A Hitlist of Plutocrats (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781786959102)

The USA is not the only democracy that has evolved into what is effectively an autocracy, but the political might of its plutocrats make these particularly dangerous. When international environmental legislation threatens their profits, a cabal of heads of industry plans to derail this by instigating attacks on nuclear facilities that will be blamed on eco-terrorists. With complete disregard for the potential for catastrophic fallout or resultant international conflict, they focus only on how to remove any threats to the success of their ventures. Unfortunately for them, when they fail to kill an aging nuclear-threat expert, Jim Forsyth, their plans begin to unravel.

Even though a US anti-terrorist unit has identified this plot, the influence of the conspirators renders them effectively immune to normal legal processes. When Jim starts to work with the head of this group, Miriam Isaacs, details of the plot become clearer despite increasingly frantic attempts to murder him. Miriam is a victim of the third attempt, so Jim must work with her daughter, Rachel, an intelligence agent with a psychopathic nature inherited from her mother.

As attacks get more extreme, Jim realises that stronger measures are needed to prevent future threats - which involves identifying and assassinating the key players in the conspiracy. The resulting hitlist includes some of the most powerful people in the US, the plutocrats who effectively control the government. Even more challenging, the entire foundations of their hyper-rich dynasties must also be destroyed.

This near-future, action-thriller is set against a backdrop of the technological advances that make a cyber-warfare toolkit essential to balance the vast resources of the tech-industrial complex.