The Machine - Dean K. Fueroghne

Behind every criminal conspiracy, someone is pulling the strings. What if that person wore a black robe and sat on the federal bench?

When private investigator Riley Cole becomes the prime suspect in the execution-style murder of San Francisco club owner Marcus D’Addario, she must find the real shooter before police uncover a darker truth: she has been moonlighting as a fixer for her powerful lover, federal Judge Kurtwood Roth. If Cole doesn’t identify D’Addario’s killer before the authorities discover her secret past, her carefully compartmentalized life could unravel and land her in prison.

Before Cole discovers who set her up for murder, she exposes the most chilling criminal conspiracy ever attempted. The leader of a South American drug cartel and the powerful American behind it, known only as the Yankee, plan to deposit cartel cash rigged to destroy everything in bank vaults across the country. Any person who shorted currency stocks could make millions if they knew the market crash was imminent. Problem is: who’s that person? The investigation stretches from the Tenderloin to Washington, D.C., and the stakes rise when Cole exposes Judge Roth’s culpability in the scheme and uncovers the Yankee’s identity, implicating the highest levels of the judiciary.

THE MACHINE redefines power and control-who holds it, who yields it, and who pays the price. As Cole learns, this case is not about how far she will go to get the truth, but whether she can handle it. And when she finally learns who killed D’Addario, it exposes a devastatingly complicated family dynamic.

THE MACHINE is a twisty high-stakes crime thriller featuring a morally ambiguous heroine whose secrets may be deadlier than the crimes she investigates. At its heart, it’s a story about justice versus corruption, and the personal costs of secrecy and dual lives. A pulse-pounding thriller that feels incredibly relevant today. 

THE MACHINE is for fans of S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed, Megan Abbott’s Give Me Your Hand, and Ruth Ware’s Zero Days.