Black Sands

On Zero Day there can only be one winner. "I want my money" he screamed. He pointed the gun at Jackie Aziz. "You. I recognise you. Why did you say that? Why did you say that about the bank?" She knelt. Frozen, too scared to move or speak. He snapped open the barrel. "You really are going to tell me," he whispered, and slipped another blood-red round into the gun. Danny Bowen is the reluctant hacktivist who founded Nameless, the collective with attitude and ability whose exposure of global surveillance shook the world. But bringing down governments wasn't part of Danny's plan, and he got out before things went too far. Most of the collective found themselves in jail, only the brilliant Cassandra managed to outwit the security services. Danny might have retained his freedom but he's lost everything else. His best friends, his job, and part of himself. Now he's a lonely ex-black hat with a mark against his name, scraping a living in information security. But someone wants his attention. Hired to investigate an attack on Hamilton Private Equity he instead uncovers a plot on an unimaginable scale. It's no coincidence somebody wants him to take the job. Danny knows that on Zero Day ordinary people will bear the brunt of this next attack. It's his last chance to atone for his failures, and to prove he's still the best. Hooked into a deadly race with a group of ultra-violent Russian Mafia and a sociopathic search-engine billionaire Danny must find the key before it's too late. He has nothing to lose. They have everything to gain. Literally, everything. Black Sands, Carl Goodman's debut novel, is a taut, fast-paced, action-packed techno-thriller that twists and turns to the very end and leaves you wondering if there's anyone you can trust. Praise for Black Sands "The book's premise sets it miles apart from your average action thriller... There's no blueprint for the world Goodman has created, which makes riding along with Lauren and Danny such a joy. This is one page-turner that will forever change the way you look at our connected world." BestThrillers.com
About the Author: Carl Goodman is a designer and consultant working with computer animation and interactive design. His projects have won two BAFTA awards. Carl's worked with companies including Reuters on 3d metaphors for financial data visualisation, BT on multimedia databases, and McLaren on visualisations of road car designs. He's also been involved in EU research projects involving linked open data clouds and resource description frameworks. Black Sands is his first novel.