Chris Hammond is a conservative kind of guy with a small “c”. He’s an accountant and still likes to go to work in the tried and tested approved uniform, suit, shirt and tie, and now he looks and feels somewhat out of place, working as he does in a hi-tech company where people work strange hours and wear what the heck they like.

He’s working long hours too and neglecting his pretty wife, Jennifer, who some say he married on the rebound after she broke up with Chris’s brother, Pete. Jenny’s spending lots of time with her girlfriends, or so Chris thinks, when in reality, she’s in the middle of a steamy affair.

Meanwhile, Chris has found gaping holes in the finances of the hi-tech company, big unjustified payments going out, and he urgently needs to speak to the ultra modern cavalier of a boss as a matter of urgency.

Chris comes home late; Jenny’s out again, and soon after that a stranger comes to the door, is invited in, and not long later shoots Chris Hammond dead. Peter, on hearing of his brother’s horrific murder returns to England from Rome for the funeral, and begins looking into the puzzling circumstances surrounding his brother’s death.

So begins Bill Ward’s interesting novel “Encryption”. This is a modern book tackling modern issues of Internet security in the wake of the whole Edward Snowden affair, and it rattles along at a great pace with many layers of plot and story slowly being revealed.

If you enjoy fast paced thrillers against a background of hi-tech business and intrigue you will definitely like this. I certainly did.