emotion or anything about two friends dying. They react and talk like robots. Just was not a good scene.

Overall, this was not a bad read, but has room for improvements. There were a number of characters that could have used more dimension and development. Lots of questions left unanswered about some of the "bad guys" and who they really were and such.

The idea of a quantum computer was pretty interesting. The implications of what it is capable of create endless possibilities, but also the fear it could instill brings up questions of if such a thing should see the light of day. Essentially that is the battle throughout the book. If you're into computers and tech-savvy, you'd probably enjoy the story and the language used. Though not exactly what I'd consider sci-fi, it was an interesting read.

[Lisa Yung · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the author was creative in his work and I could tell that he had fun writing it. I like how the author immediately captures the attention of his readers by starting off with the presence of a mysterious dead body. This engages the reader, making him/her wonder about the “who” and “why.” The author keeps his audience always thinking and guessing throughout the whole book. There were times when I had to re-read certain parts in order to understand what was going on in the story. I felt that the flow is often interrupted by many “dense” parts in that there are a lot of details and characters to keep track of. Thus, I often had to pay close attention to those details or else I would become lost later. Near the end is when it really ties together, finally unraveling the mystery.
Knowing the author personally, I enjoyed reading about the thoughts and values of the main character which might have reflected the author’s own thoughts and values. I see that the author took more risks in this work and had more style in his writing. Having read his other past novels, I do see improvement in his story-writing, such as where he chose to summarize and where he chose to explain in great detail, and also in the story’s pace of actionable events. There were certain things about the story that made it fun and interesting to read, such as the main character’s kick-ass karate moves and adroit archery skills, and the characters’ frequent consumption of liquid nitrogen ice cream. The novel is very futuristic but, at the same time, we still see traditional family values reflected in the characters. This is a refreshing element to the story and makes the characters relatable to the reader. Overall, I thought the plot was quite interesting and complex.

Note: This review is based on a non-computer science person’s perspective.

[Elizabeth Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-written book bogged down by technical jargons.
Do I love the concept of the book? A technology that is ahead of its time and could really change the world but would that be for the better? The answer is Yes I do. If looked at it from an intellectual perspective, I could understand how Lee, would want, something he created in his mind to make the world better out there, at the same time, make him into a billionaire. However, from the security aspect, I also could understand why different intelligent agencies from different countries wanted the same technology out of his hands which then put him at risk so many times. He seemed to face so many obstacles each wanting his creation for themselves or hoping to stop it. Like I said, this book is a very well thought out and well researched, the author seems to know what he is talking about the only drawback was the jargons, that almost always drew me out of the plot. Hence the reason I scored it a three.