DeathByte

Spies Lie #2

by D.S. Kane

When someone breaks into hacker William Wing's Hong Kong apartment and steals the hard drives from his computer, it sets several intelligence services searching for the plans to a new device that could change the course of world politics forever. Wing's worst fears, that he might become hunted for what they think he knows, is the least of the issues at hand for his friend, Jon Sommers. Sommers will have to leave his deep cover assignment to help his friend, and he'll need a team. The Mossad wants what Wing lost, and so do the Americans, the Chinese and the Brits. It's going to be a free-for-all.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Action

354 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 12, 2014

About the author

DS Kane is the name I've chosen to write under. I worked in the field of covert intelligence for over a decade. During that time, my cover was my real name, and I was on the faculty of NYU's Stern Graduate School of Business. I traveled globally for clients including government and military agencies, the largest banks, and Fortune 100 corporations, and while in-country, I did side jobs for our government. One of the banks I investigated housed the banking assets of many of the world's intelligence agencies and secret police forces, including the CIA and NSA. Much of my work product was pure but believable fiction, lies I told, and truths I concealed. Secrets that—if revealed—might have gotten me killed. When my cover got blown, I fled the field and moved 3,000 miles.

Now, I'm a former spy, still writing fiction. Through my novels, I expose the way intelligence agencies craft fiction for sale to sway their countries and manipulate their national policy, driving countries into dangerous conflicts.

I've been published under my real name many times in financial trade journals on topics including global banking, computer fraud and countermeasures, financial forecasting, global electronic-funds transfer networks, and corporate finance, including one book on finance published by a major publisher. I've been a featured speaker at financial conferences and conventions. My children's book, A Teenager's Guide to Money, Banking and Finance, was published in 1987 by Simon & Schuster. I was once the CEO of an ebook publishing company.

I've been adjunct faculty at the Whidbey Island MFA program, and also teach a course at the Muse Online Writers Conference entitled Covert Training and Covert Operations for Fiction Writers, and taught one on a similar topic at California libraries, funded by a federal grant. I've taught a thriller-writing course at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference and was a featured speaker at a dinner meeting of the California Writers Club. I taught finance at the Stern Graduate Business School of New York University for over ten years, and am one of the co-founders of ActFourWriters.com, a unique email-based novelists' critique group.

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd previously read a couple of the books in this series and my favourite is still Swiftshadow. For much of the present book, the perspective jumps quickly - from good guy to bad guy to intel overlord to slimeball to good guy 2 etc. and this can jar too much for easy reading. Also there's a particularly horrible murder of a woman, which is perhaps detailed more than strictly necessary to show us who the bad guys really are. Once you know that you can see all the rest is just an arms race.

However, nobody comes out of this well, one spy agency stealing from another, one country developing a nano-bug called Bug-Lok or Death-Byte and other nations gleefully hacking the plans - so why put it on a non-air gapped computer? The agents all use mobile phones although they know phones are tapped and traced easily, and nobody mentions using Tor or Orbot although they jump on computers readily. The press are not told details by horrified chambermaids, normal policing doesn't seem to exist, passports are simply forged and no Freedom of Information request shows up that rounding errors and misc. expenses fund terrorist groups. No, the spies all live in their own bubble where the only people they talk to are people like themselves, selling secrets and friends readily. They can't stop this line of work, because... well your guess is as good as mine, but maybe they are told something bad will happen to family, not a great way to ensure loyalty.

Action moves from America to China to Europe and Middle East, but we don't get to admire the scenery, mostly offices and hotels. I really take issue with something Interpol does, giving a slimeball exactly what he needs to get people killed although they know he's a crook. I'd like to think that wouldn't happen, because it doesn't even make sense. He was going to be tagged anyway for tracking. Why not send him away or show him rubbish if they wanted to delay him? Of course, the author is entitled to develop the plot as he chooses.

The story ends with a clear lead-in to another thriller and just as well there's a break, because the reader is breathless. This is an adult read with death, adult activity and strong language.
If you enjoyed this book you may also like Zero Day - China's Cyber Wars by TL Williams.

I availed of an e-ARC from the author. This is an unbiased review.

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

DeathByte (Spies Lie, #2) by D.S. Kane

William Wing's apartment is broken into and his hard drives are stolen from his computer. William is a computer genius and also a fantastic hacker, actually the best there is. William is now being hunted by several world wide intelligence agency,and their motives are not good.

John Sommers ( who works for the Mossad) is called to help him (William). Soon it becomes a deadly mission, and a race for time. Who will get to William first? The Mossad, The American's, The Chinese or The Brits? Will Jon be able to save his friend and stop the destructive path that is about to occur, if the data gets into the wrong hands?

A fast paced, action packed, nail-biting psychological,(spy) drama. The story is very original and well written. Once again Mr. Kane grabbed me into the story, and kept me up late into the night, needing to read more!

(It is) great as a stand alone, but I highly recommend reading Bloodridge first. I feel that those who love suspense, action, drama, and spies (from around the world) will enjoy DeathByte. I was hooked from the first page! Next to read is book three in the series: Swiftshadow.

[Cath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book two of the Spies Lie series and I must admit it left me slightly confused, after having read book one and then getting a copy of book nine BrAInbender through Hidden Gems, as it left me with events having happened already in the last book in the series, but starting all over again with book two. I prefer to read books of a series in order, but getting a chance to read a book by an author I had already enjoyed from book one, I took the chance while I had it. This book starts with hard drives being stolen from the home of a Chinese hacker, William Wing, based in Hong Kong, after being banished from China by his father at the young age of twelve! His father is now high up in the Chinese Army and finds a need for William and his computer skills.

It seems, that among the items on his drives were plans he had hacked from Mossad, a nanotech based project that would help them spy on others and learn everything they needed without anyone knowing it was happening. Only problem is that Mossad wants this information back, but so do the Chinese, American and even the British. Who will win the chase to rediscover these plans is the basis of the rest of the book. William’s friend, Jon Summers, is an agent working undercover in a bank in Germany, having been recruited by Mossad after the death of his fiancée and finding out she worked for Mossad, as did his parents. His financial skills are perfect for working in the bank tracing bank transactions, possibly used to fund terrorists.

Jon also becomes entangled in the hunt for the plans to these dangerous devices, called Bug-Lok or DeathByte by the original designers, who had a deathly after kick to their device, the use of which could change the spy game and international politics forever. He calls on another old friend, Avram and the three join back up to find the stolen, hacked plans. They were stolen by another operative, working freelance, called Cassie Sashakovich, and they need to find her and recover the hard drives. The confusing world of hackers, spies and double agents is exposed as everyone tries to gain access to the working plans and end up with not quite what they expect.

This one did get me a bit confused at times and you may get left wondering how some of them aren’t traced a little easier by their use of fake passports, bad fieldcraft and use of personal mobile phones. There are hints back to spy craft of old, with a hidden hole in the heel of a shoe and the passing of messages in pass-bys, in public locations. It is an enjoyable book to read, but can be quite full of technical jargon and the reality of spy work. Those in charge are never really telling the truth, is something you realise early on! I received an ARC copy of this book from Hidden Gems and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second book in The Spies Lie Series by D.S. Kane was another fast-paced action-adventure with plenty of drama and suspense built-in. One of the main difficulties with this series is keeping all the multitude of characters straight as to which agency they are with and then expanding on that to try and determine who is telling the truth and who can be trusted. Because, as the series says, spies do lie, some better than others, and of course, secrets can kill. I have already added other adventures in this series to my TBR. This is a voluntary review of this book.

[Scott Shuppert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is written by somebody who has lived this life... Well done. Dealing with the changing names of Israel, China, and others with an alias, I had to pay attention to. But, every bit of this is very real. The life of a real hacker can be very scary, and there is little they cannot get into if properly motivated.

[mrs s durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of spies lies books

Although I didn’t understand some of the technical side of the story the rest kept me enthralled.More twists and turns than a corkscrew.Thank you

[DS Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kirkus Reviews issues their take on DeathByte, book 2 of the Spies Lie Series:

DEATHBYTE
Book 2 of the Spies Lie Series
Kane, DS
The Swiftshadow Group, Inc. (354 pp.)
$14.99 paperback, $3.99 e-book
ISBN: 978-0996059138; June 12, 2014

In the second installment of the Spies Lie thriller series, a covert agent reunites with his allies as intelligence agencies battle over a revolutionary tracking device.

Master hacker William Wing discovers that someone has broken into his Hong Kong apartment and stolen all the secrets on his computer—secrets that belong to clients such as Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Afraid that he’ll be killed as a result of the breach, he reaches out to his friend Jon Sommers, a former Mossad assassin who’s now working undercover in a German bank (and having a hot-and-heavy romance with fellow spy Ruth Cohen). The thief is revealed to be Cassandra Sashakovich, an agent with an unnamed American intelligence agency who had been ratted out by a mole, raped by a terrorist and is now running for her life. The data she made off with includes plans for a tiny tracking gadget that allows one to see through the eyes of the person who swallows it; naturally, many people would kill to get their hands on it. Sommers brings together his few trusted allies, including hardened soldier Avram Shimmel, to help Wing and prevent the plans from falling into the wrong hands—but whose hands are the wrong ones? Kane (Bloodridge, 2014) purports to be a former spy himself, and his extensive knowledge of the ways that the world’s governments wage covert war on one another shines through in his incredibly detailed prose. At times, however, these details grow overwhelming and make it hard to keep track of who’s spying on whom and why. However, readers who adore action-packed thrillers in the vein of Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series will enjoy its many double-crossings. However, some readers should be warned: There are graphic scenes of torture excruciating enough to possibly make one’s stomach turn. Indeed, so many upsetting things happen to the main characters that it may be easy for readers to grow despondent about the state of the world by the time the story reaches its firestorm of a conclusion.

A dizzying spy story for readers with clear minds and steely constitutions.

[J.S. Luxor · Rating 5 out of 5]

D S Kane's insights into the world of espionage and subterfuge are truly unnerving. His main character is the consummate computer hacker whose computer hard drives have been stolen. The tale of what happens next is a fast paced, thrilling and, at times, horrifying look at the underbelly of international spy games and manipulations. Kane writes about this world with a decade's worth of experience under his belt. I was intrigued as well as dismayed to be introduced to the tactics used by various agents and agencies in seeking to send just the right sort of response to those who transgress. The author is a skillful writer who knows of what he speaks.

[Rhoda D'Ettore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is book two, I bought this because it was on sale. After reading this book and not being able to put it down, I now have to go back and read book one. The main character gets sucked into a world of intrigue and espionage as the readers get drawn in as well.

This is a well written novel that flows well, and has wonderfully defined characters. This is a must read for anyone who enjoys espionage, thrillers and suspense. Thank you DS Kane for a wonderful creation.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much

Know he writes from some experience, however if there is that much lying, deceit and double dealing, what's any intelligence worth. Sex plays apart, but did not offer to this story line.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of a complex plot but still a fun page-turning read. This book leads into the third book of the series so I'll read it next.