Cobra Pose, the second thrilling installment of the award-winning Yoga Mat Mysteries series by Susan Rogers and John Roosen, available now as Audiobook
Hello again, dear audiobooks friends. Today’s spotlight article is dedicated to Cobra Pose, the second thrilling instalment in the Yoga Mat Mysteries series by award winning authors Susan Rogers and John Roosen. I think this will be of interest to a lot of you as one of the themes in the storyline is about hacking. The eBook and audiobook have been released for international distribution and are now available at retailers worldwide. Cobra Pose has a runtime of 10 hours and it’s performed by internationally recognized narrator Rupert Degas.
If you like well-written Crime Noir thrillers that have also been recognized with international awards, I also highly recommend checking out Dead Man’s Pose, the previous installment of this award-winning series. Before we move on to the Publisher’s Summary, bios and some interesting insights into our talented authors, I need to mention that the beautiful cover has won an international award in Best Cover Design (Fiction).
From the Publisher’s Summary we learn that Australia is a surfers’ paradise … but this nefarious surfing on the ‘net’ … will destroy the global financial system.
It’s not just a rippling ‘scam’ job. Has Australia been infiltrated at levels they’ve never known?
Elaina Williams uses a Cobra Pose in her Yoga studio to boost her energy – she will need it! Elaina’s father, Edward, is in trouble. He’s disappeared.
As a solicitor and now yoga instructor, Elaina drags Ric, a man she’s fallen for, into the bursting web of techno-thrilling intrigue.
Ric Peters has just returned from a disastrous trip to Indonesia. Ric bills himself as a photojournalist. Elaina suspects he shoots more than just photographs. Ric has insight into the journey he and Elaina must take. He knows Elaina isn’t ready for what’s going to happen. There are too many moving parts for him to control.
Time is running out before The Cobra and The Wolf strike with their heist. They are extending their fangs towards Australia’s ‘golden coastline’ to bite into and destabilise financial institutions worldwide.
The sparkling sub-tropical city of Brisbane, Queensland, is the epicentre of this hacking tsunami of the century! But these hackers are good at hiding. They make a living out of it. They are submerged Phantoms leaving no tracks.
Can the burgeoning amateur sleuth Elaina piece this puzzle together before her father’s fate is sealed? How far is Ric willing to go in deciding to save Elaina … or Australia?
Susan Rogers and John Roosen, authors of Cobra Pose, have long been interested in the topic of hacking.
“Anyone who has a computer, does banking, or has online accounts with any organization knows unauthorized access to data is on the increase,” John comments.
The main characters in the series, Elaina Williams and Ric Peters, have returned in this intense techno thriller, which has a heart stopping climax where lives are changed forever.
Elaina uses the Cobra Pose in her Yoga studio as one of the many yoga poses to obtain strength, balance and flexibility. Elaina needs all of those qualities when she finds out her father is missing.
Ric has specialist expertise and experience to aid in the search, but Ric knows there are larger risks at play in this gripping adventure. Tensions run high in this second of the YMM series, with an emotional finale you won’t want to miss.
Cobra Pose takes place in the sub-tropical city of Brisbane and the surrounding area of Queensland. But the city, Australia, and nearby countries, are unprepared for the hacking tsunami of the century threatening to wreak havoc on their financial systems.
Several years ago, co-authors Susan Rogers and John Roosen decided to jump into investigating the deep end of the murky dark pool of international cybercrime.
“We have been fascinated for some time about the mechanics, the tools and the players in the world of cybercrimes and hacking,” said John. “Researching the subject was sometimes perilous to us. Especially when we left the internet superhighway and drilled down into some of the side streets of the dark web.” Cobra Pose has this to say on the current trends:
‘Think of it this way. You don’t have to rob banks with guns blazing like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The task is to watch and question; be aware of any signs. They are always there.’
Ric added, ‘Hackers exploit vulnerabilities which can be used to launch attacks on any system.’
‘Malware can be specifically designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorised access,’ Giles added. ‘But that’s old school. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are now points on an expanding J curve. We have no idea where this is going.’
‘There are even ready-made kits,’ Ric said. ‘These are user-friendly, and you don’t have to know much about programming.’ Except from Cobra Pose].
Susan noted the ‘hacking industry’ has massively increased over the past few years. “We were amazed that with a room full off the shelf equipment, some ‘rented hacking software’ and a handful of technically oriented individuals (along with a refrigerator of energy drinks) and the hackers can be in business,” said Susan.
John added that by 2025 cybercrime is expected to double in occurrences. “Cybercrime is recognized as one of the top ten risks to both the public and private sectors. Its importance and threats are growing exponentially.”
The authors felt that with a topic of this magnitude which has impacted massive numbers of people, it was a solid thematic element for this eBook and subsequent audiobook.
“As storytellers, we developed a particular method of hacking that is somewhat unique in its approach. However, several cybersecurity experts say our method is less science fiction and actually could be very viable,” John noted. “We spent a lot of time reviewing methods of manipulating or withholding data, hacking techniques and methods used in prevention.” As one of their characters in the book describes:
‘When I’m not surfing the beach, I’m surfing the back channels of the net, the darknet, the new silk road, the various metaverses. Whatever’s new. There are plenty of expressways out there, many of them never rising to the surface for the average internet traveller in the “Galactic Network”.
‘It’s one thing to use the internet to write to mum who lives in London, play a virtual game in a metaverse environment, or order an eBook with rapid delivery. But we have warp-speeded beyond that now. And the levels and methods being used on this global connection platform are now more nefarious and continuously seeking new ways to express their greed. In a worst-case environment, just plain evil.’ [Excerpt from Cobra Pose].
An important aspect of this audiobook is the ‘performance’ of Cobra Pose. Rupert Degas, a renowned voice actor, teams up with John and Susan to bring the various characters to life.
“Rupert does not simply narrate, he breathes life into our characters,” Susan describes. “With his multifaceted voice performance, Rupert is able to portray the various personalities of the many characters presented in Cobra Pose.”
John further adds that “Rupert has a myriad of accents and styles, which are all wrapped up in the rich texture of his voice. Despite the wide number of voices in conversations, he can maintain the continuity of the characters voices throughout the book.”
In the final stages of ground-truthing the plot of Cobra Pose, an ironic occurrence of hacking developed. To ensure reality in every scene, John and Susan personally walk around every locale described. While in Brisbane (near Stradbroke Island), they received an email from their Australian communications company. They had been hacked!
“At first it was very frustrating to learned we had been hacked,” John commented. “But we realised in thinking about it, that it was the perfect validation for all the work we had done in preparation for Cobra Pose.”
“And some of the things we learned during that particular occurrence, also helped us better construct the plot!” Susan concluded.
Authors: Susan Rogers and John Roosen
A Sharpshooter Marries a Frogman
And Together They Write Books
Anyone looking at the backgrounds of John Roosen and Susan Rogers would wonder how they met, how they stayed together, and how in the world do they write books together. “It isn’t easy, but it’s fun” they claim.
John Roosen spent many hours of his early life underwater, diving in a number of locations across the world for both work and pleasure. After graduating from university with a degree in biology (and in scuba gear most of the time), John became a commissioned naval officer.
Susan Rogers, the other half of the writing team, has spent hours on end, grounded to a weapons firing range. As part of her US Coast Guard career, she headed up a technical team teaching safety and marksmanship to military personnel.
The Rogers-Roosen duo met at Officer’s Candidate School, had an argument and fell in love. With two similar last names (Rogers-Roosen), they stood next to each other in formations and training. So it was fate! Susan was by the book, and followed all the rules … and John was, well let’s just say tested out a different approach.
Their attraction tore them away from a conventional life casting them across the world and landing them in Australasia, the South Pacific, the Americas, Antarctica and the Middle East. Despite pirates in the South Pacific, armed militias in several locales, blizzards and tropical heatwaves, they stayed together.
The real challenge has been sitting at a table for 12-14 hours a day with two computers and copious amounts of coffee. Their first mystery novel, Dead Man’s Pose, about a murder occurring in Sydney, Australia, became three murders after wrangling a plotline from the creative ether. They argued over everything—from character flaws, to location descriptions, to unique methods of murder.
It’s challenging for two strong personality types to build a gummy web of intrigue. Most of the time (almost miraculously), they maintained their humour. The impenetrable goal was not to tarnish (too much) their long relationship by arguing over Oxford commas, how to place Australianisms, or where to bury storyline clues.
As Cobra Pose was being written, they dug deeply into their backgrounds of military, law enforcement, English, business, technical writing, biology, chemistry and trivia.
During blazing arguments and work-throughs, they pounded out the direction they were headed and how they would get there. That’s where their passion for writing burns brightest. They have now produced two eBooks and two audiobooks in a year and a half.
And what are they doing next weekend? Tree Pose (Book 3) is next up and the laptops will be opened and they will be clicking away, coffee hot, and ideas flowing.
I will return with the full review for Cobra Pose, in late July or early August, but until then, take care, stay safe, and don’t forget, always listen with your heart.
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Victor Dima
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