Rubicon

by Barry Childs

RUBICON is the story foreshadowing the next September 11th attack; you want your government leaders to read before the next attack. 

 

RUBICON, a cybersecurity thriller, is an epic battle of good versus evil where Xander Ridge and Paul Ross are locked in a fight to control the ultimate cyberweapon  —hospitals collapse —planes fall from the sky —power and communication grids collapse —financial markets and economies plummet —the fate of the world to hangs by a final thread on the precipice of Armageddon on the hope that Xander Ridge vanquishes Paul Ross. 

 

Imagine that you awoke to sporadic power outages, traffic backing up behind failing traffic control lights, the trains stop running, and a series of bizarre news podcasts sharing odd stories of chaotic financial markets and empty bank accounts.  You roll over, snatch up your phone –the battery almost depleted, and check your bank account –your money is gone.  Your stomach snarls and pits as the fear grips you.  The phone goes dark.  

 

A sinister force helps Iranian agents avenge the assassination of General Soleimani by murdering American and British deep-cover spies and coordinates global cyber-attacks —leaving the world with one Xander Ridge.  Only Xander can stop Ross and his axis of evil. 

 

Paul Ross and his evil partners unleash hell with asymmetrical warfare bringing the world to Hell's precipice.  With the world on the precipice of Armageddon, the American President presses Ridge into service to defeat Paul Ross.

 

Paul, jealous and spiteful of Xander's success, holds firm that he is the preeminent cyberweapon designer.  Paul Ross will stop at nothing —to destroy Xander's life and business to steal Rubicon.   Ross brings the fight to Ridge.  Ross drags Ridge through hell—ceaselessly attacking Ridge's conviction to secure Rubicon. 

 

Ross is incapable of producing a Rubicon-esque cyberweapon.  Ross must force Ridge to use a version to steal Rubicon's code.  Ross unleashes a cyberattack crashing a commercial airliner.  After the crash, Xander realizes that Ross wants Rubicon at any cost.

 

Ross poisons Amelia, Xander's terminally ill daughter, with a dastardly cyberattack altering the chemical makeup of the IV fluids and medicines.  Ross tries to crash Xander's plane.  Unable to kill Ridge, Ross unleashes the cyberweapon on civilian aviation —spinning the world into terror.  Upping the pressure on Ridge, Someone orders an attack on Xander's home, endangering the Ridge family.  

 

Xander must come to terms that he must use Rubicon to stop Paul.  

 

RUBICON is the story that you want to read before the world goes dark.

 

 

328 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 2, 2022

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book, the writing was just too much "tell me" not "show me." The wording and sentence structure was often laborious and ackward.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rubicon is an excellent story that illustrates the drastic consequences when nations fail to think creatively about their defenses. Adversaries continuously try to think outside the box to inflict damage, yet this innovative thought is not always present when creating defense systems.

Barry Childs demonstrates in an exciting and captivating way how these vulnerabilities can allow other nations, sometimes even just an individual, to exploit these weaknesses with minimal resources. The cyberweapons used were not new or special in any sense, and remained relatively the same throughout the story.

An incredibly entertaining read, I feel more informed and interested in what can be accomplished in the cyber realm. Though the vulnerabilities pointed out were worrisome, I am also at ease knowing there are so many people working in the background to protect against these types of attacks.

[Rocco Marcello · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for all!

Rubicon by Barry Childs is a current day exciting thriller that should be on everyone’s “must read” list. It delves into the political, military, and private sector interactions when faced with a serious worldwide crisis brought about by a series of major cyber-attacks. While Rubicon is thrilling fiction, it is based on the author’s intimate knowledge of cyberweapons and how they could easily disrupt and destroy all aspects of today’s day-to day interconnected world if deployed with evil intent. Get a copy of this book and you won’t be disappointed……its clearly headed for best sellers’ status!

Rocco Marcello

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great and fun read. A good thriller set against the present, and a potential future, where the world of physical threats, global politics, and advanced cyber terrorism all merge into a huge page turning, roller coaster ride. I loved the character development in this book, each with their own progression and consequences.

The ending of the book leaves you guessing what's going to happen right to the last page, no one is safe in this story. In the end you ask yourself, especially in our current times, how close we are to this type of evolving threat?

Do yourself the a favor, pick this one up and give it a read! It's a blast!

[Malcolm Gregoire · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't get past the first chapter. The writing was more like a journal or a police report. The cast of characters in the beginning was like a who's who and way too much to ingest. Another misguided story of the threat of the misguided Iranians against the Evil Incarnate America and the rest of the western civilized world.