The Billionaire's Funeral-Elijah Brahms

Book: The Billionaire’s Funeral

Author: Elijah Brahms

Publisher: Harper Collins India

With the world going digital, have we ever tried to stop and look back what can go wrong? Plastic money is now taken for granted, digital transactions are taking place faster than ever. With a physical life, we now have a digital life, a digital identity of sorts. Imagine what if one day you wake up and the internet is dead for good?

The Billionaire’s Funeral by Elijah Brahms is a story of Chad C. Cohen, a billionaire investor, who becomes a victim of digital crimes and it wreaks havoc on his life. The story begins with his card being declined at a posh restaurant in London. Not that worrying, right? Except that is the beginning. All his cards get declined subsequently, his stock holdings of his company suddenly start come on the market, his company loses value overnight and he is fired from his own board. If this was not enough, he is arrested at the airport for travelling on a forged passport with a red-corner notice issued against him and  a charge of drug trafficking and human trafficking. He then calls the one person he trusts-Michael “Mike” Cole, his friend and business partner. As the story unfolds, we are first taken into the past and introduced to the characters of the story, their lives, their connections and possible motives now start simmering in the pot. Moving on, Chad begins to suspect Mike as the only person benefitting from the incidents seems to be him. Is Mike the real culprit? Has he stabbed Chad in the back for Redrock Investments? All this is answered in the last part of the book.

“The Billionaire’s Funeral” is a brilliantly executed project. All major characters are properly defined with an individual story arc. Be it Mike, Chad, Chad’s ex-wife and so on. Each of them are given their due time in the story so that no one can be discounted. The arcs seem pointless in the beginning bit in the end, everything is tied up neatly in a bow. The technology described is quite simple, though it sounds complicated but it gives authenticity to the plot.

Apart from being a thriller based on digital crimes, it shows transformation of a human being as it endures new experiences. The character of Chad is a wonderful case in how situations can alter a person. 

And the climax of the book is amazingly done.

It was an unputdownable read, worthy of a 4.5/5.