Overview

When cybersecurity wiz Nik breathes life into Nicola-a deepfake AI sculpted in the image of Alix, his favorite person in the world - he thought it was his own little cyber experiment. What could possibly go wrong? Just as his life partner Alix convinces him to shut the project down, all hell breaks loose. A black hat cracker styling himself ""The Technician"" hacks into his cyber-security company. Shadowy cyberpunk icon ""The Vulture"" sends cryptic messages to his best programmer. A ruthless oligarch schemes with his partners to wrest control of the company he started. Supernatural figments occupying NYC like paranormal vagabonds seem to know what's going on but are no help at all. And big thugs with Russian accents keep turning up like bad pennies. With everyone scrambling to gain control of his creation, Nik and Alix set out to contain what he unwittingly unleashed. When one of his contractors is found dead and intern Kate goes missing, the stakes turn deadly. Of course, the only police detective who believes them has been forced to resign, but her cyber-sleuth girlfriend ""The Bloodhound"" is on the case. Can they find Kate before The Technician finishes her off? Will they ever get rid of those lurking Russians? And can Nik put the cybernetic genie Nicola back in the virtual bottle or will she escape into the digital wild?

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Reviews

""Fast paced and sharply written, with wit that cuts through the tension, this timely novel delivers high-stakes digital crime."" - Sublime book revies ""Anyone who loves a cocktail of supernatural mystery blended with espionage will relish this riveting novel."" - Readers' Favorite ""A snappy cyber thriller that will make you laugh while it's making you think. Evokes the fast-talking dialogue of a noir detective novel while forging new territory in the twisty, unpredictable world of cyber crime. If the characters were any more colorful, I would need sunglasses."" Del Blackwater, author of Dead Egyptians ""Ross Hightower and Deb Heim's Descartes' Demon is a high-speed collision of philosophy, love, and sheer lunacy. Nik, a genius with questionable boundaries, may have created the world's first sentient AI-or something even stranger. He's seeing people who don't exist, and reality is starting to feel like a software glitch. Fortunately, Alix-his partner in life and chaos-is just as brilliant, only slightly less reckless, and far more patient. She doesn't see Nik's mysterious visitors, but she never doubts that they're real to him. Together they navigate rogue algorithms, corporate conspiracies, a hopelessly inept kidnapper, and a cat named Alan Turing who might be the only one who truly understands what's going on. Fast, funny, and unrelentingly smart, Descartes' Demon asks: how do you know you're real?"" Kat Fielier - Author of Shadow Runner ""A story that couldn't possibly be more timely, Descartes' Demon by Ross HIghtower and Deb Heim takes us on a comedic romp through the dark underworld of cyber attacks, the power of AI unchecked, and the lengths to which bad actors will go to seize control of technology with the power to destabilize...everything. Thankfully, protagonists Nik and Alix, along with assistance from a detective and her Dark Web-expert girlfriend, use their keen intellect to root out corporate misdeeds, thwart a cyber criminal whose opinion of himself is beyond grandiose, and expose greed that knows no bounds. The story will leave you asking: how do I know if I exist? If anyone exists? And that is precisely the point. This story is not one to be missed."" Suzanne Groves, author of You'll See and The Pebble in the Pond ""The questions raised in Ross Hightower and Deb Heim's Descartes' Demon couldn't be more timely or more frightening. Is the AI program's avatar created by a tech wizard a sentient being? And what of the mysterious figments that pop into his world from time to time? Through the lens of dynamic partners Nik and Alix, the novel's witty and sexy protagonists, these questions and more permeate the narrative, along with corporate hijinks, a bumbling kidnapper, and a cat named Alan Turing. It's a laugh-out-loud story about very serious issues, and I couldn't put it down."" Clifford Garstang, author of The Last Bird of Paradise and Oliver's Travels

Author Information

Deb Heim is an award-winning co-author of the Spirit Song: Rebels Rising series. She has found a life in Milwaukee after a vagabond existence in various suburbs across the South and Northeast. Despite an undergraduate degree in English Literature, the urge to write fiction did not take hold until their partner Ross Hightower tapped out the first draft of Spirit Sight one fateful snowy morning. With the Spirit Song Prequel series, Rebels Rising, they have served as a sounding board, researcher and fellow plot wrangler. The journey as a partner in this unexpected adventure writing epic fantasy with strong female characters has been more than worth it. You can contact the author on all the socials @quizzicalllc, and sign up for the World of Argren newsletter and Rebels Rising review team at our website, rosshightower.com.

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