The Croxton Project: j293 an e-book assumed published, copyright and written by Ian D. Wright,
Sub-titled “A Blueprint for Deception”, the story line follows newly-married and highly successful investigative reporters Steve and Emily as Joe Jefferies, former Special Forces officer and now private security company owner, requests their aid. They are indebted to Joe on several levels and happy to help in an involved security assignment. It seems that Lomax Technologies recently had added David Croxton, a brilliant young engineer, to their staff. David had developed a workable prototype of a weapon that offered tremendous possibilities. The government contacted Lomax who assured them that all necessary security features were in order and issued the contract. Unfortunately, until acquisition of David, Lomax Technologies had quite literally been a Mom & Pop organization developing gadgets. John Lomax was the CEO, his wife Margaret was the fiscal officer and son Brian head of marketing and sales. All was rather sloppily run and security spotty, at best. Government agents were due to perform a routine inspection within a couple of weeks. Joe was called in because even Lomax suddenly realized numerous holes existed in his security coverage. The problem is further complicated when David suddenly disappears following thoughtless activity with a Karl Zeigler after meeting and being introduced by his beautiful associate. Other characters of importance are Peter Bridge, Lomax’s personnel manager and Jarvis, David’s immediate supervisor who is prone to taking credit for David’s accomplishments, even though any malfunction in the prototype could be rectified only by Croxton. Steve and Emily, together with Joe and his task force, pursue a course of intrigue and deception that leads to an ultimate conclusion.
Discussion: The author has provided a tale set in England during the cold war era that relives the frenzy among nations to gain the most devastating weaponry. As such, it encompasses various aspects of the espionage, deceit, paranoia and frequently thoughtless activity that led often to unfortunate results. The tale is fast paced and moves forward quite directly for the most part to a termination, part of which in this reader’s perspective, should have been accomplished more efficiently as set in motion by the author. But then, this is a personal opinion of an action that each prospective reader must judge for him/her self.
4* 5* Interesting Cold War Era tale; -1 reviewer’s personal perspective.