When cybersecurity expert Nick Barnes targets the payday loan company that ruined his mother's life, those in his path are forced into desperate and compromising actions. From a young journalist who sacrifices her integrity to a lonely man caught in the cult behind it all, Nick's vigilantism triggers redemption for some and self-destruction for those unwilling to confront their own twisted desire for justice.
A tenacious journalist • A predatory loan company • A hacker out for vengeance • A secretive cult
A young journalist, Tomoko Abrams, stumbles onto her first big story: a professor and his graduate student are on the run after exposing a predatory loan giant. But the anonymous data behind Martin and Parisa's analysis is tainted, sent to them by Nick Barnes, a cyber-security guru bent on revenge. Little does Nick know that his plot to take down Wellington Payday Loans is caught up in the prophecies of a secretive religious cult, a cult involving Martin's brother, Conor, and a mysterious man who seems to be controlling it all.
Lives driven by love, loss, and belonging collide.
Young Conor was groomed to take his mentor's place in The Cluster-a secret cult of philanthropists with a unique relationship to magic mushrooms and visions of Jesus-and Martin has been trying to free him ever since. If he cannot save his brother, then Martin is damn well going to save everyone else, no matter the consequences. When Nick Barnes anonymously sends Martin's graduate student Parisa the data to bring down Wellington Payday Loans, she ends up caught in one of Martin's crusades. Parisa survived two years in Iran's Evin prison for her involvement in the democracy movement and finds herself on the run again, this time with her young son. When Parisa turns up at her lost love's doorstep and his girlfriend Tomoko opens the door, Parisa is forced to choose between the man she loves and working with Tomoko, a young journalist, to uncover the secrets that are threatening them all. Tomoko was raised a red-diaper baby and will always choose the cause over her emotions, unless she can figure out how to bring down Wellington Payday Loans, expose the anonymous source who sent Parisa the data, and get her man. Nick has already ruined several lives in pursuit of vengeance. Can Tomoko stop him before he destroys even more?
