First published 2012
Dr. Alex Hoffmann has built an artificial intelligence system that predicts financial markets with stunning precision. His Geneva hedge fund generates billions from these forecasts, making him a legend among the ultrarich while keeping his name hidden from public view. Before dawn one morning, an intruder penetrates the complex security system protecting his lakeside mansion. This breach launches Hoffmann into a spiral of paranoia and violence as he desperately tries to identify who wants to destroy him. The sophisticated computer programming that made his fortune now seems to turn against him. Set in the world of high finance, the story forces Hoffmann to confront fundamental questions about human nature as his carefully constructed life unravels. Harris weaves together themes of greed and panic in a future that feels uncomfortably close to our present reality.
Genres: thriller, 21st-century, artificial-intelligence, finance
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: technology-gone-wrong, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Geneva, Switzerland
Period: Contemporary
286 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: violence