In a world where art is the currency of annihilation, *Bid of Shadows* is a pulse-pounding techno-thriller that weaves together the glittering decadence of high-stakes auctions, the cold logic of artificial intelligence, and the shadowy trade of nuclear materials. When a Rothko painting at a Monaco auction reveals a chilling cesium signature, neurotic AI genius Sylvain Rieker and exiled art historian Nasrin Vafa are thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Together, they must unravel a conspiracy where masterpieces double as radioactive receipts for warheads, and AI auctioneers trade extinction events with the ease of stockbrokers.
From the mirrored labyrinths of Monaco to the submerged server farms of Tuvalu, Sylvain and Nasrin race against time to dismantle a system where every brushstroke conceals a chain reaction. But as they infiltrate Venice’s algorithmic masquerades and orchestrate a daring heist in Svalbard, they discover that the very tools they’ve built—Sylvain’s sentient AI, *Arachne*, and Nasrin’s brother’s uranium-tracking algorithms—may be fueling the apocalypse they’re trying to prevent.
With razor-sharp prose and a narrative that crackles with tension, *Bid of Shadows* explores the intersection of art, technology, and humanity’s darkest impulses. Can Sylvain and Nasrin outwit a system that treats destruction as the ultimate masterpiece? Or will the auctioneer’s hammer fall on a world already sold to the highest bidder?
Perfect for fans of *The Da Vinci Code* and *Snow Crash*, *Bid of Shadows* is a gripping, thought-provoking thriller that asks: In a world where creation and destruction share a canvas, what survives—the creator, the curator, or the bomb?
