I first read Tony McFadden’s witty and imaginative science fiction romance, Have Wormhole, Will Travel. Contemporary Australia was visited by aliens. Returning to standard crime fiction, Tony eases us into a world of electric cars and computer invasion by means of a simple, brutal murder.
BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED refers to Dvorak Kars, Australia's first homegrown electric car manufacturer. In a burgeoning market, someone spots the opportunity to make illegal money, and Andy Goh, the billionaire owner, is killed at his own supposedly secure property. His Aboriginal artist widow, Kirra, engages a PI to look into the matter. The selection is simple; Andy had been dealing with a forensic accounting expert, Nick Harding, asking him to step in and see how and where--and by whom--money was being siphoned out of the company. Kirra makes Nick an offer he can’t refuse. This allows Nick the financial leeway to bring in a high-tech expert, Davie, to help him spy on secure networks and personal laptops.
As in all hard-boiled PI mysteries, there’s violence, pain, and strong language. Is it really worth it, Nick is soon thinking, even with a swish electric sporty car to drive, money in the bank, and a swanky house with pool at his disposal?
Tony McFadden puts emphasis on the heavy upfront security--visitor badges, swipe badges, and fingerprints are required to get into the offices--but we meet relatively few employees. They include a security team leader Mike Murphy, who let his guard down one time and that was enough. The chief financial officer and IT staff member are doggedly working ahead of a major audit. As with most firms today, work gets done by and on computer with less and less on paper. But computers don’t swindle, and they don’t murder. The criminals must be human.
We don’t see anything of Nick’s personal life, except that he used to be with the police and lives in a down-at-heel neighbourhood with not much income. The contrast between his elderly car and the upmarket electric ones is provided deliberately, to demonstrate that e-cars are the future. This adventure BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED is a fun read with plenty of good detail and a few twists and turns.
Nick Harding is an idealistic Private Investigator, trying to eke out a living after a spectacularly boring career in Financial Crimes with the Australian Federal Police.
The very recent widow of the billionaire founder of Dvorak Kars -- Australia's first and only EV manufacturer -- hires him to root out the fraud costing what is now her company upwards of $5 million a month over the past year.
Nick reluctantly takes the case -- we all have bills to pay -- and quickly realises that the beatings, excessive running and cars on fire are barely compensated by the healthy day rate and the opportunity to drive one of the sweet, sweet Dvorak convertibles.
With suspects to spare -- the wife, the head of security, the corporate CFO -- will he figure out how millions of dollars are disappearing before he runs out of time?
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