Grey Hat
After a college true crime podcast solves a cold case at Colorado State University, those involved receive an ominous video showing a young woman bound and tortured with the sender informing them that they caught the wrong person. Above her head is a timer counting down what could be the last 72 hours of her life. As law enforcement from across Colorado rush to aid the investigation, the FBI offers their secret weapon - a hacker consultant named Lauren Oliver.
Brash, witty, pain in the ass, but scary good. These are how most would describe Lauren Oliver. She is the hacker you want on your side. As a Grey Hat she skirts the line between the legal and illicit. Unfortunately, these skills, combined with her brash wit, complicate the relationships in her life. Guided by her own moral center, she will need all of these skills if this new victim has any chance of surviving.
Navigating the competing versions of fact and fiction, Lauren is in a race against a relentless timer, a stream of taunting videos, and a victim fading under captivity at the hands of a sadist. She must figure out if this is the work of the actual original killer, a hitherto unknown accomplice, a copycat, or something even worse. With each advance in the investigation Lauren moves ever closer to a collision with true monsters.
Note from the author:
Technology’s ubiquitous presence in our lives, and its potential for both use and abuse, inspired certain plot elements in this novel. Accordingly, there is a focus, wherever possible within the narrative, on realistic depictions of hacking and cyber forensics. This realism stands in contrast to the common portrayal of hacking in media as a magical element in non-fantasy stories.
Furthermore, the decision to center Grey Hat around a female hacker protagonist was partly motivated by the author’s prior work with the US National Science Foundation. That effort involved identifying and examining potential barriers that deter young women from pursuing STEM fields of study and careers. Although this subject has become more complex and contentious in recent years, earlier research, including that which the author was involved in, suggested that a social-cultural barrier emerges during the middle and early high school years, commonly referred to as the “Star Trek Effect.” This effect describes the tendency of young women, and to a lesser extent young men, to lose interest in STEM subjects due to concerns about their social status among their peers. This is exacerbated by the need, particularly during adolescence, to connect with and gain acceptance from their preferred in-groups. Anyone who has experienced middle and high school can understand these pressures.
One notable exception to this trend was the impact of the US television show CSI in the early 2000s. Many young people, notably young women, were inspired to pursue forensic science studies and careers as a result of this show. This was partly due to the positive representation of characters engaged in scientific criminal investigations, which presented relatable and aspirational examples for the audience. Despite the perpetuation of certain stereotypes, other forms of popular “geek-culture” media in subsequent years have helped to remove some of the stigma surrounding STEM fields.
However, the portrayal of hackers in media as anti-social criminals or dysfunctional misanthropes, often imbued with magical abilities, has persisted and must give way to more inspiring characters. Accurate and aspirational characters that can generate positive interest in cybersecurity and other technical professions are essential if we are to meet the current and future demands for these capabilities. It is the author’s hope that Lauren Oliver’s character can one day serve as such an inspirational and aspirational figure.
In conclusion, I hope that you will enjoy the following presentation. If your narrative interests also include conspiracy thrillers, please visit conspiracythrillerbook.com and read sample chapters from the author’s other forthcoming novel, The Sybil Conspiracy. This novel explores a conspiracy dating back to the founding of the United States and has been compared by many readers to the movies National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Non-spoiler warning there is a scene within the full text of the book but not in the chapters that will be provided here involving a character's suicide.
Copyright © 2024 C. L. Broogle. All Rights Reserved.