DEAD MONEY by Jakob Kerr

4 stars

Welcome to the Machiavellian jungles of Silicon Valley, where brash young tech buckos and their mostly male venture capitalist backers partner up in the constant search of a runaway start-up tech success that will transform them into billionaires. Amidst this bro-crowd come some savvy, ballsy women who have learned to play the game and will go to extreme lengths to try even the field. All of which Kerr delivers at a break-neck pace of tech thriller, murder mystery, and venture capitalists gone amuck.

Enter our heroine, Mackenzie Clyde, a super smart, ambitious lawyer who grew up poor and wants her own chance at the golden ring. She’s taken on as a mentee by Eleanor Eden, a tech start-up powerhouse often assigned to keep a handle on wildly brilliant but out of control and unsocialized young male tech founders. Eleanor convinces Mackenzie not to join a prestigious tech law firm but rather join Hammersmith, one of the hottest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley as in-house counsel. Mackensie stumbles on a unique opportunity to leverage her way up the ladder in the firm and takes on the role of in-house investigator.

 There are barely disguised, sharp, and quite amusing, jabs at Cheryl Sandberg relationship as the “adult in the room” and pacifier to Facebooks’ Mark Zuckerberg, as well as Sandberg’s book Leaning In which posited the solution for women in the workforce to balance life simply depends on leaning more into work. In this novel, Eleanor Eden, Sandberg’s doppelganger, writes a similar self-help book, which in ironic counter position to Sandberg she privately admits is completely untrue. Eden also has constant babysitting duty against the wild impulses of Journy’s young and rash CEO.

Meanwhile, Trevor Canon, CEO of Journy (a barely disguised amalgam of Uber and Lyft) which is one of Hammersmith’s biggest investments, is discovered shot dead in his offices. This launches an elaborate hunt for the perpetrator, with Mackenzie partnering alongside a young, connected FBI agent after the San Francisco police make no progress. The FBI agent, Jameson Danner, is the on of a powerful U.S. Senator and out to prove his mettle. This turns out to the quite the challenge as everyone on the senior team of Journy comes under suspicion, and even more challenging as Journy’s CTO has completely disappeared off the grid.

All this culminates in a hold-your-breath ending at the annual Burning Man festival held deep in the Nevada desert, with you hoping that Mackenzie will soon be back as the female badass ready to take on more of the tech-bros.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine, and Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.