Phish NET Stalkings by Denise Robbins

By Rick Reed

When Jane East is looking for Mr. Right through an online dating service, she receives an e-card and unknowingly installs phishing software onto her computer.  Along comes Cooper Chance, who helps her track the cyber phishing scammer. In turn, she helps Cooper in his investigation of a man who uses the online dating service to attack women.

There are many twists and turns, including the fact that Cooper is seen wearing ladies’ pink underwear, and the small problem of Jane’s intense fear of cops—caused by seeing her mother and granny Pearl murdered by men with badges. Of course, those men are still on the loose and searching for her. Can Cooper get past her guard in order to save her life?

To borrow a line from Denise Robbins’s own biography, “High-tech becomes high-risk in Denise Robbins’ novels.” And nothing could be truer of the killer novels written by this New Hampshire author. Her two decades of experience in computers enables her to blend computer technology with intrigue, romance, and suspense into her techno-romantic thrillers. Reading one of her novels will keep you spellbound, and searching for the next release.

Denise Robbins—a software engineering manager and techno-thriller author—shows readers the realities of working on the Internet by creating a plot around commonly used computer scams. In addition to learning how these crimes are often carried out, readers will be taken on a page-turning tale of crime and intrigue in Robbins’ latest romantic thriller, and her fifth book, PHISH NET STALKINGS.  It draws you in and you had better hold on for the ride of your life.

She recently took time out of her busy schedule to sit down with ITW for an interview:

PHISH NET STALKING is book number five for you.  I noticed that each book is a stand-alone, in that you have different protagonists in each book.  Will you do a series involving any of these characters, or new ones?

Once I fall in love with a character, he or she has a tendency to want to pop in and out of my other stories. In my first four novels, readers will actually see characters from a previous book, but the stories themselves are standalone.

You have a great background with computer technology.  How does this experience help you in creating a techno-thriller?   

It gives me great experiences to use as storylines. Knowing what we go through to make applications secure or what people try to break them makes for fun ideas in a book. Of course, not all of my books are computer related stories. A few years ago, I learned about nano technology and fell in love. That’s the geeky side of my personality showing.

My background helps me write the stories in a manner that every person can understand without a lot of technical mumbo jumbo.

Would you consider yourself more of a thriller writer, or a romance writer? 

IT HAPPENS IN THREES was more romance but since that novel the stories have been more suspense/thriller. I love a story that grips you and you just have to turn the page to find out what is going to happen next.

Is there another genre that you might try in the future? 

In my novel, NEVER TEMPT DANGER, I mixed in a little paranormal in with the suspense. It worked well with the technology weaved in as part of the paranormal.

Can you talk a little about your selection of locations for your novels?

Since I live in New England most of my stories encompass New Hampshire at least. Then others also incorporate locations I’ve lived previously or visited like Florida Keys or Washington DC. The novel I’m working on right now starts in New Hampshire but travels to Ireland. I visited the lovely country last year and on the plane ride back I was inspired and could not writing.

How did the idea to write techno-thrillers come about?

They say the easiest thing to write is what you know. This is what I know. Have you ever had your network hacked or your email phished or any of those nasty things everyone warns you about but you don’t understand? I have. It’s not fun and I never want to go through it again. Why not take those experiences and put them into a techno-thriller that others can use as an escape and at the same time learn from.

Are any of the characters based on real people or events?

All of the stories are based on real technology and real events…to a degree. Some of the characters come from real people. Jake, the hero in my novel CONNECT THE DOTS is based on a very good friend of mine. Actually, the hero is my interpretation of what my friend does for a living. His looks and personality are completely my imagination.

In Killer Bunny Hill, the nanotechnology for creating real diamonds and making computer chips out of the diamonds is very real. The characters are people who popped into my head and told me their story. It’s also the story where many people have asked me if Samantha, the heroine, is me. <WINK>

What’s next for Denise Robbins?

Next is my work-in-progress that will take place mostly in Ireland and some in New Hampshire. This story involves the IRA, some use of technology by the military, and two of my most intriguing characters yet.

*****

Denise Robbins—a software engineering manager and techno-thriller author—shows readers the realities of working on the Internet by creating a plot around commonly used computer scams. In addition to learning how these crimes are often carried out, readers will be taken on a page-turning tale of crime and intrigue in Robbins’ latest romantic thriller, called Phish NET Stalkings.

To learn more about Denise, please visit her website.