Empty Hearts

More about the book

A prescient political and psychological thriller ripped from tomorrow's headlines, this novel examines urgent questions of morality, politics, and culture, presenting a startling vision of a future devoid of empathy. In a few short years, the world becomes even more uncertain, with politics shifting rightward: Trump is gone, Brexit and Frexit are complete, and a global financial crisis fuels armed conflict and mass migration. In Germany, an ultrapopulist movement governs as well-off citizens turn inward, focusing on their own lives. Britta, a wife, mother, and successful businesswoman, ignores the news, concentrating on her family and her clinic specializing in suicide prevention. However, her legitimate business is linked to a secret, lucrative operation called The Bridge, which supplies terrorist organizations with suicide bombers. Utilizing a complex candidate-identifying algorithm designed by Babak, her brilliant programmer and only employee, The Bridge has cornered the market on terrorism, making news of a thwarted suicide attack in Leipzig a shocking development. When The Bridge's database is stolen, Britta, Babak, and their latest recruit are forced into hiding, pursued by a new terrorist organization known as the Empty Hearts, presenting a challenge unlike any they have faced before.