The Fear Index

The hero of The Fear Index is a brilliant physicist called Dr Alex Hoffman. Frustrated by a thankless research job at Cern's Large Hadron Collider, Hoffman teams up with a suave investment banker to create a hedge fund on the banks of Lake Geneva. The hedge fund makes decisions based not on human interaction but on predictions derived from a complex computer programme. And for a long time, the computer can do no wrong. Hoffman is soon living a life of empty luxury in Geneva: he estimates his personal wealth to be "one billion, ballpark", he lives in a $60m lakeside house, and is married to Gabrielle, a beautiful artist. Then an intruder breaks into Hoffman's home and assaults him, injuring his head. This sets in motion a spiral of paranoia and violence that leaves our hero questioning the cause of it all.