Encrypted: An Action-Packed Techno-Thriller: From the author of the blockbuster Betrayed series (Robin Hood Hacker Book 1)

First off, just to let you know: I did enjoy reading Encrypted. I thought it was a fun "light" story to read. But I do not think it is a 5-Star thriller as many reviewers have posted, NOR do I think it is as bad as some of the 1-Star reviews either.Yes, some of the happenings and science in this book are over the top and not totally believable, but it is intended to be a thriller, not science fact. Ronnie & Quirk do indeed have many unbelievable hi-tech gadgets that seem to appear out of nowhere JUST when they need them the most, similar to items from Batman's Utility Belt from the 60's TV show. Holy Shark Repellant!One thing I found amusing was when Zach was throwing boomerangs in the New York Museum of Art and hitting his opponents and then catching the boomerangs on their return flights. Just how WIDE are those museum hallways? And if you hit someone hard enough to knock them down wouldn't the boomerang just drop and not return flawlessly back to the thrower? And no, Zach was not an expert with the boomerang. Still, I let it go and accepted that Zach and Ronnie were on a roll and weren't going to be stopped.My biggest complaint is the romance aspect of this thriller. I almost gave up on this story very early on. I thought there was way TOO much cutie-pie/love thing going on (do you think he likes me? I'll pass a note in 3rd period) between Ronnie & Zach (who were acting like a couple of love-sick teenagers (13-15 years old)). I could almost hear Donny Osmond singing "Puppy Love" in the background. For an action-packed techno thriller there is a large amount of romance & flirting involved (and constant checking out of bodies and drooling over hunks/chicks). But with bullets flying around, hundreds of people dying (Black Death, gunshots, stabbings, and so on), missiles being launched, explosions, and all that, the cute flirting and romance seemed out of place. I was not sure if I was reading a Romance novel with a touch of action.....OR....an action thriller with a bit of romance to it. Instead of touting this book as an Action-Packed-Techno-Thriller, it should have been listed as a ROMANCE suspense/thriller. Somehow this never seems to be a problem with action thrillers by Matt Reilly, Jeremy Robinson, Jonathan Maberry, Jon Land, James Rollins, or Michael Stephen Fuchs.The action/thriller writers listed above barrage their readers with tons of action RIGHT off the bat. They lure you in with the action, hi-tech end-of-the world thrills, and then maybe later on introduce a romantic angle (but usually very low key). At about the 15-30% mark of Encrypted I almost stopped reading, it was just so darn SUGAR SWEET (oh Ronnie, oh Zach.........). Hundreds of people are dying of the Black Death and Mr. Super FBI Agent is going ga-ga over a woman he has never met.I had just recently read MoonRush by McCray and Ben Hopkin. An action thriller set in the future that was fun to read (and I wrote a 4-star review). It was written in the same vein as the movie "A-Team" (serious, but fun). Jarod (leader of the Rogues) is a hound dog who would would chase any woman with a pulse, but he didn't drool over women WHILE he was fighting for his life or the lives of his crew. He took care of business first. But in Encrypted, McCray really drives home the point that Ronnie is hot for Zach (and vice versa) and that Quirk is hot for the pilot. Over and over again we see the characters: Drool-shoot-drool-dodge missiles-check out his/her/his rear end/abs or whatever-shoot some more-drool and so on. What am I 13?To me it is not fair to Carolyn McCray to compare Encrypted or any of her other stories to novels written by Dan Brown, or any of the other authors I listed above. Dan Brown set the bar high for religious thrillers. You could tell he puts in tons of research in his stories. For action thrillers check out: Ice Station,Pulse (A Jack Sigler Thriller),Patient Zero,Pandora's Temple,The Judas Strain: A Sigma Force Novel, and D-Boys by the authors I mentioned above. Check out those novels and then you will see why I cannot give a 5 or even a 4-star review to Encrypted. Encrypted is an okay and fun read, but it is not in the same class of novels as those already titles I already mentioned. Think of it like this: I enjoy watching the Indiana Jones movies. Caught all 4 of them in the theaters when they came out. Those movies are big league and cost millions to produce. But, I also enjoy watching the low budget made-for-TV Librarian movies starring Noah Wyle: THE LIBRARIAN TRILOGY - 3 DVD Box Set: QUEST FOR THE SPEAR / RETURN TO KING SOLOMON'S MINES / THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE [NON-USA Format / Import / Region 2 / PAL]. Low cost, corny as heck, but fun to watch. I see Encrypted as the e-book equivalent to the Librarian movies. A lower cost/quality book version of the action/thriller titles like The Da Vinci Code or The Judas Strain.Will I read more of McCray books? Yes. In fact I already have Havoc and Binary on my Kindle and I just recently ordered: Got Thrills? A Boxed Set (A McCray Collection) for only $0.99. This set features six novella stories (one of which is the prequel to Encrypted). I figured for less than a buck I can check out several additional titles by McCray. But now I somewhat know what to expect, at least for the Encrypted stories: Romance w/love angst with some action thrown in.P.S. For other religious themed action/thrillers, read almost any book by James Byron Huggins. I would highly recommend The Reckoning: A Novel (a Da Vinci type thriller written YEARS before The Da Vinci Code) or Rora. Unfortunately his books are NOT available in Kindle format yet.

Ronnie, the “Robin Hood Hacker” and Special Agent Zach should be bitter enemies; after all, they are on different sides of the law. However, they are in love with each other. Together they try to find a vaccine for the Bubonic Plague that has been spread by a religious cult called “The Hidden Hand,” which wants to wipe out the population – except for themselves and their chosen of course.The plot wasn’t original, regarding an organization spreading the plague, but I liked what McCray did with it. She made the plot seem fresh and exciting. I liked the characters very much and found them fully developed and interesting. It was a bit of a stretch that Quirk had a gadget for every occasion, but I was easily able to look past it. The pacing was good and kept me turning pages until the end.

This is a fun fantasy tale that mixes high technology with a story of biowarfare perpetrated by a powerful religious sect of doomsday fanatics. Unlike well written stories of the genre the author reverts to the heroine’s seemingly endless supply of implausible, high tech, Inspector Gadget like weapons and tools to get her out of the various conners the author paints her into. The casual treatment of millions of people literally dying by the hour from a virulent strain Black Plague, with the thought that the heroine could save the world by returning a handful of vines of antiserum to the sole survivor of a plague infected CDC lab is mind numbing. No concluding believable. detail is ever provided of how the plot climax defeats the spread of the super virus is a huge whole that leaves the reader totally empty and unsatisfied. In short this fun piece of fantasy fiction is too implausible to be worth recommending.

I have yet to be disappointed in any book by this author. Ms. Caroyln McCray spins a wonderful tale. This book is sort of along the lines of her 30 pieces of Silver. Not near controversial, but that darn good!In this book we are dealing with Zach from the FBI. Ronnie, the Robin Hood Hacker. Quirk, her trusty assistant. Pilot, a pilot. (Basically, these are the main characters) The world is looking at another Black Plague killing off almost everyone. At the hands of the Hidden Hand organization, we are seeing that true evil never does rest...just waits till the prime opportunity to strike.What I found interesting about this topic is, it really could happen. We could have another outbreak that would kill over half of the people on this planet.This is a great book. I was so wrapped up in the inner stories that I couldn't read fast enough. I wanted to know what was going on with Ronnie and Zach. I wanted to see them end up together and be happy. But in the end, is it really going to happen?

The latest in the line of Dan Brown style derivative books, Encrypted is a fast paced thriller, ticking all the usual boxes of crazed religious fanatics, secret knowledge, misunderstood rogue protaganists and of course an on-off love story.It was enjoyable enough, although some of the dialogue and prose was somewhat juvenile, and the gay character massively overplayed - constantly moaning about "heteros". It may be that the romantic angle will appeal more to females, but it left me somewhat cold in its predicatability. The "techno" part of this "techno-thriller" became increasingly far-fetched as the novel reached its conclusion (hacking into the controls of the US Star Wars programme laser beam - really?!), but there were plenty of interesting ideas on that front.By all means take a read of this, it is entertaining, and different enough from the run-of-the-mill stuff of this genre to merit attention. 6/10

An all action thriller that proceeds at a fast pace. Everything is thrown at the reader and it requires you to suspend logic to for it to work. I have no idea why the “Robin Hood Hacker” Ronnie the central character as well as being a hacker has high tech (science fiction) weapons and devices, but otherwise the story would not work. All of the characters are very comic strip and larger than life as is the action.Thrown into the mix are “black death”, “Evil secret society (The Hidden Hand)” a few scientists, secret service agents and not to forget paintings from the great masters and even “Elvis”.There are twist and turns all through the book with a bit of romance thrown in.If you look as all the elements thrown in it just should not work but it does and does very well.Although this is the first of a series it works well as a stand-alone leaving just enough loose ends for the series to carry on.I will read the next in the series.

I hesitated between the 3 and 4 stars. It is not that it is not nicely written, it is because the action plots are so over the top and the dialogues are sometimes cliches or unoriginal. On the other hand, it is a very entertaining book, nevertheless. The characters are very likeable. It is an easy read.And to be fair, the conspiracy behind the story is sound. A conspiracy of ridding the world of most of its people by spreading a new strain of the Black Plague in order to keep its resources to only a few 'chosen' ones is not far from the alleged conspiracies pertaining to the New World Order.This story would make a good action movie. The conspiracy, the high tech weapons and machinery, the impossible love story between the Queen of Hackers and the FBI agent, their game of cat and mouse, the deadline to find a vaccine.If you are a reader who likes to stick to the facts and does not like crazy stories, then this book is not for you. It is not a thriller, you do not get frissons of fear while reading it. But it is definitely an action packed story.If you are ready for a read that makes you feel you are on a roller coaster, then download Encrypted. Ideally, you should be young at heart to like this book and that makes it an ideal read for teenagers too. Encrypted

Very enjoyable Dan Brown meets James Bond meets Contagion with a bit of romance thrown in! The 'religious mystery' storyline is blended with a superhero heroin who has as many gadgets as a bond movie! Sure, there were a few plot questions here and there, and the odd assistant's (real or imaginary) relationship is probably not necessary, but there was nothing which spoiled the enjoyable race against time!Don't take it too seriously, enjoy the chase and it's fun, but if you expect a Dan Brown style religious puzzle, it may miss the mark for you.

It's great book the action is described perfectly and I could almost see it unfolding before my eyes ....That said the dialogue can be improved but hey the book was otherwise so good and I dont really care if there are inaccuracies in the computers and the technology stuff because it was all believable as far as fantasy is concerned ... If you need accuracy read a computer manual this is fiction I expect it to be an entertaining read and it was !!!The hidden hand can change to any recent terrorist organisation and the historical elements removed without changing the plot too much and it will still be great!!!!

What a rattling good, inventive story - it took me longer to read than most because so much seems to be happening on every page.There are two concurrent storylines which dovetail neatly at the end, loads of tekkie stuff (unimagined by yours truly), and fantastic situations with really bad baddies and good guys who work hard at being good. A bit of love interest but not in a sticky sweet smoochy way.Quite a few typos and grammar bloopers but the bad language was kept down and none of it spoiled the read. Above all this book was sheer FUN.Enjoy

I found this book very fast paced and funny. The mix of characters and the pace of the action happening are a little hard to follow unless you are fully concentrating on the book. The author has a good spiel going in this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the rest in the series. I really enjoyed some of the background characters and what was happening with them as well as the 2 main characters. It would be hard to label this a romance in the true sense but it does give you a bit of everything and leave you wanting more as well.

I read this book in 2 days. An absolutely great read!Stayed awake all night, not often a book gets my attention like this did.I shall keep an eye out for a sequel!And was impressed with spelling..One little glitch rogue was mentioned twiceonly the first was mis-spelt as rouge, a minor error not like someof my recent reads where a proof reader's grasp of the English language lefta lot to be desired.Author! be proud!

I must admit I did not know what to expect from this book but I'm glad that I did get it. Once you get over the ancient society spreading the plague, which to be fair is not so unbelievable, the story starts to unfold and holds the attention. The high tech gadgetry is really cool and the people believable. I am looking froward to number two.

I first came across Carolyn McCray in the Betrayed series and when Encrypted came up as a free book, I downloaded it immediately.It's fast moving, exciting, full of the twists and turns that I came to expect from Ms McCray. I can't wait to read the rest of the series!

Encrypted: An Action-Packed Techno-ThrillerAs a free book this is fine, but I am glad I didn't spend money on it. Very much a disposable story, easily forgettable but nonetheless if one seriously suspends ALL disbelief it will keep you occupied whilst on holiday for a while. Not destined to become a classic I'm afraid. Encrypted: An Action-Packed Techno-Thriller

Began ok but was very over long and padded out with guff ...skipped most of the middle as the characters were starting to annoy me ...shame as the story was good put the writing was almost childlike

Good read.

I really enjoyed this book. Loved the characters and although some parts were far fetched it was still a very enjoyable and entertaining action packed book. Very glad I bought it and look forward to reading more of this authors' work!

This book had a good plot, was well written and suspended disbelief well.All in all, a very good read.