Category Archives: Black Hat Thriller Series

January 31, 2018 · 11:55 pm

Review: Vanished by Karen E. Olson

Title: Vanished by Karen E. Olson
Black Hat Thriller Series Book Four
Publisher: Severn House
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 224 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Computer hacker Tina Adler heads to Paris, France in search of the truth – but discovers that someone is close on her trail in this tense and twisting thriller. 

With a price on her head, computer hacker Tina Adler is determined to stay offline. Only one person knows how to reach her – and he’s in as much danger as she is.

A chance discovery leads Tina to abandon her South Carolina hideaway in search of her old flame, undercover FBI Agent Zeke Chapman. What is Zeke doing in Paris, France? And what is his connection to the disappearance of American college student Ryan Whittier?

En route to Paris in search of answers, Tina realizes that someone is on her trail: someone who’s getting disturbingly close. Has she been set up??

Review:

Vanished by Karen E. Olson is another enthralling foray into the world of hacking. Although this newest addition to the Black Hat Thriller series can be read as a standalone, I HIGHLY recommend the previous novels as well.

Tina (Adler) Jones is now living a quiet life off the grid in South Carolina. A former hacker with a price on her head, she is staying off line while establishing a name for herself in the local art world. At a gallery show, she crosses paths with Madeline Whittier, who is convinced she recognizes Tina from somewhere. During Tina’s quick internet search to see if there is a connection between them, she makes a stunning discovery about someone from her own past. Zeke Chapman, the FBI Agent whose history with her is extremely complicated, is a person of interest in the missing person’s case of Ryan Whittier. Both men were last seen at an ATM in Paris and Tina quickly uncovers a perplexing and somewhat bizarre link to another friend of her and Zeke-fellow hacker Spencer Cross. When the situation in South Carolina turns treacherous, Tina and Spencer decide to head to Paris where they hope they will find Zeke along with the answers to some very distrubing questions.

Tina and Spencer literally hit the ground running as they try to avoid both the police and a possible hit man. Luckily for them, Zeke set up the documents they both need to flee the country but for part of the journey, Tina is on her own. Her return to Paris is rather bittersweet since the city of lights holds both happy and very dark memories for her. Despite her mixed emotions, she is certain that Zeke is in some sort of trouble trouble so Tina remains fully committed to figuring out exactly what he is mixed up in.

Spencer knows Zeke’s current assignment is a case about selling hacked credit card information on the dark web. Zeke was caught on video tape planting a device to steal info from unsuspecting users and  Spencer has also uncovered CCTV footage that puts Zeke willingly going into a vehicle owned by nemesis Tony DeMarco. Needless to say, in light of this troubling knowledge, both Spencer and Tina are extremely concerned about what this might mean for his safety. This information along with the discovery that someone has been surreptitiously taking pictures of Tina makes her suspicious that someone might be manipulating the situation for nefarious purposes.

Vanished is an action-packed and exciting addition to the Black Hat Thriller series. Tina has been living on the edge for so long that she does not know whom she can trust.  Karen E. Olson keeps the series fresh with a new setting and a clever mystery that relies on going deep into the dark web and savvy hacking skills to solve. Although the current adventure is completely wrapped up by the novel’s thrilling conclusion, several key people manage to evade capture leaving Tina and Zeke hot on their trail.

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Filed under 1950s, Black Hat Thriller Series, Contemporary, Karen E. Olson, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Severn House Publishers, Thriller

March 29, 2017 · 11:57 pm

Review: Betrayed by Karen E. Olson

Title: Betrayed by Karen E. Olson
Black Hat Thriller Book Three
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Length: 224 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Computer hacker Tina Adler discovers that her true enemy could be someone terrifyingly close to home in this cunningly-plotted tale of identity and suspense.

Framed for ordering a hit on mobster Tony DeMarco, Tina Adler is forced to re-enter the shadowy world of computer hacking she thought she’d left behind. In order to clear her name, she reluctantly joins an FBI team led by her old flame, Zeke Chapman, tasked with scouring the deep web to unearth DeMarco’s darkest secrets.

The trail will lead Tina to the person who framed her – but it may also reveal other secrets, secrets she would rather not know. DeMarco may, in fact, be the least of Tina’s worries. Could her true enemy be someone much closer to home?

Review:

Betrayed, the third installment in Karen E. Olson’s Black Hat Thriller series, former hacker Tina Adler (aka Nicole Jones, Susan McQueen and Helen White) must return to Miami in order to discover who is framing her for ordering a hit on mobster Tony DeMarco. With FBI Agent Zeke Chapman at her side, Tina confronts the ghosts of her past while trying to decide whom she can trust during this latest investigation. This newest addition to this fantastic series easily stands on its own, but I highly encourage readers to read the first two novels as well.

Tina’s attempt to eke out a normal life is once again interrupted when FBI agents show up at the bike shop where she works on Cape Cod.  Ready to flee once she is released after questioning, Tina is dismayed when she finds Zeke waiting for her. Stunned to discover the laptop she gave to him a month earlier has evidence linking her to the hit on Tony, she has no choice but to accompany Zeke back to her former hometown.  Upon their arrival, she is unhappy to learn Zeke wants her to work alongside the team of hackers he has assembled to try to trace the person (or persons) responsible for the frame up.  Tina also wants to try to uncover the identity of  “the shadow” who previously hacked into her computer and demanded a hefty ransom from her.  Uncomfortable working with Zeke’s group, Tina tries to find a safe place to work on her own and she soon uncovers information that rouses her suspicions and leaves her wondering whom she can trust.

Tina’s hacking skills are much sharper now she is back in the game. Realizing the answers might lie in her very distant past, she returns to where everything started.  Armed with a nifty device that enables her to gain access to other people’s computers, she manages a quick glimpse of what she believes to be the hacker’s computer.  What she sees during her brief foray raises some very uncomfortable misgivings about the one person Tina thought she could trust.

With her location quickly compromised, Tina is again on the run when Zeke unexpectedly arrives on the scene.  Barely escaping unscathed after a hair raising car chase, they are soon deep are soon immersed in the Dark Web as they continue their efforts to find the hacker who is leaving evidence that implicates both of them in numerous illegal activities. Time is not on their side as they desperately try to uncover the truth about who is behind the various money transfers, fake e-mails and messages and the hit on Tony DeMarco.

Betrayed is another fast-paced and compelling addition to Karen E. Olson’s Black Hat Thriller series.  Old and new fans will have no problem keeping up with Tina and Zeke as they race to find the hacker who is setting them up for a plethora of misdeeds.  On the dark web where evil lurks behind anonymous screen names and impossible to trace IP addresses, will Zeke and Tina  unmask the hacker’s identity before it is too late?

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Filed under Betrayed, Black Hat Thriller Series, Contemporary, Karen E. Olson, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Severn House Publishers, Suspense, Thriller

June 14, 2016 · 11:57 pm

Review: Shadowed by Karen E. Olson

Title: Shadowed by Karen E. Olson
Black Hat Thriller Book Two
Publisher: Severn House Publishers; First World Publication edition
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 224 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Computer hacker ‘Nicole Jones’ finds herself on the run from an unknown enemy in this tense and twisting novel of identity and suspense

The computer hacker formerly known as Nicole Jones is now living as Susan McQueen on a remote island in Quebec, Canada. She is living a quiet life, working as an artist – but she has not given up her computer. While in an online chatroom, she sees a shadow – someone is inside her laptop, watching her every move, and somehow knows exactly who she is.

Afraid that he will track her down, Susan is on the run again – but from whom? Is it the FBI or someone associated with her past crime sixteen years before? Making her way across the border and back to the USA, some unsettling discoveries make Susan realize that she won’t be able to escape her past a second time.

Review:

In Shadowed, the second installment in Karen E. Olson’s Nicole Jones Mystery Series, ex-hacker fugitive Nicole Jones is now living under the alias Susan McQueen.  Her idyllic life on a remote island in Quebec comes to an abrupt end when she clicks on a malicious link and her computer is taken hostage by someone demanding a million bitcoins.  The hacker turned artist must turn to an anonymous online collaborator, known as Tracker, to help her uncover the identity of the shadow.  When Susan tries to purchase a new computer from a friend, he calls in a cybercrime expert to help her get rid of the malware.  Spooked after discovering the expert works with the police, Susan once again goes on the run but can she outwit the people who are chasing her?

Sixteen years ago, Susan helped her lover steal millions of dollars from mobster Tony DeMarco.  The pair fled to Paris where Susan shot the FBI agent assigned to her case.  She returned to the states where she lived off the grid until her past caught up with her, forcing her to reinvent herself once again.  Unable to resist visiting a chat room on the dark web, Susan finds herself in trouble after clicking on a link she thinks is from Tracker.  Not knowing whom to trust, she attempts to learn who is behind the ransom demand on her own, but her hacking skills are still a little rusty so she has no choice but to ask Tracker for help. 

In real life, Susan grows suspicious when a fellow painter continues turning up everywhere she goes and in an effort to evade him, she knows it is time for her disappear once again.  In the midst of her frantic attempt to figure out where to go next, Susan continues trying to come up with the million dollar bitcoin ransom in order to protect her friends.  A mysterious message about Tracker raises a few suspicions, but with no one else to turn to, she continues working with him.  Susan finally escapes from Quebec, but will she be any safer once she arrives at her new destination?

Susan has good instincts so she immediately goes to ground once she believes that she is being followed.  A little slow to research the person chasing her, she is stunned when she uncovers his identity.  Unsure what connection he might have to the ransomware attack, Susan immediately begins altering her appearance and finds out of the way places to hide.  Spotting him with someone that is eerily familiar to her, Susan finds help from a very unexpected source and she finally makes her escape while continuing to work with Tracker to uncover who is behind the ransom demand.  With nothing but her two computers and her backpack containing a few changes of clothes and her emergency cash, Susan is poised to start over in a new place with a new identity when she gets the shock of her life once she returns to the US.  Tension mounts after she is presented with a stunning opportunity to put her past truly behind her but will Susan accept the surprising offer?

Shadowed is a fast-paced and adrenaline-filled addition to the Nicole Jones Mystery Series.  Karen E. Olson once again delivers a riveting mystery with an intriguing premise that is quite relevant in today’s world.  Susan/Nicole is an intelligent capable heroine who is immensely appealing and easy to root for despite her criminal past.  The storyline is quite fascinating and although some of the computer jargon might be a bit confusing to the casual computer user, the technical aspect is relatively easy to follow.  Although most of the loose ends are completely wrapped up, a jaw-dropping revelation at the novel’s end will leave readers impatiently awaiting the next book in the series.

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Filed under Black Hat Thriller Series, Contemporary, Karen E. Olson, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Severn House Publishers, Shadowed, Suspense