Dead Money by Srinath Adiga-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 26, 2021

They said you can’t take your money with you when you die.

What if they were wrong? Srinath Adiga’s timely satire explores the pitfalls of modern capitalism and the dangerous power of myth.

Hong Kong, 2002. A stock market trader desperate to pay off a gangster debt invents a scam: Afterlife Dollars. A product inspired by an ancient Chinese custom that allows people to buy their way into heaven.

It’s the beginning of a dizzying chain reaction that ripples in Mumbai, where one man does the unthinkable to secure his afterlife—while thousands of miles away in Amsterdam, another man races against time to stop an apocalypse. As a cast of larger-than-life characters grapple with unprecedented moral dilemmas, their choices will affect the rest of humanity.

Profound, exhilarating and full of unexpected twists, Dead Money balances intelligence and dark humour with compassion, empathy and hope. Its cleverness lies in its ability to convince us that the impossible can happen—a compelling, thought-provoking read at a time when the world stares at an uncertain future.

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REVIEW:DEAD MONEY by Srinath Adiga follows Raymond Li, a Hong Kong stock broker who lost his investors (a collection of underworld criminals) close to fifty-three million dollars. Desperate to reclaim the money before he loses his life, Raymond devises a scam-Afterlife Dollars-in which people ‘invest’ in the afterlife, ensuring they have money to spend in heaven or h*ll. Afterlife Dollars investments grow in popularity, the stock market gains are out of control, and one man in Amsterdam is convinced that the successful scam will send the financial markets into chaos. The fall-out of Afterlife Dollars’ meteoric rise sends the world into a downward spiral, a financial apocalypse, and the potential for war across the globe.

DEAD MONEY is based on the Chinese ritual of burning gifts and money as a transaction between the living and the dead. Banking on people’s belief and hope in an afterlife DEAD MONEY, beginning in 2002, is divided into three distinct but overlapping story lines revealing the desperation, manipulation, spirituality, and moral downfall of society through different cultures, countries, economic crisis and systems of belief. Almost dystopian in nature, DEAD MONEY is a slow build that makes you think about what if, why and how.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy