Vanished

by Karen E. Olson

Overview

Computer hacker Tina Adler heads to Paris, France in search of the truth but discovers that someone is close on her trail in this tense and twisting thriller.

With a price on her head, computer hacker Tina Adler is determined to stay offline. Only one person knows how to reach he, and he's in as much danger as she is.

A chance discovery leads Tina to abandon her South Carolina hideaway in search of her old flame, undercover FBI Agent Zeke Chapman. What is Zeke doing in Paris, France? And what is his connection to the disappearance of American college student Ryan Whittier?

En route to Paris in search of answers, Tina realizes that someone is on her trail: someone who's getting disturbingly close. Has she been set up?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727887559
Publisher:	Severn House Publishers
Publication date:	02/01/2018
Series:	A Black Hat Thriller , #4
Edition description:	First World Publication
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.74(h) x (d)

About the Author

Karen E. Olson, a longtime journalist and editor, has been nominated for a Shamus Award, was a finalist for the Gumshoe Award, and winner of the Sara Anne Freed Memorial Award. She has also written the Annie Seymour and Tattoo Shop mystery series. She lives in Connecticut.

Read an Excerpt

Sometimes I go to the library just to look at the bank of computers. I pretend to peruse the books, picking them up one by one, but always with an eye toward the machines that have defined me, that lure me with their promise.
   I don’t touch them. I don’t dare.
  I’ve done it before. Stayed away. But it was easier the first time, before my relapse. The withdrawal is all too real. My hands shake; my heart beats so fast I can barely breathe. Beads of sweat form at my temple, and I dab at them, my face flush. I close my eyes and see the code, pinpoint the backdoors, navigate my way inside in my head. None of it is real.
   I want to find him online. I want to see what’s happened to him. However, there’s no guarantee that I’d find him there. We went our separate ways; I have a price on my head. I can’t afford the risk of exposing myself. While the Internet offers anonymity, it’s a false promise. Anyone can be revealed. Anyone can be found.
  No, the best way to protect myself is to stay offline. I have no Internet footprint. No social media. No chat-room screen names. No bank account. No phone number.
  Only one person knows how to reach me, and he’s in as much danger as I am.
  Someday I might be able to come out of hiding.
   But someone will have to die first.

Editorial Reviews

12/18/2017
Olson’s frenetic fourth Black Hat thriller (after 2017’s Betrayed) finds bespectacled 40-year-old artist Tina Adler, a former computer hacker once known as Nicole Jones, at a Charleston, S.C., art gallery, where wealthy society matron Madeline Whittier expresses interest in buying one of Tina’s watercolors. Madeline also tells Tina she looks familiar. Tina, who’s anxious about preserving her anonymity, excuses herself. A quick computer search reveals a connection between Madeline’s college-age son, Ryan, who disappeared in Paris four months earlier, and Tina’s love interest, FBI special agent Zeke Chapman. Tina is soon fleeing from the FBI; the hit men who have been hired by her arch nemesis, gangster Tony DeMarco; and assorted villains lurking on the web. Tina runs, leaps, bounces, slams, and spins along in a race across the country that eventually takes her to Paris. The only element that doesn’t zip along at breakneck speed is Tina and Zeke’s romance, as much of their courtship is carried out in chat rooms. Still, series fans will enjoy the ride. Agent: Josh Getzler, Hannigan Salky Getzler. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2017-11-14
Maintaining a secret life isn't easy for a woman with an addiction.Tina Adler has hidden out in many places using false names and supporting herself by selling her paintings. Her troubles began years ago when, seeking her father's approval, she used her mad hacking skills to steal money from his clients. She's long been in love with the hacker she knew only as Tracker but later learned was FBI agent Zeke Chapman, who loves her in return even though she accidentally shot him. Tina's living in Charleston, cutting herself off from computers and selling her watercolors through a gallery, when a chance meeting with a buyer throws her life into instant disarray. Madeline Whitter, who was one of her father's clients, recognizes Tina, who's forced to run for her life with the help of Spencer Cross, a wealthy hacker and friend of Zeke's whom she met while she was living in Miami (Betrayed, 2017). While researching Madeline, she finds that a Ryan Whittier vanished from Paris after withdrawing money from an ATM. The security camera also captured someone installing a skimmer just before Ryan entered—and Tina recognizes that someone as Zeke Chapman. After some wild adventures, Tina and Spencer reach Paris, where they hope to find Zeke, who cautiously contacts them through chat rooms. They're all threatened by a hacker going by the name d4rkn!te. Tina realizes Zeke is involved in an FBI operation involving the elusive hacker, but she doesn't know if she can trust Spencer as she desperately searches for solutions to the threats she and Zeke face from unknown enemies.Although the fourth of Olson's rapid-fire adventures works fine as an exciting stand-alone, readers who start with the first book and work their way through the series will better understand the complex relationships involved in the dark world of high-stakes hacking.

Kirkus Reviews