Breaking Backbones: Information Should Be Free

by Deb Radcliff

Cy is still healing from injuries that almost killed her during Operation Backbone when she is called back for a very personal reason. Her son Michael is in the clutches of Damian Strandeski, former chairman of the GlobeCom board and kingpin behind all criminal syndicates operating on the dark web.

Cy quickly deduces that her son is collateral damage in Damian's grab for the lead developer behind a new artificial intelligence named Telos, which is more powerful than GlobeCom was. As she heads to Europe on a rescue mission, Cy's eldest son Adam enlists their clan's rogue copy of Telos to aggressively search for Damian. Then the AI seems to take matters into its own hands...

As they execute their plan to save Michael and catch Damian, Cy and her team face unforeseen retaliation that endangers them all. Will they finally defeat Damian, or will he once again take control of the world through technology?

280 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2022

About the author

Deb Radcliff’s award-winning books are penned from her decades of experience as a cybercrime reporter. Now considered a thought leader, she is a speaker, analyst and writer covering the impact of cyber on security and privacy and following new trends such as AI, deep fakes, metaverses, neural networks, and quantum computing. Tech always evolves and so must we.

Reviews

[Jeff Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two and half years ago, information giant GlobeCom was forced to fail by a dedicated team of hackers. In book two of the trilogy, the world is not safe for those hackers. They live off-grid. The vengeful former GlobeCom masters are looking for them. One, Damian Strandeski, seeks more than revenge. He schemes to dominate the world again with the help of an advanced artificial intelligence (AI). How does a hacker battle an AI that can think and strategize a million times faster than a human. What could go wrong. Breaking Backbones: Information Should Be Free is the second book in the series but, I think that it could be read alone. There is a wide cast of interactive characters, good and bad, including the AI, but Radcliff has masterfully woven them into a compelling story. She gives enough of the background from the first book that I was able to follow the plot. I also feel that I would have possibly enjoyed the second book a bit more if I had read the first book first. All in all, a captivating, intricate read. I kept wondering what is preventing this scenario from becoming real in our world today. Highly recommended. Jeff Bailey, author of the thriller Not On MY Watch.

[David Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This can be read independent of the first volume, and is a sizzler taken directly from today's cybersecurity news. We have mostly the same motley cast of characters of hackers, ne'er-do-wells, and tough dudes who are trying to mess up the world now that its central IT authority GlobeCom was taken down at the end of the first book. The various hacker clans are trying desperately to free a bunch of imprisoned programmers somewhere in Russia and stop the evil doers from unleashing their AI-based code on the world. In the meantime, there are plenty of drone attacks to manage, code to review, and personal scores to be settled. There is plenty of dystopia to be served up in its pages, and a great deal of verisimilitude thanks to Radcliff's familiarity with the subject matter. Will her world be successful at freeing its digital enslavement from a crazy autocrat? Well, I won't give away the ending, but it sure was fun reading about it.