Zero Ri$k

TEN DAYS. SEVEN DEADLY SINS. ZERO RI$K. When customer complaints on Christmas Eve about tenfold inflated bank balances herald not early gifts, nor a botched system upgrade, but the most sophisticated cyber-attack in history, new National Bank CEO Rob Tanner finds himself in the eye of a "Black Swan" storm no one predicted, but anyone could have anticipated. He enlists the help of brilliant American computer security expert Ashley Markham but the attacks only worsen: bank balances rise remorselessly and spread to all the nation's banks. The only clue to the hacker's intentions are cryptic daily emails taunting Tanner and the newly incumbent Prime Minister, James Allen. With financial markets - and the very world as he knows it - on the brink of collapse, Tanner races against the clock to decode not just the bizarre emails but their deeper meaning, and the implications for who he can really trust. All the while, his former boss "The Toad" is seeking revenge... and answers of his own. This enthralling, multi-layered debut follows the story of a disillusioned banker facing the unthinkable where money has no value, stock and bond prices are meaningless, and the economy is destroyed. Tanner must unravel the mystery of the hacker's obsession with Hieronymus Bosch's medieval representation of the seven deadly sins before modern society returns to the dark ages. TALKING POINTS Dependence on technology and the risks of cyber-terrorism. An innovative modern take on the seven deadly sins. A 'locked system' variation on the locked room mystery where, why? may be more important than whodunnit. A morality tale set in London at Christmas (with "Christmas in July" launch event invites to follow).