Thread of Decency spans sixty-five years and three generations of the Matheson men who are confronted and assaulted by corrupt business practices and immoral, greedy businessmen practitioners. The Matheson's aren't especially religious, they simply, by their nature, subscribe to ethical values that are passed from one generation to the next through example and respect. John Matheson has recently started a new job and is about to be joined by his wife in a move from Michigan when he dies suddenly in a Phoenix hospital emergency room. The family is devastated and John's young professional son Al is especially affected. He's lost his father, his guidepost and his mentor. Over the following years, Al deals with his business adversities as his father had - resolute, alone and with consequence when holding moral ground. Immoral and unethical business practices, like bacteria, need a media in which to grow. There must be a conducive, often ignored business environment. The Matheson men never sit back and dismiss these realities, even when they aren't directly affected. Each, in his own way, takes the assault of these evils head on -- often to their own material detriment and pain. Their solace lies in realizing they've taken the honorable path and have the respect of their loved ones. Antagonist Ernie Dickerson likewise inherits his values from his father, ones completely opposite from those of the Matheson family. Ernie and Al are unaware of a coincident Phoenix past they both share until the fateful collision of their present day roles in a business setting. Near the end of a tumultuous career Al learns the real circumstances surrounding his father's death. After the many years, will Al, his son Paul and a Phoenix detective be able to piece together the puzzle? Will there indeed be any justice and closure for the Matheson family?

Millions of individuals depend on the internet for information, communication, commerce and the conduct of personal business. Corporations depend on the internet for business-to-business and global intra and inter-business functions. The internet has become foundational to our lives. There is hardly a month that goes by that we don't become aware of computer viruses, internet scams or business frauds and failures. How about WikiLeaks? Paperless, by A. Townsend Marshall, shows how eerily plausible it would be to compromise the internet and take undetected control of it. Maybe Assange read Paperless. The novel is fiction, but . . . A computer scientist and doctoral candidate, Rich Fuller, proposes as his thesis a study to uncover weaknesses and propose remedies to the evolving internet. He is rebuffed by his doctoral committee and drops out of academia. The disenfranchised computer scientist sets out to prove his thesis by developing sophisticated software that exploits the internet and any business or individual who transacts over it. Fuller uses his ideas to develop highly successful businesses and commercial computer applications. Al Matheson is a happily retired IT executive who also had met the challenges of suspect business practices over the years. He is lured by out of retirement by an old friend to 'lead just one last challenging project'. The project is to implement Rich Fuller's so called commercial systems in a leading-edge manufacturing company. Success is mandatory for this company's future. A team of consultants, led by Al Matheson, is beset with unexplainable anomalies when they try to implement Rich Fuller's commercial packages. Their pursuit for answers leads the team down a winding path of personal devastation and murder. Technological assault on the world's most critical systems ensues. Could it happen now or in the future? Paperless shows just how and with a chilling conclusion as to what may lay ahead. Maybe the Assanges of the world are laying the way and a harbinger of cyber terror yet to play out.