In BLACKQUEST 40, a ruse corporate training exercise seeks to trick genius coder Deb Bollinger and her colleagues into writing a program that will hack an unbreakable security system. But Deb isn’t just smart, she’s tough, too, showing the “trainers” they may have met their match.
Genius new hire Deborah “Deb” Bollinger walks into her office at Codewise Solutions on what she believes will be a typical day. But corporate trainers roam the floors, ready to start what they say is a team building exercise. But the truth that unfolds is far more sinister. Deb first tries to avoid the training, but her company needs cash. Her bosses demand she participate. And soon, the trainers from Elite use muscle and blackmail to force her to take part.
BLACKQUEST 40 sizzles with intrigue and action. Set in a corporate building in San Francisco and taking place in just over a 24-hour period, author Jeff Bond weaves an entertaining story filled with deceit, robots, Russians, and tech entrepreneurs that all combine to give the reader a reason to flip pages furiously to find out what might happen next. Bond manages to make software coding the plot driver for a novel, proving that good writing, wonderful twists and great characters undergird any good book.
Deb is a character worth caring about. She’s complicated and, underneath her tough exterior, vulnerable. Her mother suffers from mental illness and she grew up homeless, toughening her but also giving her a compassion for those people who fall outside the margins of society. As the novel progresses, Bond places her in situations that show both her grit and her goodness. Deb is an unlikely hero, but like all heroes, she rises to the task at each turn – whether fighting off armed attackers, inventing a phone app to house the homeless, or defusing an explosion with flawless coding under severe time constraints.
BLACKQUEST 40 sparkles with imagination. Code flies from keyboards, setting off ingenious flying devices, hatching plots and subplots and, ultimately, giving heroes the chance to help the good guys win. This book is a delight, and one readers should download right away.
~Greg Rideout for IndieReader