Escape Reality: Breach

Title: Breach

Author: Amrita Chowdhury

Publisher: Hachette India

ISBN: 978-93-5009-855-4

Number of Pages: 334

Price: 350 [INR]

Genre: Mystery

The Blurb:

How secure are your secrets in the virtual world?

Weeks before pharma-gaint Acel is ready to file a global patent application for cancer wonder-drug Calore, its offshore data centre in Mumbai is hacked. The charismatic, young leader of its Indian business, Dr Udai Vir Dhingra, finds himself being blamed for negligence and breach of security.

Battling market pressures, media scrutinity, livid American bosses and crumbling relationships, Vir must find the perpetrators, or see his career - and his life - spiral downwards. But the deeper he gets dragged into the shadowy world of masked online identities and muddied digital footprints, the more Vir discovers that nothing is easy or obvious, and everything has a price.

Set across Mumbai, Washington and Guangzhou, Breach is a compelling and edgy cyber thriller that explores the dark and dangerous underbelly of our increasingly virtual existence.

My Review:

Characters:

Meet Dr Udai Vir Dhingra, the charismatic young leader of Acel's Indian division, whose mantra for life is 'Multi-millionaire by thirty and retired by forty'. But at thirty three, he finds the goal still unaccomplished, the business he is managing at the brink of destruction, American bosses shouting absurdities at him, a fiancee about whom he is unsure and a ex, who still continues to have the same magnetic effect on him.

Tracey, Vir's fiancee flies to India to spend time with him. But the more she stays, But the more she stays, the more they find that their relationship is crumbling down.

Diti, who dumped Vir years back, refusing to maintain a long distance relationship, now finds herself still drawn towards Vir when their paths cross again in Mumbai. But what can she do now that Vir is engaged?

Ankita - witty and immature, Madhu - target of bullies and national topper, Raghu - with a passion for hacking and Suv - who thinks he is a hacker; four teenage students whose life was revolving around mundane stuffs till they are accused of the data breach of Acel's Mumbai office.

Andrew Rudd, the Head of Research at Acel Biosciences, Dr Peter Lee, the mastermind behind Colare, Sandman - the mysterious hacker, peevs - one of the programmer of Indian division, Karthik - the best ethical hacker in India and Jake - the head of security at Acel.

Plot:

There are just few weeks left for the filing of a global patent application for Colare, a cancer wonder drug by Acel when things start going awry. The data seems to have gone wrong from the Indian division. Upon closer inspection, an open port is found in the security system. The hacker is not only accessing data but also modifying it after copying out. Gives more reason for Andy to dislike the Indian centre of Acel, who has opposed creating one from the beginning. But who is doing it?

The Indian centre is blamed for the breach and Vir finds himself held responsible for everything that is going wrong. His personal life isn't going well either and the crisis at work just adds more to the mess that his life has become! Accusations flow freely and experts are hired in India by the American centre for solving the mystery of hacking.

Unsuspecting commoners are becoming prey of hackers and blame is placed on four teenagers. Will they be able to convince their innocence? Especially when Raghu is involved in hacking some sites.

When the investigation starts, there are so many people involved and the mystery just get deeper and deeper. Every turn they take seems like a dead end and every step they take seems to aggravate the American centre. And to add more to the misery, media gets a whiff of the security breach and it is all over the news. In this situation, will the team be able to find the hacker? Can they successfully file the patent application before it is too late?

Things which Worked:

Story line - A lot of research has been done and it is evident from the story line. By explaining different scenarios to giving slight insights about the characters, which helps you to connect with them, the author has done a splendid job.

The suspense - With so many dimensions, it was difficult to point out who the culprit actually was. The different layers provided to the plan worked well.

Pace - The pace wasn't too racy or too slow. It was easy to read without getting bored.

Language - The language was good and there weren't many typos which made reading easier.

Things that didn't Work:

The narration - Though the narration was good, there were many biology and technical terms used. While it was necessary for the story line, I guess people who aren't aware of them find themselves clueless at such times and slowdown the pace.

The start - It takes a little time for you to understand as what is happening actually! The initial few chapters were confusing but once the data breach issue is raised, you will get into the loop.

The Verdict:

This book is recommended for mystery/thriller novel lovers. But I would advice to pick this book at leisure time because it is definitely not for a quick read. Trust me, you would want to take it slow to enjoy the story.

My Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

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