Official Review: Ransomware and Murder by Scott McPherson

[Prisallen]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Ransomware and Murder" by Scott McPherson.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Snake, a professional computer hacker, is planning on hacking into St. Francis Hospital’s computer system and demanding a ransom. Stealing the cleaning woman’s ID badge to do this is a key part of his plan. However, Snake doesn’t know someone is planning on killing her while he is stealing her ID, making him the number one suspect. He also hasn’t planned on another hacker getting into the same computer system.

Dr. Jack Sharp is having problems intermittently with his computer. A red skull and crossbones show up occasionally and then disappear. Going to the hospital for a meeting, he runs into Detective Rebecca Sweate. He worked with her previously on another case. She is here because of the murder of Amaya, the cleaning lady. Rebecca asks Jack to look at the body to see if he can give any clues as to the cause of her death. Jack takes this hard as Amaya and her family were patients of his. Her husband, Ibrahim, has been doing missionary work in Sudan and, we subsequently find out, has been kidnapped.

Soon after Amaya’s body is found, computers for the hospital and the city offices are frozen by a hacker. They showed the red skull and crossbones symbol that Jack had seen earlier on his own computer.

Do the murder and hacking have a connection? Does the kidnapping of Ibrahim have anything to do with Amaya’s murder or the hacking of the computers? Is this murderer going to strike again?

Ransomware and Murder, by Scott McPherson, M.D., is book four in the Jack Sharp MD Novel series. The author has worked as a family physician for 35 years and now teaches. Therefore, he knows medicine and how bad things can be if office computers are hacked. This shows in his superb writing, which is concise and easy to follow. Written in third person, this is a fairly short book at 165 pages and 45 chapters, and it doesn’t take long to read. The story started with a bang with Snake, whose real name is Bill, sneaking into the hospital to steal Amaya’s ID. Then, the action slows for a bit while the author develops the characters and builds the background for the story. A little later, the tale gets intense as it moves along to a suspenseful ending. I had trouble putting down the novel after the first half. Although this story is one in a series, it is a standalone book. When needed, the author gives us a bit of information from previous stories. The questions are all answered by the conclusion. The plot was my favorite aspect of the novel.

The characters are well developed and interesting. Jack, our main protagonist, works hard, but family is very important to him. He cares for his patients and grieves for Amaya and her family. Jack is brave and doesn’t panic easily, but he seems to have a habit of getting into trouble. Snake is an interesting character who starts out as the typical “bad guy”, but we soon see there is much more to him.

There is a theme of faith running through the book. The doctors pray at meetings, and Jack asks for guidance frequently throughout the story. No particular religion is identified, and I don’t think it would offend any religious group. Family is also an important theme. No sex or cursing is seen in the novel.

A few errors, mainly with punctuation, are seen. The chapters didn’t start on a new page, and I don’t know if that is a formatting issue with the PDF file I received. There were a couple of occasions where the chapter and number were at the very bottom of one page, but it actually started on the following page. It was the main thing I had an issue with and my least favorite part. This is a minor problem and should be easy to fix. It is certainly not worth taking a point off.

As I loved the well-developed plot and characters, this interesting book gets a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I highly recommend it to readers who like crime dramas and suspense novels. People who appreciate stories with faith in them should also enjoy this book. Although this novel has murder in it, there is no gore. However, it is unsuitable for children because of violence.

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Ransomware and Murder
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[Ngozi Onyibor]

The book seems fascinating. I'm curious as to why Snake would want to hack into a hospital computer system. Why not a multi-billion dollar coy if it's ransom he wants?

[kandscreeley]

Fabulous! I love that this is a clean mystery. It's great the author can combine medicine and murder in a successful way. Great review. Thanks!

[Stephanie Elizabeth]

Sounds exciting! I can imagine things would get pretty bad if a hacker was able to get into a computer and hack medical records and such. I wonder if the hacking and murder are connected? Thanks for the wonderful review!

[rumik]

Sounds like a really interesting book, love how perfectly you described the plot. I might have to check this one out. Thanks for the great review!

[Prisallen]

The book seems fascinating. I'm curious as to why Snake would want to hack into a hospital computer system. Why not a multi-billion dollar coy if it's ransom he wants?

I'm not sure. Maybe this system had less security? Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

[Prisallen]

Fabulous! I love that this is a clean mystery. It's great the author can combine medicine and murder in a successful way. Great review. Thanks!

Thank you for taking the time to read my review and commenting!

[Prisallen]

Sounds exciting! I can imagine things would get pretty bad if a hacker was able to get into a computer and hack medical records and such. I wonder if the hacking and murder are connected? Thanks for the wonderful review!

Thank you for reading it and commenting!

[Prisallen]

Sounds exciting! I can imagine things would get pretty bad if a hacker was able to get into a computer and hack medical records and such. I wonder if the hacking and murder are connected? Thanks for the wonderful review!

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

[Prisallen]

Sounds like a really interesting book, love how perfectly you described the plot. I might have to check this one out. Thanks for the great review!

I hope you get a chance to read it. Thanks for reading my review and commenting!

[Aniza Butt]

Sounds a promising mystery. As a mystery lover, i surely want to give it a try.
Thanks a lot for the review

[Ekta Swarnkar]

My curiosity reached its peak, I will have to try this out. Wonderful review!

[Gabriel Merêncio]

It's good to know this book can be read as a standalone experience since the premise sounds quite complex and fascinating for a mystery novel. Hopefully the author's rigor extends to the hacking bits as well; I'm tired of stories where characters invade high-security systems from all over the world in their basements or something. Thanks for the review!

[nooregano]

Medicine and murder - life and death! These are some fascinating themes. Thank you for this wonderful review, Prisallen!

[Wyland]

Reading this review, I find the novel very wholesome indeed. Thanks for the wonderful review.