First published 2025
Martin Hench walks into a Silicon Valley mess in 1986 San Francisco. The MIT dropout takes odd jobs around a city buzzing with personal computers, a new technology that will reshape crime forever. Three Wise Men, a PC startup, hires Martin to investigate former employees who broke away to form a competitor. Martin quickly sees he picked the wrong side. He abandons the greasy executives at Three Wise Men and joins Magenta Women's Enterprise in the Mission District. These brilliant young women left their old company to escape predatory business practices and build better computers. They want to destroy Three Wise Men completely. Martin falls for the electric energy of the startup, fueled by young love and California burritos. But the optimistic team has no clue how deep the corruption runs or how dangerous their enemies are. In a city where companies devour each other, Martin and his new allies face threats that could cost them everything. This origin story reveals how Martin Hench will become a forensic accountant, hunting money the way bounty hunters track people.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, business, adventure, crime, detective, action, 21st-century
Vibes: fast-paced, gritty, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Mission District, San Francisco, Silicon Valley
Period: 1986
400 pages · Hardcover · Tor Books