Putney Author Delves into the World of Cryogenics
Mike Harrison publishes his new thriller The Lazarus Trade
Mike Harrison
October 6, 2023
Putney-based author Mike Harrison has launched a new thriller in the wake of his success with The Pale Tiger.
In his latest book, The Lazarus Trade, he brings back Detective Anne Perry and MI6 Agent Emma Wilson in a tale about the shady world of cryogenics.
The Cambridge educated lawyer’s 30 years’ experience in global financial markets are put to good use. With Dawn Cyro set to be the first company of its kind to be listed on stock exchanges, a series of deaths of people involved with the deal sparks an investigation.
At the same time in Buenos Aires, someone is putting together a crack mercenary crew under the murderous gaze of ‘The Viking’.
Meanwhile Boston-based hedge fund managers operate in a world where there are no rules and death is just another trade.
Mike says, “Cryogenics, is the world ready? Well, ready or not, in my new story it’s arrived, and the launch of the world’s first cryogenics company onto the markets stirs powerful vested interests into deadly action. Like all new technologies, for every winner, there’s a loser and we soon see that these rival forces are more than willing to kill to destroy the deal – or to save it.”
Boston and Buenos Aires are two of his favourite cities and it is no coincidence he has chosen them as key locations in the plot. He says, “Buenos Aires may be a little shabbier and a little edgier with every visit, but the people still strut a chic swagger and the night time streets of Palermo pulse with defiant energy. Boston calls itself The Friendly City, and why not? But beneath the solid bonhomie there are hints of the city’s darker past. Drive a little to the north along the coast and the chill spires of Salem still stand framed against the timeless sky.”
When asked about his choice of subject matter he says, “All big technology breakthroughs bring changes in human behaviour. Cryogenics, if it can ever be made to work, will challenge some of our most fundamental assumptions about mortality. Can you imagine? You’re terminally ill, but the technology’s there to freeze you, put you in a state of deep hibernation. Just barely alive, but alive. They can keep you in this state for years. If this is your only chance, and you can afford it, well, why not?
“A big, society changing deal is also a great way to explore the way money, power dynamics and politics feed off each other at the heart of financial markets. Outsiders might think that financial markets are structured, ordered places, hemmed in by rules and regulations. That is exactly what the markets want you to believe. You only have to look at the behaviour of the banks in the Epstein scandal to see that banks aren’t worried about rules – it’s all about the money. “
Technology, as well as financial markets, has been a recurring theme in his work with Theodora the talking super-computer featuring in The Pale Tiger. For his next book he plans to explore Artificial Intelligence (AI).
He says, “ My new novel, just completed, is fairly and squarely anchored on AI. And a particularly insidious and murderous version of it. It’s interesting, I think, that we all talk about the coming ‘invention’ of AI, or at least ‘Hard’ AI, a machine that really can out-think us. In my forthcoming novel IN TIME’S FIERCE SHADOW the big tech players try to head off this threat. They all agree never to bring such an uncontrollable thing to life in a solemn undertaking known as the Ares Protocols. The trouble is, they forgot to ask the one player that really mattered. AI wasn’t going to patiently wait for some dull human to invent it and hem it in with our small human rules. No, AI has invented itself, feeding off the zetabytes of processing power, the billions of data points and as we speak prowls the dark web, planning, watching, awaiting its moment to utterly subdue the helpless human species.”
DI Anne Perry and MI6’s Emma Wilson will feature again.
You can purchase your copy of The Lazarus Trade online.
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