Fatal Encryption Debra Purdy Kong Fiction - Mystery Reviewed for ReadersFavorite.com
Debra Purdy Kong reprises her lead character, Alex Bellamy, in her book Fatal Encryption. This book begins with a murder and Alex in a frog costume. Alex takes a job at McKinleys’ Department Stores as a system analyst. Someone is threatening to encrypt their system permanently. Alex delights in a challenge, but is he up to this one? Debra Purdy Kong writes with a flair for technology. Fatal Encryption has a timely plot. The thought of Alex in a frog costume brings humor and depth to his character. This is an entertaining read. Mystery readers will love it.

 

Fran Lewis	5.0 / 5
Fatal Encryption by Debra Purdy Kong Reviewed by Fran Lewis There are many ways that corporations and even the FBI and CIA hide information from the public to insure our safety. But, there are many hackers or as the more dangerous are called crackers who can decipher and break the codes or infiltrate the information to attack our country or destroy a company with one stroke on a computer keyboard. Encryption means you make the files unreadable and no one can access them unless they have an encryption key. The files will stay encrypted until they are unencrypted and allow the company to do business with them unless the hackers find a way to permanently place a lock on them. This is not only true of financial records information imparted through any communication system. How frightening! This brings me to my review of a mind stimulating and important novel, Fatal Encryption by Debra Purdy Kong. With the world as it is today and so many countries including our own having to worry about too much information being imparted over the airwaves and to the public, this novel definitely gives us pause for thought and much contemplation. How can we protect our financial institutions and our businesses from hackers? Are their private encryption keys that are so powerful that no one can get into them or decrypt the messages that are being sent? After you read this novel you decide just how safe we are and what you think needs to be done to make sure that what might happen in this novel does not happen to you. To what lengths would someone go to ruin a company? Why would anyone want to ruin McKinley’s Department Stores? How can a hacker or cracker as they call them get into the financial records of a company’s financial computer system and delete them? How can this same person manage to encrypt the files and then unencrypted them until they decide to permanently delete them? Who is blackmailing and threatening the McKinley’s for 10 million dollars if they want their system to be up and operational? Someone wants to permanently encrypt the store’s data and burn it to the ground if they do not receive this money? There are so many suspects and so many that want to derail the company, the owners and many who work for them. Just who? I won’t tell. Enter Alex Bellamy computer system analyst and main character of this novel. His job is to find out who the hacker is and possibly find out who killed Zachary Ternoway and why. Practical jokes and pranks played by this person, emails that change the numbers on accounts and files and more will keep Alex busy and possibly away embroiled in something quite dangerous. But the suspect’s mount up and time is running short and the end result would be catastrophic if the key to encryption key is not found. But who has it and how will he get in time will keep you guessing until the very end. Outstanding novel by a great author and a must read for everyone

 

Fran Lewis	5.0 / 5
Fatal Encryption by Debra Purdy Kong Reviewed by Fran Lewis There are many ways that corporations and even the FBI and CIA hide information from the public to insure our safety. But, there are many hackers or as the more dangerous are called crackers who can decipher and break the codes or infiltrate the information to attack our country or destroy a company with one stroke on a computer keyboard. Encryption means you make the files unreadable and no one can access them unless they have an encryption key. The files will stay encrypted until they are unencrypted and allow the company to do business with them unless the hackers find a way to permanently place a lock on them. This is not only true of financial records information imparted through any communication system. How frightening! This brings me to my review of a mind stimulating and important novel, Fatal Encryption by Debra Purdy Kong. With the world as it is today and so many countries including our own having to worry about too much information being imparted over the airwaves and to the public, this novel definitely gives us pause for thought and much contemplation. How can we protect our financial institutions and our businesses from hackers? Are their private encryption keys that are so powerful that no one can get into them or decrypt the messages that are being sent? After you read this novel you decide just how safe we are and what you think needs to be done to make sure that what might happen in this novel does not happen to you. To what lengths would someone go to ruin a company? Why would anyone want to ruin McKinley’s Department Stores? How can a hacker or cracker as they call them get into the financial records of a company’s financial computer system and delete them? How can this same person manage to encrypt the files and then unencrypted them until they decide to permanently delete them? Who is blackmailing and threatening the McKinley’s for 10 million dollars if they want their system to be up and operational? Someone wants to permanently encrypt the store’s data and burn it to the ground if they do not receive this money? There are so many suspects and so many that want to derail the company, the owners and many who work for them. Just who? I won’t tell. Enter Alex Bellamy computer system analyst and main character of this novel. His job is to find out who the hacker is and possibly find out who killed Zachary Ternoway and why. Practical jokes and pranks played by this person, emails that change the numbers on accounts and files and more will keep Alex busy and possibly away embroiled in something quite dangerous. But the suspect’s mount up and time is running short and the end result would be catastrophic if the key to encryption key is not found. But who has it and how will he get in time will keep you guessing until the very end. Outstanding novel by a great author and a must read for everyone

 

Sandra Carey Cody	5.0 / 5
FATAL ENCRYPTION starts off comically with Alex Bellamy on his way to a party dressed as Kermit the Frog. The pseudo-scary special effects of Halloween become real when a party guest returns home and finds her front door blocked. She manages to get the door open far enough to see her brother-in-law crumpled on the floor, oozing blood, with a steak knife nearby. Alex is drawn into the murder investigation when he accepts a temporary job as systems analyst at McKinley Department Stores and is challenged to find out who has hacked into their computer system and has the ability to permanently encrypt their database. The stakes are increased when the hacker demands ten million dollars and threatens to burn down the store if his demands are not met. In order to find out who is responsible, Alex has to sort through a list of suspects that includes a number of unhappy employees, both past and present, as well the McKinley siblings, whose dysfunctional relationships mirror his own family. In addition, he has to deal with other unresolved aspects of his past and a very real threat to his life. Kong keeps the story moving with a lot of action and an effective "ticking clock" created by the hacker's deadline. There are a lot of characters in the story but she has given each of them a distinct personality so it's not hard to keep them straight. While I'm not a computer expert, the technical parts of the plot seemed plausible and very relevant in today's world. I would recommend FATAL ENCRYPTION, especially to anyone interested in the irony of how we are made vulnerable by the technology upon which we have become dependent.

 

Lila L. Pinord	4.0 / 5
Fatal Encryption is a very well-done Who-done-it and Alex Bellamy is one heckofa puzzle solver. The book is not only a good mystery, it also delves into the dynamics of human relationships surrounding the McKinley family - owners of a chain of department stores where a computer hacker threatens their very existence- and Alex's insecure ties to his own family, his ex-girlfriend versus a new nicer girlfriend. All in all, it is a wonderful story that keeps us guessing until the very end. Watch out! The culprit is not who you think it is! Recommended for those who love a good, intelligent, mystery.

 

Susan Jane	5.0 / 5
You know a book is good when you talk out loud to the characters. I did a lot of that while reading Debra Purdy kong's excellent Fatal Encryption. I gave them good advice, but they just wouldn't listen, and so I had to worry about Alex and Tristan constantly.This happens, of course, because you care about the characters. And you will. Alex Bellamy is a computer systems-analyst solving security problems. This leads him into danger and he handles it like a real detective. A strong man of action, he can also dress up like Kermit the Frog for a Halloween party to please his girlfriend. I have a crush on Alex, and don't tell me he isn't real, because he is. His pal Tristan is also endearing, coping with raising his baby daughter alone while helping Alex fight crime. This was a great mystery, made greater by all these human touches. It was exciting and entertaining and I never guessed who the killer was, another sign of a deft writer. I hope we get another Alex Bellamy mystery soon. Please? Then I can once again say: "Tristan, you idiot, don't--!

 

L. Brandau	4.0 / 5
In Fatal Encryption, the author brings together the old and the new. The book is a well thought out mystery that combines computer geeks and old fashioned detective work. The book is dialog heavy in the style of the mysteries in which the "Inspector" questions suspects and listens in on conversations. In Fatal Encryption it is not an inspector, but Alex, a computer specialist. When he gets caught up in a family business, he just can't help getting involved when someone connected to the business turns up dead. There are quite a few characters to keep track of with the large family, their spouses, lovers, employees and friends, but then that makes for more suspects in the murder. The characters are likeable especially Alex and his friend Tristan, the single dad trying to take care of his baby. The twists and turns will keep the reader guessing until the end. Fatal Encryption is the second Alex Bellamy mystery.

 

Gloria Feit	3.0 / 5
Alex Bellamy, 28-year-old Chartered Accountant and computer geek who had been working as a temp, decides against his better judgment to accept a job as systems analyst for the family-owned McKinleys' Department Stores. Three successive men had left the position or been fired, and the stores' computers have been the target of pranks. Alex decides that virtual vandalism is a worthy objective for his talents and in fact, since normally he merely sets up systems and gets rid of viruses for his clients, thinks it might be an `intriguing challenge.' Little does he know. No sooner does he accept the job than the family receives threats which escalate from huge ransom demands to promises of retaliation ranging from a fatal encryption of the entire computer system used by all stores in the chain [the main store plus 21 satellite stores], to the burning down of the main store. The stakes are raised when the brother of a man who had been fired from the store is murdered. Could the killer and the hacker be one and the same? The suspects are, among others, "a disgruntled systems analyst, an employer close to bankruptcy, and a controller who couldn't keep his mouth shut." The book is all about family dysfunction, from the McKinleys themselves to Alex [who had always been made to feel like the family failure when he rejected joining the Bellamy family's successful hotel empire] and various others around whom the plot revolves. Some of the writing felt somewhat stilted, e.g., "Just as I feared. Either the culprit, or his accomplice, works among us." The plot points first to one suspect as the most likely, then to another, then to another, and so on. After a while this began to feel repetitious, and the book might have benefited from some judicious editing. But the suspense builds to an exciting conclusion. Among other unknown-to-me facts I picked up from the novel were the distinction between a "hack" and a "cracker," the former being someone who just wants to learn, the latter someone who wants to harm, and the definition of `encryption," i.e., converting data into code which makes it inaccessible.

 

poetrylover	4.0 / 5
I love books, you give me a good horror novel, or mystery and I am putty in your hands. Recently, I became familar with a large group of independent authors on Amazon, and they are a classy bunch. As someone who hates mainstream books that change a couple of names and a title, I needed something fresh. I needed depth. Apparently, I needed Miss Kong. While there are some minor things needed editing, it doesn't take away from the story, as a previous review suggested. On the contrary it brings a new vulnerability to the author that makes the read much more enchanting. The book offers, a dark tale written with a drive for mystery. You are sucked in from the very first page and by the mid point your heart is pounding so hard in your chest you have to step away for a moment it really is that good. In a world full of greed, and shady business, you will find this book hits very close to the home of someone you know.

 

Rai Aren	4.0 / 5
Fatal Encryption takes an average guy, Alex Bellamy, and plunks him into a cat-and-mouse game of computer crime and `murder most foul'. The author, Debra Purdy Kong, is a talented writer with a gift for creating detailed plots and settings. Her main character Alex Bellamy is a thoroughly likable and relatable guy, and was my favorite part of the book. His internal dialogue is very funny and he jumps off the page as a `real' character, he is someone the reader identifies with and easily roots for. Fatal Encryption is a very good mystery that will keep you guessing the whole way... Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands

 

Julie Ferguson	4.0 / 5
This is the second in Purdy Kong's Alex Bellamy mystery series. I always enjoy a well crafted, well written mystery novel and "Fatal Encryption" is one of them. Not only does it have a gripping plot and three dimensional characters, there is a well-woven subtext throughout. See if you can figure that out while you try to identify the killer. This is the type of book that makes you long for the next in the series as you approach the end - a page turner with more depth than most.

 

Todd A. Fonseca	4.0 / 5
Halloween--Port Moody, British Columbia: Unable to join the trick-or-treating fun due to the chicken pox, one young suburban girl is the sole witness to a costumed reveler responsible for brutal premeditated murder. Nearby, the wife of the victim's brother storms home from a party and finds the body. But why was he killed? What did he know? Alex Bellamy a young computer geek in need of work takes a contract job to solve recent network and computer glitches at his girlfriend's company. He soon learns that the glitches are more than just pranks. In fact, all of the computers vital records are encrypted by an extortionist threatening to destroy all of the records or pay ten million dollars to save the company. Soon Bellamy is engulfed in a whirlwind of corporate greed and believes that not only is the company at risk but lives as well; the suburban murder and the young girls knowledge is the key to unlocking the conspirators' identity. In his zeal to debug the company's computer system and solve the murder, Bellamy finds his as well as his friends and families lives are in danger. Debra Purdy Kong's book "Fatal Encryption" is an entertaining mystery full of back room corporate deals, family squabbles and power plays, secret affairs, and murder. I enjoyed this novel. Kong creates multiple plausible suspects throughout the story leaving the reader guessing all the way until the end. I was also surprised by how bold and brave Alex Bellamy was throughout the book. He frequently questioned potential suspects telling them how he believed they committed various crimes which if true would have put him in grave danger as in most situations he was alone with these potential killers. Reminiscent of "Murder She Wrote", "Fatal Encryption" features an everyday guy with good observational and deductive skills who solves a crime. Kong has created an interested character and I look forward to the next Alex Bellamy mystery.

 

Cheryl Tardif	4.0 / 5
Fatal Encryption is a corporate caper with plenty of twists and turns, and an assortment of appealing characters that will keep you guessing. Debra Purdy-Kong's newest novel offers a well-plotted modern day mystery that is reminiscent of the classic whodunnits, and her amateur sleuth Alex Bellamy makes for an interesting, yet flawed, hero. A great beach read!" --Cheryl Kaye Tardif, Author of Divine Intervention