THE DIGITAL DETECTIVE: FIRST INTERVENTION
Released January 2025

Cyber threats and cyber criminals indiscriminately target the old as well as young regardless of race, creed or origin. Teens and young adults must realize that on the Internet nobody knows you’re a rat. Digital Detective stories are a cross between truth and fiction use real tools, techniques and procedures. The stories are based on real cyber cases. It’s a way for kids 10 and up to learn while they enjoy.

The Digital Detective: First Intervention is a coming-of-age, action-thriller as told by Jason Palmer (JP to friends and Palmer to others) and his energetic friend, Reba Ng.

We first meet Jason as a 30-something adult who’s been suspended from the US NSA for some dark reason. He’s bold, hardened, and an overconfident go-getter. This latter trait may be why he’s literally “on the beach”. He’s upset, feels inadequate and disappointed by how events in Bulgaria unfolded. Following therapist’s orders, he’s reviewing some of his old case journals and happens across the first-ever journal documenting his emergence into cyber forensics.

Our story opens when Jason was only 13-years old and about to start his first year in American high school. He befriends Reba (Rebecca Ng), his neighbor and fellow nerd outcast at school. Reba has all the qualities Jason lacks. She’s dynamic, outgoing, and wickedly athletic. This is probably why they become strong friends. Jason’s dad is a police detective sergeant and Jason’s personal idol. His dad is tormented by the lack of leads in serial burglaries to wealthy, nearby neighborhoods. Jason knows some of the technology he’s been working with could break the case open. That night, JP and Reba discover the burglars entering the community and Reba skillfully places a tracker on their get-away car and they pass the information to Jason’s dad. This first success, although mighty risky and dangerous, leads Jason to take on a threatening and perilous encounter with Lesta and Anton, leaders of an international criminal gang.