Welcome to the Knox Ramsey Universe

Where control systems become weapons, recipes turn lethal, and the only thing standing between catastrophe and dinner is an engineer who actually reads the error logs. Dark Recipe is the debut thriller in a series that exposes what happens when our trust in automation meets adversaries who know exactly which valve to turn.

About Robert Cummer

Engineer. Entrepreneur. Inventor. Now channeling three decades of industrial automation expertise into techno-thrillers that reveal the vulnerabilities hiding in plain sight within our critical infrastructure.

The Engineering Behind the Fiction

Robert Cummer brings an unusual authenticity to the thriller genre. With 30+ years in industrial automation and process control, he's not imagining how systems fail—he's prevented those failures in the real world.

🎓 Education

Elec Eng Tech
Mott College

Electrical Engineering
University of Michigan

🏭 Industry Leader

Former R&D Process Automation Technical Leader
Dow Chemical

💡 Inventor

Patent holder in fuel systems and industrial processes

🌱 Ag Entrepreneur

Co-founder, CTO, COO
Food Safety Officer

Molly's Grape & Citrus Co

🚀 Tech Entrepreneur

Founder
Iris Automation LLC
Industrial Software Solutions
(Idle - too many irons in the fire)

Real-World Experience

At Dow Chemical, Robert managed automation teams across global manufacturing sites, witnessing firsthand how a single compromised control system could cascade into catastrophe. His work spanned:

SCADA Systems PLCs & DCS Industrial Networks Process Safety Cybersecurity HMI Design Control Loops Critical Infrastructure

Now, as CTO of Molly's Grape & Citrus Company, he oversees food safety protocols and FSMA 204 compliance—experiencing daily the supply chain vulnerabilities that drive Dark Recipe's plot.

The REAP System

Robert's invention of REAP (Recipe-Based Ecosystem for Agricultural Processes) for Controlled Environment Agriculture isn't just fiction—it's based on actual automation architectures he's designed. This deep technical knowledge allows him to craft scenarios that are terrifyingly plausible because they're grounded in real system vulnerabilities.

"Every automated system I've ever built had a failure mode we didn't anticipate. In my novels, the adversaries know exactly where those blind spots are."

Literary Influences

Robert's writing combines the technical authenticity of Tom Clancy, the science-driven plotting of Michael Crichton, and the operational tempo of modern thriller masters like Vince Flynn and Jack Carr—while maintaining the moral complexity of real-world engineering decisions.

The Knox Ramsey series explores a simple but chilling premise: What happens when the systems we trust to feed us become weapons against us?

Get in Touch

Questions about the book? Want to know when Dark Recipe launches? Interested in the real technology behind the fiction?

Or email directly: knoxramseythrillers@gmail.com