A large credit reporting company sees the era of Big Data coming. Its CEO dreams of knowing so much about the people it tracks that it will be able to predict what they will do. With the data, he believes, the company will know people better than they know themselves. Meantime, his chief financial officer has come to the corporate world in order to hide in the numbers on his spreadsheets, trying to escape a dark, ambiguous experience from his past in the CIA. Suddenly a hacker breaks into the company's consumer database and alters individual files. This threatens not only the company future but its very existence. As senior executives struggle with what to do next, they find out who they really are.
"A thrilling topical mystery... What follows is an eye-opening portrayal of the fascinating lives and personalities of the key players and of the machinations corporate personnel employ to protect themselves and ensure the completion of the pending acquisition. The sophisticated depictions of human greed and frailty lead to a surprising, yet believable, ending."
Publishers Weekly
"I love 'One From Without'. To me it's Jack's best book since 'Convergence'. Jack's experience in corporate board rooms makes this book unmatched in authenticity and the only novel I know which fully deserves the label of corporate intrigue.' The flashback portion detailing life in the intelligence services are on the level of LeCarre. Beyond that, the writing and detail are often flat-out beaut
