Dead Money

 

Dead Money is a high-tech mystery thriller by Jakob Kerr. Released 28th Jan 2025 by Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a very well written mystery thriller with a sort of FBI/corporate espionage vibe, a high-visibility tech-bro CEO murder, and billions of dollars at stake.  The main protagonist is a venture capital "fixer" and assistant to the CEO of the largest hedge fund in existence; she's tasked with getting to the bottom of the murder and navigating the traps and secrecy of the closed pool of tech executive suspects. 

It's engaging, and despite the length, the plot moves along at a pretty good pace.  It doesn't read like a debut work. It's not at all derivative, but fans of Joseph Finder (Nick Heller) and Matthew Quirk (with fewer guns and more corporate skullduggery) will probably enjoy this.

Four stars. It would be a good choice for public library acquisition, home library, or a nice buddy read. A promising author to keep an eye out for in future. 

 Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.