Zero Ri$k by Simon Hayes – Review

Zero Ri$k arrived in the post with a bunch of books I was asked to review, and my first instinct was to decline. It’s a financial thriller and appeared to be self-published, in a roundabout way through a company owned by the author, and this usually disqualifies a book from being put on my already over-burdened to be read pile.

However, something changed my mind. The reader reviews have been excellent, Hayes has a background in the murky world of high finance and clearly knows his stuff, and there’s a book launch at a swanky venue in the City of London next week. In short, there was enough buzz to make me read it and I’m glad I did.

The story begins on the day after the Brexit referendum in 2016. A group of financiers are still reeling from the double-shock of Britain voting to leave the European Union and the Prime Minister David Cameron (you may be forgiven for forgetting the name, there have been five PMs since him) resigning in the wake of the result. However, the real threat to the global economy comes not from politics, these City traders opine, but from the newly-emerging and increasingly common cyber-attacks. As an academic I can attest to this, cyber-attacks have become a frequent menace to UK universities, as they have to all walks of life in the digital world. The story then jumps forward to the near-future – Christmas, 2024. A global financial meltdown begins when some unknown person or organisation begins adding a zero to the balance of every bank account. Suddenly the rich aren’t rich and the poor ain’t poor, as all the value in stocks, shares and property disappears in the blink of an eye.

Simon Hayes makes good use of this ingenious premise as Zero Ri$k is a gripping financial thriller which is well worth investing your time in.