June 19, 2024

Publication Author Q&A: ZERO RI$K by Simon Hayes

Author Q&A

https://www.robertsherwoodauthor.com/When customer complaints on Christmas Eve about tenfold inflated bank balances herald not early gifts, nor a botched system upgrade, but the most sophisticated cyber attack in history, National Bank Chief Operating Officer Rob Tanner finds himself in the eye of a ‘Black Swan’ storm no one predicted, but anyone could have anticipated

23 December 2024… Rob Tanner should have been enjoying a rare day off from his life-consuming work as Chief Operating Officer at one of the country’s largest banks. But a panicked phone call from a senior colleague forces him to put his Christmas plans on ice: more than a thousand of the bank’s accounts have seen their balances increased by a factor of ten. Exactly ten.

Tanner enlists the help of brilliant American cyber security expert Ashley Markham, but the attacks only worsen: bank balances rise remorselessly and spread to all the nation’s banks. The only clues to the hacker’s intentions are cryptic daily emails, centred on Hieronymus Bosch’s medieval representation of the seven deadly sins—and packed with colourful artistic and cultural references—taunting Tanner and the newly incumbent Prime Minister, James Allen.

With financial markets—and the very world as he knows it—on the brink of collapse, Tanner races against the clock to decode not just the bizarre emails but their deeper meaning, and the implications for who he can really trust. All the while, his former boss “The Toad” is seeking revenge… and answers of his own.

This enthralling, multi-layered debut follows the story of a disillusioned banker facing unthinkable financial Armageddon, where money has no value, stock and bond prices are meaningless, and the economy is destroyed. Can Tanner unravel the mystery of the hacker’s obsession with Bosch, sin and retribution before modern society returns to the dark ages?

‘Stand aside Dan Brown. Simon Hayes has concocted a remarkable page-turner of a post-Covid financial thriller.’ CLIVE BANNISTER, Chairman of FTSE100 insurer
‘Undoubtedly the financial thriller of the year.’ MIRIAM SMITH, A Mother’s Musings
‘A thriller bristling with energy, wit and romance. A must-read.’ CHRIS BLACKHURST, bestselling author of ‘Too Big To Jail’ and ‘The World’s Biggest Cash Machine’.

Available now in ebook and out in hardback on 25 June 2024!

Simon, welcome! Zero Ri$k is your debut novel, a race-against-time-thriller that throws our modern-day dependence on technology into question. Tell us a little more about it.

Thank you, Rebecca. Zero Ri$k wouldn’t have happened without your input!

Zero Ri$k is a ‘race-against-time’ financial and political thriller centred around a cataclysmic ‘Black Swan’ cyber attack that we should all pray never happens.

The premise is simple: on Christmas Eve, a zero gets added to 1001 bank accounts at National Bank – one of the country’s largest banks. When the inflated balances prove to be neither early Christmas gifts, nor a botched computer system upgrade, but the most sophisticated cyber attack in history, the bank’s Chief Operating Officer, Rob Tanner, finds himself in the eye of a cyber storm no one predicted, but anyone could have anticipated.

Tanner enlists the help of brilliant American cyber security expert Ashley Markham, but the attacks only worsen: bank balances rise remorselessly and spread to all the nation’s banks. The only clues to the hacker’s intentions are cryptic daily emails, centred on Hieronymus Bosch’s medieval representation of the seven deadly sins—and packed with colourful artistic and cultural references—taunting Tanner and the newly incumbent Prime Minister, James Allen.

With financial markets—and the very world as he knows it—on the brink of collapse, Tanner races against the clock to decode not just the bizarre emails but their deeper meaning, and the implications for who he can really trust. All the while, his former boss “The Toad” is seeking revenge… and answers of his own.

Financial Armageddon looms, where money has no value, stock and bond prices are meaningless, and the economy is destroyed. Can Tanner unravel the mystery of the hacker’s obsession with Bosch, sin and retribution before modern society returns to the dark ages?

Zero Ri$k has a literal meaning: the storyline involves zeros being added remorselessly to bank accounts on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, December 27. But there’s a deeper significance: Nothing important we do in life carries zero risk. Love, work, anything. Choices and consequences.

Technology and it’s seemingly all encompassing tentacles is such a strong presence in the novel. Is there a reasoning behind why you wanted to explore this aspect of modern life?

I first had the outline idea for Zero Ri$k a decade or so ago when it struck me that the pace of technological change was outstripping all consideration of the attendant dangers – cyber-crime and terrorism, data misuse, AI, social control by the Big Tech companies and, of course, financial manipulation such as crypto scams. Back then, we’d only had iPhones for five or six years.

I remember clearly having a meeting of the senior managers at the company I worked at, suggesting that we as a collective think about some of these issues… and being laughed at as a crank. I can tell you the exact date—I looked it up for this blog—Tuesday, 2 December 2014, because I walked out of the meeting in disbelief, sat down at my desk and checked the BBC news to find this article the very same morning:

BBC NEWS: Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind

So I thought, if Stephen Hawking is worried about this kind of stuff, I may be a crank, but at least I’m in good company!

Then my partner was hit personally by a cyber fraud, so it made the issue all the more personal. The last piece of the jigsaw is that I was—and still am—disgusted that our politicians let the perpetrators and their enablers escape punishment for the financial crisis, and by the catalogue of scandals since: Bernie Madoff, Jeffrey Epstein, Lex Greensill, Sam Bankman-Fried et al. Just recently, we’ve had the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry. It never stops. As for the politicians themselves… maybe the less said the better.

With a 30-year-old daughter and 29-year-old son, and 16-year-old stepdaughters, I’ve seen first-hand how fascination with technology has morphed into reliance on – and now addiction to – apps and gadgets over the last twenty years. I’m from a ‘digital adoption’ generation; the young don’t have any choice. Big Tech needs them to be addicted. We take so much for granted with regard to technology. We assume our phones give us ‘the right answer’. We believe our major companies will always outsmart, or outspend, the crooks looking to commit massive cyber-fraud. We imagine that the rapid development of computers will come without major costs to society.

I just felt it was time to question a few assumptions!

Who inspired you to start writing? Have your influences changed since then?

It was Ian Fleming who started it… I can still remember the covers of the second-hand 1960s Pan Books my mother found for me when I was laid up with penicillin poisoning at the age of eleven or twelve: green for Casino Royale; red for From Russia, With Love; blue for Dr. No. Suddenly reading was about page-turning, excitement, action, exotic locations. Obviously many elements in the books don’t sit well in the 2020s, but it was Fleming’s economy of language and dialogue that first grabbed me. Crisp, seemingly effortless storytelling. Dickens was next, for many of the same reasons.

Over the years, I’ve added other fantastic authors to the favourites list: Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther novels are a particular favourite. Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow, Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian trilogy, Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin, and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited are just a few of the others that spring immediately to mind. And for long plane journeys, you can’t look further than Jack Reacher or John Rebus. I loved the early Mick Herron books. Moral ambiguity probably features in many of my favourites; fundamentally good people having to deal with shades of grey, as in real life, but with a true moral core.

The great writers transport you to a different time and place… and make you want to keep reading. Hopefully with a little humour along with the thrills and emotion. If there are good guys you want to win, and bad guys to lose, with a twist or two along the way… all the better.

I wouldn’t say that any one author inspired Zero Ri$k per se, but I do think of Stieg Larsson as a model for characterization and there’s no getting away from the fact that Dan Brown makes you keep turning the pages, which is crucial in a thriller. And Michael Lewis keeps you hooked with just plain interesting stuff.

Lastly, Zero Ri$k is a morality tale, set in London, at Christmas, with greed and loneliness at its heart. And redemption! So I must doff my cap unashamedly to the great Mr Dickens and A Christmas Carol. Zero Ri$k has a longer timeline, but it races through to a conclusion on New Year’s Day.

Why did you choose to write a thriller?

I’ve always loved thrillers, crime and mystery. I tend to have three books ‘on the go’ at any one time: a crime novel or thriller; a biography or history (or historical fiction); and a book of ‘new stuff’ that I know little about. Last year it was evolution and the silent-movie era, the year before AI and future tech. Given my background, I love Michael Lewis’s non-fiction, especially The Big Short, but am surprised that there have been very few good financial or political thrillers in recent years. Maybe there isn’t a big market because they’re considered ‘dry’? A trip to the bookstore finds lots of variations on the serial killer front, and lots of “cosy crime”, but that’s not me.

So I spent a couple of years thinking “Shall I try?” then, in 2019, I realised, “You’re not getting any younger. If you don’t do it now, if you don’t try, then the chance might pass you by.” I was struck by one simple thought: “You can get to the end of your life and regret things you did… that’s natural. But don’t get to the end and regret something you didn’t do… that’s down to cowardice, or fear, or laziness.”

What is the biggest challenge you faced when writing your first novel? How did you overcome it? Has it got any easier?

The biggest challenge, for me, was that I very naively assumed that finishing the first draft was the bulk of the work done… How wrong I was!

Because I don’t come from a literary background, or even know any fiction authors, I hadn’t appreciated that Draft #1 is just the start of a very long editing and re-writing cycle. I just sat down with a plan to write 2000 words per day until I’d finished the story and thought “that’ll do”.

I wish I’d sat down with an editor like you before I’d typed a single word! Instead I got to the end and realised how appropriate Winston Churchill’s words are for authors: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Do you like to plan the action when you write or do you just let the characters take control (pantser!)?

I plotted the broad outline for Zero Ri$k – the story arc and the BIG moments in the book – but let the daily writing journey fill out character arcs and lots of the details, etc., as the mood and Muse led me. So a mix of both plotting and seat-of-pantsing… does that make me a plontser?

I will be much more organised for Book 2. Honestly!

You used to/ still do work in finance, so Rob Tanner’s day job is perhaps not too dissimilar to your own. Would you say there is weight behind the phrase ‘write what you know’? Did you have to do a lot of research for the character? Was it difficult getting the details right?

The short answer is undoubtedly yes. I can’t see how you can write anything major—and certainly a debut—without letting personal experience intrude. I’ve spent my life in and around finance. Then as a headhunter, for the last fifteen years or so, I’ve mixed with a lot of senior executives: chairmen and CEOs of major public companies, governors of the Bank of England, and their ilk, and some senior politicians: ‘the great and the good’. My job was to work out what made them tick. Are they really any good? Most importantly, are they honest and trustworthy?

More specifically, for Zero Ri$k, I spoke with chief risk officers, chief technology officers and other professionals. The greatest compliment I received was on business in Zimbabwe this year. A fellow hotel guest asked for a preview copy of Zero Ri$k. Then after reading it, admitted he worked as an adviser in finance sector IT. “I loved it,” he said, “it’s bang on the money!”

There are certainly aspects to some characters, relationships and probably language that are personal. I have quite a ‘visual’ memory – I’m better with faces and places than names, for example – so it’s probably the ‘visual’ aspects of the book – locations, clues, even scenes – which are most autobiographical.

I really wanted Rob Tanner to have a believable story arc. He is fundamentally a decent, principled man, but, like many in the financial services industry, has ridden the gravy train without always giving enough thought to the consequences of banks’ neverending push for ever-greater revenues. He has made mistakes, like everyone, been punished for them, and learns from them.

And there are certainly real inspirations for some of the villains in the story!

Although Zero Ri$k is a book of fast action and high stakes, there is also a lot of emotional depth in the novel. Do you prefer writing the fast-paced action sequences, or do you prefer exploring character development?

They really did give me equal pleasure. The ‘emotional’ aspects were draining at times – they probably drew most on personal experience. Also, I really wanted to make the characters compelling as individuals, with interesting backstories and different perspectives… and not black and white! But I also wanted the heroes to be an everyman and everywoman, not superheroes. People who make mistakes and, hopefully learn from them.

Having lived and worked in different industries in very different geographies, I hope I bring a breadth of perspective and some small understanding of the wonderful—and disconcerting—things that make us all different. The single biggest thing I’ve realized in my career is that there are a lot of people who have amazing IQ but remarkably little EQ (emotional intelligence). So I was desperate to have characters who struck a chord with readers, even if they were ‘lesser’ members of the ensemble cast.

Were there any characters that you particularly liked writing/didn’t enjoy writing?

I loved writing National Bank’s villainous CEO Martin Kellett (“The Toad”) and the bank’s Glaswegian communications supremo Pattie Boyle, but my personal favourite is Rob Tanner’s elderly father Harry. I imagine him as a cross between my own father and Michael Caine. Who wouldn’t love writing that?

What is your desert-island read?

Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow would have been my undisputed answer until two months ago. It is beautifully written, I love the history that courses through the novel, and I’ve stayed at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow a number of times, so can close my eyes and picture it immediately. Moreover, to make a compelling story from the book’s premise is astonishing. However… I made the mistake of watching the recent TV adaptation, which was truly awful. So, for the moment, my view is coloured by something completely outside the book’s control. Perhaps a desert island with just the words on the page would be the perfect way to excise the film images!

Do you have any writing tips to share?

Other than speaking to a good editor before you start…

Find a routine that works for you (through trial and error) and then stick to it. Some days the Muse will visit, others I stare at a blank page or screen for hours barely able to construct a sentence, let alone a paragraph. But, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is getting words on the page, so give yourself the best chance of doing so, which leads nicely onto…

What is your writing process like? Do you have a routine? A favourite place to write?

When contemplating starting Zero Ri$k, I’d read that Ian Fleming had a set routine for writing the James Bond books in Jamaica in the 1950s and 60s. In early January, he’d start a new novel. He’d get up early, have a swim, then a good breakfast, then would sit and contemplate what he was going to write. At 9am, he’d start and when he’d finished 2000 words he’d stop. Usually about noon. Then he’d have another swim and a damned good lunch and a snooze. He might tinker with the draft in the late afternoon, then a damned fine dinner, bed and…. repeat the next day. How difficult can that be, I thought? Oops!! Whereas a former journalist like Fleming could punch out 2000 words in three hours without a problem, some days it took me eight hours!

BUT… that routine does work for me. I do some exercise and then have breakfast. Then I sit and visualise how I’m going to start and, bang on nine o’clock, I start typing.

A friend of mine has a lovely farm in County Cork, Ireland. To sit by the window while the rain is lashing down and transport myself to a different place and time in my mind was wonderful. Then to go for a lovely walk in the fresh air after the 2000 words were done was incredibly satisfying.

Also most important question. Favourite writing snack?!

I have a VERY sweet tooth. So, mid-morning biscuits with a cuppa are an absolute fave: Chocolate chip cookies of different varieties.

Again, thank you so much Rebecca for letting me share this blog and, more importantly, for sharing my writing journey so far!

Zero Ri$k is out now! And I’m delighted to share an extract with you below.

DAY ONE

MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2024

ROB TANNER WAS IN HIS ELEMENT. It was a filthy day—sleet and rain and coal dust skies—but that was fine with him. He loved walking the ancient chalk downs of Uffington, whatever the weather. The fresh Oxfordshire air was always rejuvenating, and the chief local attraction—a great white horse, carved into the hillside some 3,000 years ago—posed a tantalising mystery. In such a place, under the watchful, equine eye of prehistory, and with Christmas just days away, not even the English climate could dampen Tanner’s spirits.

He smiled as he remembered one of his mother’s childhood admonitions: ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, Robert, only unsuitable clothing.’ His smile broadened as he thought of what was to come. A well-earned pint at the White Horse Inn at Woolstone and then lunch with Judith. By God, he had earned it. Not just by dint of the five miles he had walked, in the teeth of an icy wind, but for another year’s hard graft at the bank. Somehow, he’d kept the wheels from falling off, despite Kellett’s best efforts.

How the Board had appointed Kellett CEO was beyond him, but appoint him they had. That was three years ago; Kellett’s influence—and his hubris—seemed to have grown every day since. And while the Toad’s rise had, in turn, led to Tanner’s promotion to Chief Operating Officer, the position was a poisoned chalice. It ought to be the most interesting role in the firm, but these days he spent most of his time putting out Kellett’s fires.

These thoughts melted away as Tanner approached the pub. The only fires he cared to think about now were the log ones burning inside. The windows were festooned with decorations, and in the deepening winter gloom the fairy lights were like beacons, the gentle hubbub emanating from the door a siren song. Better still, he could see Judith’s bright red Mini Cooper in the car park.

He had booked a room, so they didn’t have to worry about driving back to London. And now the remains of the day stretched ahead: a vision of languorous pleasure. He’d only been seeing Judith for a couple of months, and he was still consumed by the physical intoxication of this new relationship—even before the invigorating effects of a healthy walk and, hopefully, the altogether more relaxing effects of a decent bottle of St-Émilion. To top it off, his timing was perfect; the first snowflakes began to settle on his Carson Parka just as he was stepping up to the front door. Perhaps the forecasters had got it right, for once, and a white Christmas was on the cards. God truly was in his heaven, and all was justly right with the world. Until the ringing started.

Tanner stared at his phone in disbelief: David Nash, Kellett’s successor as Chief Risk Officer. He briefly considered ignoring the call, but he knew he couldn’t.

‘This had better be good,’ answered Tanner. ‘This is my first day off in three months, I’m just walking into my favourite pub and, more importantly, there’s a strikingly attractive woman waiting for me with a cold beer and a warm smile.’

Nash was suitably apologetic. ‘I’m so sorry Rob. You know I’d have done anything not to disturb you.’

‘But?’

‘But we have a problem here, at the bank. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.’

Tanner might have made a joke at this point, but there was something unsettling in Nash’s tone. The man was clearly rattled.

‘Give me the thirty second version, David, so I know how to mollify my date, then let me have the detail.’

‘I only need thirty seconds Rob, but I’m afraid it’s going to spoil your lunch.’

‘Go on.’

‘The balance of about a thousand of our current accounts has increased ten-fold over the past twenty-four hours.’

Tanner couldn’t help himself. The disappointment in having his perfect day interrupted, and for such a ridiculous reason, was too much to supress.

‘Have you been on the sherry, David? Of course people have bigger balances before Christmas! They get paid early, they—’

‘No Rob, listen.’ Nash’s voice cut across Tanner’s objections. ‘Do you seriously think I’d bother you without checking? Without double and treble-checking? Today, of all days? It’s not a simple mistake. And it’s not something I’ve ever seen before. These accounts have seen their balances inflated exactly—I repeat exactly—tenfold. With no logical explanation: no unanticipated deposits, no early salary payments. Just an adjustment to the balance, seemingly out of thin air.’

‘What? That’s impossible.’ Tanner racked his brain and came up short. ‘Shit. Okay. I guess I’ll have to come in.’ So much for perfect days.

Already hooked? Grab your copy of Zero Ri$k here!

Out today! Grab your copy now!

About the Author

Simon Hayes is an award-winning former headhunter and investment banker. His finance career took him from his home city London, where he was a top-ranked securities analyst in the Extel and Institutional Investorsurveys, to the US, Japan and Hong Kong. Search led Simon back to Tokyo, where he was recognised by Asiamoney magazine as the “Best Headhunting Executive” in Japan, then as head of a leading London-based Financial Services practice into the City’s most exclusive boardrooms. He wrote Zero Ri$k, his first novel, whilst creating the rubriqs® people skills system. Simon spent much of 2023 in Zimbabwe on a major fraud case. The first person from his family to attend university, Simon is a Trinity Hall, Cambridge, law graduate. Born and raised in Boston Manor, he is a lifelong supporter of Brentford FC. A proud father to India and Ivo, Simon now lives near Tower Bridge.

Find out more at Simon’s website here: https://hayes.co.uk/