No Way Back
Status - Unpublished Prequel
Author comment: This is the first novel in the series featuring Grace Marks. I’m not sure when I’m going to publish it, or where! It was previously published on the dubious platform Substack to a small, select audience.
Draft blurb
How far will the New Zealand state go to protect the wealthy?
Part-time lecturer Axel Knight is on a mission to make society fairer. But how? IT professional Michael Thompson, tired of the greed that is driving an ever-widening chasm between rich and poor, decides it’s time for action. Freelance journalist Grace Marks is looking for a big story to launch her career, and stabilise her finances.
When the theft of wealthy New Zealanders’ tax records, and their publication on an anonymous website, becomes headline news, a chain of events draws these three people inexorably together.
Michael needs to disappear; Axel hides uncomfortably in plain sight; and Grace’s story, focusing on why the wealthy don’t contribute to society by paying tax, freeloading in her words, propels her into a blazing spotlight.
As government agencies frantically try to bury the story, along with the three of them, can Grace keep the story focused on the activities of the wealthy? Or will Grace become the story?