1414 Degrees by Paul Bradley Carr

 

Lou McCarthy is a journalist in San Francisco, her beat business, technology and the Silicon Valley.  She is about to break a huge story about the biggest business and it's upcoming IPO.  Unfortunately, the company is so enmeshed in the 'bro' culture that it has to keep a slush fund to pay off the women their executives mistreat.  Lou breaks the story of its CTO's latest mishap only to find that she has been rooked and the story is not true.  Even worse, that night at the company's gala, the man she wrote about leaps to his death in front of everyone.

Now jobless and homeless as the company bought her apartment building and tore it down to build their new headquarters, Lou is targeted by a group of online vigilantes who protect the misbehaving men of technology.  They can't target Lou but they find her mother back in Georgia and target her, breaking into her health records, banking and putting her address and phone number online.  Lou meets Helen, a high flying corporate fixer and she hires Lou to help her discover what is going on.

When the two women get to the bottom, it is to find that the huge new company is based on an algorithm that was stolen from a woman more than ten years ago.  The two work to restore the woman's work to her and to bring the company's executives to heel.  That won't be easy as a Saudi prince is on the board of trustees and the rest of the board are influential individuals as well.  But the two don't give up.

This is Paul Bradley's debut novel.  He is British but has lived in the United States for many years, working as a journalist similar to Lou, covering the Silicon Valley beat.  His inside knowledge of the work and culture is evident.  The insistence on the 'bro' culture is a bit heavy handed to me, as I worked in the IT industry for most of my career and while I saw some of that, I didn't encounter it in the same degree that it is shown here.  The book is exciting and Lou is a character who seems a bit naïve for a reporter in a big city.  She seems to be easily manipulated by those around her but smart enough to figure out what is going on.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.