Breakthrough - Hardcover

Pineiro, R. J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 031285983X ISBN 13: 9780312859831

Publisher: Forge, 1997

Synopsis

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

About this title

About the Author

R.J. Pineiro is a computer engineer at Advanced Micro Devices.

Reviews

The development of a revolutionary new computer chip by a Silicon Valley scientist puts him and his colleagues in mortal peril from the US and German governments--in a suspenseful, transnational thriller from Pineiro (Exposure, 1996, etc.). After four years of effort, Jake Fischer's fledgling firm (Fischer Technology, Inc.) fabricates a reproducible molecular memory device (built from bacterial proteins) whose speed and processing power could make obsolete conventional semiconductors. Mindful the BND has a man inside FTI, the FBI keeps the company under surveillance as well. Whereas Berlin wants to purloin the breakthrough to jump-start a united Germany's flagging economy, Washington plans to delay its market introduction by a decade or more to ensure an orderly programmed transition that would salvage the investments of domestic circuit suppliers. Meanwhile, the Germans recruit Vladimir Titov-Escobar (a.k.a. ``Kardinal''), a Stasi veteran who moves fast, burning FTI's California lab to the ground, kidnapping Sergei Lyevenski (the company's chief technical officer), and making off with a computer tape detailing the protein chip's technology. Although special agent Sonya W�ttenberg (also an old Stasi hand) is powerless to stop this raid, the FBI tracks the terrorist to Paris, where he's to collect his fee in return for Sergei and the tape. The feds stage an 11th-hour ambush, and the Russian ‚migr‚ (a former KGB officer) escapes in the confusion-- with the payoff ($25.0 million in securities as well as cash) and the tape. While Sergei dodges his erstwhile captors in the back alleys of Montmartre, Sonya browbeats Jake into letting her use him as bait. Once in the City of Lights, Jake proves himself a good man under fire. With a little help from hardnosed Sonya, the amateur operative leads the increasingly desperate Kardinal and his murderous crew a merry chase, as does the resourceful Sergei (with whom he's linked up). The threesome eventually survives a climactic confrontation in the Bois de Boulogne. A rough-and-tumble entertainment with violent action and plot twists aplenty. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Finally, Jake Fisher and his high-tech Fisher Technologies team have created the first working protein-based F1 RAM. Many people are interested in FTI's progress: The FB. is monitoring communications (intending to take control as soon as the F1 is viable), while Germany, needing this industry-shattering technology to finance reunification, has planted a mole. Soon after Fisher's bio-chip breakthrough occurs and before the FBI can move, Germany's mercenary (the Kardinal) grabs both the tapes and Sergei (FTI's top scientist) and destroys the building, killing most of the team. Survivor Jake's efforts to stay alive, to recover the F1 RAM data, and to help Sergei escape his captors crisscross those of the lead FBI agent, Sonya Wuttenberg. Moving from California to France, the conflict intensifies among the three former Eastern Bloc-trained spies: Sergei (KGB), Sonya, and the Kardinal (who once worked together in East Germany). Pineiro's (Exposure, LJ 9/15/96) efficiently set scenes and plot action do not compensate for the lack of involving characters or suspense, making this a marginal purchase.?V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forge
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031285983X
• ISBN 13: 9780312859831
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 381