Fantastic, full of tension. Being based on real events made it feel scarily realistic. Really looking forward to the rest of the series!

My thanks to Canelo Action for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Cyberstrike: London’ by James Barrington and Professor Richard Benham in exchange for an honest review.

This is intended to be the first in a series of topical thrillers focusing on cyber crime/warfare featuring Ben Morgan.

It opens with the real life events of the morning of July 7th, 2005. Ben Morgan, a cyber security expert with the Metropolitan Police, is on his way to a meeting at the Home Office. He is on the Underground when the series of coordinated terrorist attacks takes place. The authors manage to capture a strong sense of the panic experienced by those caught up in these incidents.

Following this Morgan is transferred to C-TAC - Counter Terrorism Advisory Committe, a division of the security services, tasked with thwarting future terrorist attacks.

In 2019 a new type of attack is being planned that starts with the kidnapping of a City banker. Yet the kidnappers do not seem to be interested in a ransom. Morgan and his team face a race against time to discover their motives and locate the victim.

A thriller about cyberterrorism is bound to be more cerebral than the usual type of action thriller. There are also plenty of action sequences as the story reaches its exciting climax.

This was a cracking plot that was clearly well researched. I also appreciated the information provided in the Author’s Note breaking down various aspects of the complex British security services.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Cyberstrike: London is the first in what appears from the first instalment to be a thrilling, timely and topical new series with cyber warfare at its heart, and boy was this a heart-stopping, adrenaline-fuelled rollercoaster ride of twists and turns, peaks and troughs from beginning to end. The story opens on 7/7 2005 in London with cybersecurity expert Ben Morgan on his way to a Home Office meeting when he is caught up in the merciless and terrifying terrorist events of that fateful day. He is then drafted in by the government as part of the personnel to be issued with the task of preventing another atrocity occurring as part of an urgent secret service committee. The narrative then moves into the present day where in Hong Kong a totally different type of terrorist incident is taking root yet it will have a similarly devastating impact. The objective? To cripple the City of London, well known to be one of the key financial districts in the world.

The book begins with a bang and moves forth at rapid pace with a high-octane, all-action narrative that barely gives you a moment to breathe or compose yourself. Barrington’s writing exudes urgency and drama creating a heart-pounding epic thrill ride that readers of thrillers will simply devour, just as I did. The dual timelines served as a way to illustrate the different type of threats we face both then (2005) and now as well as how threats might evolve. For example, where once the threat was known to be coming from those who might utilise guns or explosives it now seems perpetrators are favouring knives and vehicles due to the ease of acquiring and manoeuvring them. In the near future, the threat due to cyberattacks will play a bigger part.

An exciting and utterly captivating read that highlights the tough job those tasked with our security both then and now are facing and will continue to face. Many thanks to Canelo for an ARC.

Description
The start of a major new series from a bestselling thriller writer and a renowned cybersecurity expert: Ben Morgan, a cybersecurity specialist with the Metropolitan police, starts another day at work. It will be the last normal day he ever has.

The Present: In Hong Kong, a crime overlord is offered a deal by shadowy agents from Beijing: his life for a new kind of operation in London. Morgan, now a part of an off the books cyber-terrorism prevention unit, must do everything to stop its spread. This is a new kind of war: different goals, tactics, rules, stakes. And Morgan is caught right in the centre.

My Review
Cyberstrike London starts off with Morgon in the train on the way to Queen Anne's Gate when suddenly it goes dark. Everything around him is eerily quiet and the emergency lights turn on making the situation more ominous. We see Morgan trying to maintain order so that the occupants of the train do not panic. Eventually someone outside the train is instructing them to walk to the end of the carriage. As everyone exits the station onto the street Morgan still does not realize the severity of what has happened.

There were parts that were a bit confusing and to me rather slow. There is some room for improvement, but the premise of the book is very interesting.

Overall the novel is one I would recommend if you enjoy reading stories related to terrorism.

It was a lot of fun. This is a tech thriller gripping and entertaining even if sometimes it's a bit unbelievable.
I liked the storytelling, the well crafted plot and the well researched and realistic technical background.
I want to read other books by this author.
Recommended.
Many thanks to Canelo and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Terrorism is going to be a great factor in or lives probably forever. This take on terrorism in London is intruiging but not new. The conversations were stilted and boring. The excitement level, considering the scenerios was sleepy. This may be wrong to ask but why does author Richard Benham describe himself as Professor?

This is OK for what it is -- a thriller. So it isn't totally realistic and a little over the top at times. But the author does a good job creating tension. and obviously knows his tech which does help add some realism. Probably best for those that want a cybertech read.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!

A well written and exciting book. It had an air of authenticity mixed with a a thrilling storyline. There were one or two sections that could be omitted where there is too much detail but it did not spoil my enjoyment.. I certainly learned a great deal about the workings of the Security Services! I look forward to the next book by these authors.
Thank you James Barrington, Professor Benham, Netgalley and Canelo for allowing me to give my unbiased opinion.

The story begins with the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. As a cyber security specialist with the Metropolitan Police, Ben Morgan is on his way to a meeting when he’s caught up in these dreadful events.

Fast forward to the present, and in Hong Kong, a new and extremely clever operation has just been given the go ahead. This operation doesn’t involve bombs, but cyber security, designed to bring down the City of London. Morgan, now part of the cyber terrorism prevention unit, is going to need his decades of expertise and experience, because he won’t have encountered anything quite like this before.

This was such a unique plot that I’m surprised we haven’t seen something like it in the daily news - or has it happened and been covered up? which of course must happen all the time. We only get to know what the government wants us to know!

It’s clear that the author has great knowledge in the area of cyber security - it shows. Some of the characters are terrifying, as they’d need to be to carry out an operation on such a scale. Really intense at times, this was a very enjoyable read.

Cyberstrike London. James Berrington & Professor Richard Benham

This is a story of an attack on the City of London, not in the manner in which we have come to expect, no lone terrorist with a machete, no small group with backpacks stuffed with homemade explosives.

This time the people trying to bring down the City, and cripple the country is another country.

How do they manage this? They give one of the most feared and blood thirsty criminals they have one last chance, work for them and bring down a foreign power or die in a horrific way.

But how does a man who is used to using brute force manage to bring down a country.

Easy, he kidnaps a man who is in the right social circle, and gets information on all the main players in the city. Information that can be used to blackmail them into doing things that will cripple the City.

There is a group of people that work for the Government whose job it is to identify threats before the terrorists have chance to carry out an attack. One of them, Ben Morgan, is a cyber expert, but his job is usually to monitor trends in communications before an attack to identify who was involved and anticipate future attacks.

This time he’s at the forefront of the fight to stop the attack, or limit the effect it has on the country.

A new decade and a new type of crime, but in all honesty, I read this thinking how easy it would be to carry out this attack, and how difficult it would be to stop it. A politician once said that the “security forces have to get lucky all of the time, the terrorist only has to get lucky once” .

I can’t help thinking that one day I’m going to be watching the news thinking, this was in that book.

A brilliantly written, origin plot, which has developed a cracking story.

Pages: 353
Publisher: Canelo
Publishing date: 9th March 2020

The novel was difficult to start. There is too much talk and not enough action. For some reason we are discussing events in 2005 when the novel really is about blackmailing bankers in 2019. Much more action happened toward the end, but my suggestion is some serious cutting before publication. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Canelo for the ARC.
I'm in two minds about this book. On the one side it has indeed got a story, but on the other it read really rather 'dryly', almost like an informative lecture on the 'secret' world of cyber surveillance.

Ben Morgan is a cyber security expert on his way to the Home Office for a meeting when he gets caught-up in the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. Three days later he finds himself as a key part of a secret service committee exploring ways of preventing further attacks.

Present day, and C-TAC - Counter Terrorism Advisory Committee, having been fairly inactive for over 5 years, is called upon again in the wake of the kidnapping of Nicholas Michaelson, a venture capitalist. Ben once again employs his cyber surveillance skills to locate where Michaelson is being held.
Meanwhile, associates of the kidnappers are busy surveilling and blackmailing prominent bankers
What's their plan and who's pulling the strings?

All in all, I found the brainstorming and conjecturing of the 'committee' in coming up with reasons why C-TAC should be involved in a kidnapping rather far-fetched and with very little basis. Additionally, I felt there were just too many convenient explanations to account for such as Ben being au fait with a weapon and military tactics etc. The story seemed to be almost an afterthought to bring some form of adventure to the use of cyber resources by the security services.

If you like reading about secret surveillance equipment and organisations then you'd probably really like this.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a free ARC of this ebook.
This story starts with a graphic description of the 7/7 terrorist attack on London. This sets the scene for the protagonist Ben Morgan to take centre stage in the fight against terrorism. As the story unfolds various forms of terrorism are explored. The book reads like a text book of surveillance, counter surveillance, MI5, MI6, etc and military jargon, all of which are explained in detail. The story plods on, and it isn't a bad one, but the character devopment is nonexistent. I found this book very limited in its appeal, as a result of not really 'knowing' the characters and as such not really caring much about them. It was a struggle to get to the end and I'm still questioning if it was worth it.

Venturing into new genres, this is totally different for me. Entering into the world of terrorism and terrorists. The story of the disaster that happened in London on 7th July. Ben Morgan is a cyber security special and was travelling into London on this fateful day. This is a fictional story of how Ben and other law agencies all worked and pooled information in catching the terrorists. Lots of acronyms and jargons (all explained). If you like Andy Mcnab, then this is for you.