Pennyworth Books

Denise Robbins, a software engineering manager by day, integrates her knowledge of computers and technology into all her techno-romantic thriller novels. Her published works include It Happens in Threes and Killer Bunny Hill with Connect the Dots and Never Tempt Danger scheduled for release in 2010.

I saw down with Denise and asked about the unique combination of technology and fiction.

Your computer background has obviously been a big factor in the plots of your books. How did you become interested in technology?
It all started when I was a kid. In elementary school we went on a field trip to an electronics shop. In there, we saw all kinds of cool gadgets like small calculators, electronic games, and then. . .a computer. Holy cow! I could play chess on the computer.

About that same time, my dad brought home a modem. I’m not talking the modems you pick up today that fit in…

I love Dexter. I haven’t fallen so hard for a serial killer since Hannibal Lecter. Dexter Morgan is a charming sociopath. He’s the hero in a killer TV series, one of the few that I buy on DVD. The plot, the characters, the setting and the soundtrack all keep me coming back season after season. It was only natural that I would pick up the book that gave life to the show – “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay. This is a reversal for me. Normally I read the book, than watch the film or TV show to see how the director and actors envisioned it.

Dexter is a lab technician for the Miami Dade Police Department. His sister Deborah, a Miami Vice Squad cop, is looking to make homicide detective. A serial killer is on the loose in Miami, leaving grisly crime scenes that speak to Dexter – because the…

Mount Dragon, written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, presents the story of a research facility located deep within the deserts of New Mexico. Guy Carson, an employee of Gene Dyne, is promoted and joins a group of scientists who are working on a virus which will cure the flu, but with devastating results – every living thing that comes into contact with the new super-virus dies horribly.

Working on a strict deadline in constricting biohazard suits with constant supervision, tensions rise and scientists crack under the pressure. Soon paranoia is rampant and people start dying under suspicious circumstances.

Fans of the Preston-Child team will appreciate the quality of writing we’ve come to expect when these two writers team up to create a work of fiction. Mount Dragon is no disappointment to readers accustomed to their combined efforts. Fans of thrillers, especially those with medical leanings, will enjoy this one, too.

This novel…