First published 2002
Carver Hartnett works for Reliable Allied Trust in Omaha, investigating insurance fraud in a business where investors buy life policies from dying people and wait to collect. The company prefers raising premiums to prosecuting criminals, leaving Carver frustrated. His seductive coworker Miranda Pryor leads him on while hiding something dark. When their friend Lenny Stillmach, a computer gamer known for mixing drugs and alcohol, dies while playing Delta-Strike online, Carver suspects murder. The death connects to a massive insurance scam involving policies sold by terminally ill people who may not be sick at all. As Carver digs deeper into the case, he discovers a world where capitalism and death intersect in dangerous ways. His investigation takes him through various moral complexities, forcing him to confront his boss Old Man Norton, the fascist assistant Dagmar Helveg, and regional investigator Charlie Becker. The deeper Carver goes, the more he risks his own life to uncover the truth about his friend's death and the fraud surrounding it.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: corporate-corruption, investigation
Setting: Omaha, Reliable Allied Trust
Period: contemporary
342 pages · Hardcover · Harper
Content warnings: death, violence