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Breakthrough
Jake Thomas Fisher, founder and CEO of Fisher Technologies, Inc., and his team have engineered a computer chip capable of profoundly increasing PC memory and power, but after the murder of his team and the destruction of his company, Jake must fight alone against high-tech German espionage
381 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1997
54 people want to read
About the author
R.J. Piñeiro
34 books52 followersBorn in Cuba and raised in Central America, R.J. Pineiro spent several years in the midst of civil wars before migrating to the United States in the late 1970s, first to Florida to attended Florida Air Academy in Melbourne. There, RJ earned a pilot's license and high school diploma in 1979, before heading to Louisiana for college.
R.J. earned a degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1983 and joined the high-tech industry in Austin Texas, working in computer chip design, test, and manufacturing.
In the late 1980s R.J. began studying to become a novelist. Reading everything from classical literature to contemporary novels, R.J.'s love of storytelling became uncontrollable. Using an aging personal computer, R.J. decided to launch a writing career.
R.J.'s first published work, SIEGE OF LIGHTNING, a novel about a sabotaged space shuttle, was released by Berkley/Putnam in May of 1993. A second novel, ULTIMATUM, about a second Gulf War scenario, was released the following year, 1994, by Forge Books, which went on to publish R.J.'s next 12 novels over the following 13 years.
In 2015, R.J. teamed up with TV News military analyst Colonel David Hunt to kick off the "Hunter Stark Book Series." The first book in the series, WITHOUT MERCY, about ISIS gaining acquiring nuclear weapons, was released on 3.7.17. The second book, WITHOUT FEAR, about the war in Afghanistan, was released on 8.7.18
In 2017, R.J. also teamed up with New York Times bestselling author Joe Weber. The result is ASHES OF VICTORY, a novel of global terrorism and international conflict released by Ignition Books on 9.3.18
In 2018, R.J. penned a nineteenth novel, AVENUE OF REGRETS, a mystery revolving around sex trafficking and domestic abuse released on 11.16.18
R.J. is married to L.M. Pineiro, an artist and jewelry designer. They have one son, Cameron & Daughter-in-Law Sarah, and two crazy dogs, Coco and Zea.
R.J. earned a degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana State University in 1983 and joined the high-tech industry in Austin Texas, working in computer chip design, test, and manufacturing.
In the late 1980s R.J. began studying to become a novelist. Reading everything from classical literature to contemporary novels, R.J.'s love of storytelling became uncontrollable. Using an aging personal computer, R.J. decided to launch a writing career.
R.J.'s first published work, SIEGE OF LIGHTNING, a novel about a sabotaged space shuttle, was released by Berkley/Putnam in May of 1993. A second novel, ULTIMATUM, about a second Gulf War scenario, was released the following year, 1994, by Forge Books, which went on to publish R.J.'s next 12 novels over the following 13 years.
In 2015, R.J. teamed up with TV News military analyst Colonel David Hunt to kick off the "Hunter Stark Book Series." The first book in the series, WITHOUT MERCY, about ISIS gaining acquiring nuclear weapons, was released on 3.7.17. The second book, WITHOUT FEAR, about the war in Afghanistan, was released on 8.7.18
In 2017, R.J. also teamed up with New York Times bestselling author Joe Weber. The result is ASHES OF VICTORY, a novel of global terrorism and international conflict released by Ignition Books on 9.3.18
In 2018, R.J. penned a nineteenth novel, AVENUE OF REGRETS, a mystery revolving around sex trafficking and domestic abuse released on 11.16.18
R.J. is married to L.M. Pineiro, an artist and jewelry designer. They have one son, Cameron & Daughter-in-Law Sarah, and two crazy dogs, Coco and Zea.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 10, 2020
Imagine the worst ghostwritten Tom Clancy spin-off airport novel you can think of, and it will still be a vastly better read than this one. Picked this up from the in-house 'library' of the place I was staying at - books left there by guests. This was one of the few in the English language, and it being a holiday a techno thriller felt like suitable fare. I'd quite enjoyed re-reading an old Alistair McLean earlier in the week, by no means his best (Santorini) so you will understand my bar was not set particularly high. Just some pool-side escapism with a healthy dose of adrenaline. Alas, it was not to be.
The heavy-handed, leaden prose - in which the protagonist's full name starts about every other sentence - is further slowed down by needlessly long exposés on technical details that the author no doubt thought fascinating but which only detract from the story (and by now have turned out to be less than prescient anyway). The characters are laughably flat - the average first-person shooter video game character has more dimensions than the robots inhabiting this novel. Specific mention must be made of the writer's obsession with the female breast and nipples, which receive enough scene-breaking attention that it would be amusing if it weren't so pathethic. There is no other word for a (male) author who deems it necessary to expand for a full paragraph on why one of his characters prefers not to wear a bra.
If all of this weren't quite awful enough, the amorality of the characters clearly is rooted in a lack of same in the author - from the matter of fact description of how the protagonist take a life ("only the first time is hard") to the utterly needless, drawn-out torture scene toward the end of the book, not to mention a reveling in mention of torture, it basically reads as a G.W. Bush era Republican's wet dream. The author's lack of appreciation for the concept of government seeps through every page, with the book rejoicing in the end for more symbolic stipulation that bureaucrats are bad, mkay.
Basically it's every man - male - for himself in Piñeiro's world, and that is as it should be apparently. Women are objects or victims - the 'strong female protagonist' before too long needs to be saved by the formerly clueless but suddenly and magically heroic male lead - and anyone who is not an entrepreneur is either a corrupt agent of some government, or a bystander whose only purpose is to die gruesomely, preferably after some torture.
Now to put this into perspective, I grew up on Heinlein and even though these days I find some of that 'cantankerous old coot's' excesses in philosophy hard to swallow, I still love both his stories and his appreciation for individual freedom and responsibility. Even if I have my differences with the libertarian mindset, I can understand it.
What this writer put to the page in this sorry excuse for a thriller though, is an entirely different kettle of fish. His is the gaping nihilistic maw of no-holds barred neocon capitalism, where might is the only right, where the values are explicitly Christian, but very much in name (and the foreword) only. There's only one word to describe the book and its mindset, and that is rapacious. After reading it, anyone with a shred of empathy will feel in strong need of a bath.
The heavy-handed, leaden prose - in which the protagonist's full name starts about every other sentence - is further slowed down by needlessly long exposés on technical details that the author no doubt thought fascinating but which only detract from the story (and by now have turned out to be less than prescient anyway). The characters are laughably flat - the average first-person shooter video game character has more dimensions than the robots inhabiting this novel. Specific mention must be made of the writer's obsession with the female breast and nipples, which receive enough scene-breaking attention that it would be amusing if it weren't so pathethic. There is no other word for a (male) author who deems it necessary to expand for a full paragraph on why one of his characters prefers not to wear a bra.
If all of this weren't quite awful enough, the amorality of the characters clearly is rooted in a lack of same in the author - from the matter of fact description of how the protagonist take a life ("only the first time is hard") to the utterly needless, drawn-out torture scene toward the end of the book, not to mention a reveling in mention of torture, it basically reads as a G.W. Bush era Republican's wet dream. The author's lack of appreciation for the concept of government seeps through every page, with the book rejoicing in the end for more symbolic stipulation that bureaucrats are bad, mkay.
Basically it's every man - male - for himself in Piñeiro's world, and that is as it should be apparently. Women are objects or victims - the 'strong female protagonist' before too long needs to be saved by the formerly clueless but suddenly and magically heroic male lead - and anyone who is not an entrepreneur is either a corrupt agent of some government, or a bystander whose only purpose is to die gruesomely, preferably after some torture.
Now to put this into perspective, I grew up on Heinlein and even though these days I find some of that 'cantankerous old coot's' excesses in philosophy hard to swallow, I still love both his stories and his appreciation for individual freedom and responsibility. Even if I have my differences with the libertarian mindset, I can understand it.
What this writer put to the page in this sorry excuse for a thriller though, is an entirely different kettle of fish. His is the gaping nihilistic maw of no-holds barred neocon capitalism, where might is the only right, where the values are explicitly Christian, but very much in name (and the foreword) only. There's only one word to describe the book and its mindset, and that is rapacious. After reading it, anyone with a shred of empathy will feel in strong need of a bath.
January 28, 2016
Jake Fisher the the co-founder and president of FTI, A biological processer company that wants to create the first biological processer. After creating their first working one, called the F1. When his girl friend Kathy goes missing he drives away to look for her, then 5 minutes after leaving Kathy goes into the reasearch facility but someone is with her, their name is unknown but he goes by The Kardinal a assassin hired to steal the F1 technology. After the explosion that killed everyone in the reasearch lab Jake finds out from the FBI that they had prior knowledge that someone would steal the technology. When he is confronted by a FBI officer he runs away to hide. Iyevenski, a Russian former KGB agent has been indicted for his knowledge of the F1 bio-chip. After escaping form a gun fight that involve Iyevenski's captors and some German officials.
March 4, 2013
This was a good book, no, it was a great book. So why am I giving it 3 stars? The ending kind of ruined it. I'm not going to give anything away, I just felt the conclusion was rushed and predictable, unsatisfied with the demise of the antagonists. The author did such a good job building up tension and emotion, guess he didn't know how to end it on a good note.
December 6, 2012
It's a really good book. The way the story goes, things changing very fast, and the poor guy sees his life turning completely in a mess that he never thought about it could be possible in a few time.
I recommend this book for all lover's of technology and action books.
I recommend this book for all lover's of technology and action books.
December 2, 2010
Good story, kept me turning pages.
August 26, 2014
Absolutely amazing story that I'd like to see made into a movie!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews