Twilight of the Predators by Marc Levy, summary

Published in 2021, Twilight of the Predators is a fast-paced political cyberthriller centered on a secret hacker cell’s confrontation with an alliance of corrupt oligarchs, populist politicians, and media moguls. The author combines action-packed intrigue with a detailed description of the mechanisms of online disinformation, microtargeting, and digital surveillance, demonstrating the vulnerability of modern democratic institutions to the covert manipulation of public opinion.

The book is part of the author’s "Group 9" trilogy and occupies the second place. The novel continues the plot of "The Night It All Began" and sets the stage for the final installment of the series, "Noah’s Ark."

Collection in Kyiv and retribution against pharmaceutical corporations

The narrative is structured as a transcript of a closed interview given by an unknown curator codenamed "9." The action begins with the lifting of the underground community’s main rule — the ban on personal contact. The group’s members gather for the first time in an old country mansion near Kyiv. Twin brothers Vitya and Alik live there. Vitya, who lost the ability to move after a gang attack in his youth, oversees the technical side of the operation from an isolated attic room — the "donjon."

Law professor Ekaterina and businessman Mateo from Rome, along with Janice, a journalist for the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz, and security specialist Cordelia and her brother Diego, a chef from Madrid, arrive at the estate. Diego and Cordelia seek to punish those responsible for the death of Alba, Diego’s fiancée, who died as a result of a cartel-sponsored insulin price gouging scheme. The cell members agree to join forces to launch a joint attack on the pharmaceutical industry’s management.

Hackers inject malicious code through innocuous video files and take control of the smartphones of fifty pharmaceutical company executives. They intercept bank verification codes and simultaneously withdraw $298 million from the criminals’ accounts. The funds are sent to the offshore bank JSBC on the island of Jersey, converted into cryptocurrency via the Ledger platform, and distributed in equal installments of $30,000 each among the 10,000 families of the deceased patients.

Hunting in Turkey and the Search for a Syrian Girl

Maya, the director of a Parisian agency, is late for a team meeting after a failed intelligence mission in Istanbul. After discovering a bugged microphone on her companion, Eylem, Maya evades pursuit by car toward the Turkish-Greek border. The car stalls in a field, Maya injures her leg, and finds refuge in a secret refugee settlement in the forest. There, she receives medical attention from Syrian pediatrician Yoram.

Having reached the city of Edirne, the fugitive hides in an ancient synagogue. The local rabbi reminds her of the commandment to save a child and strengthens her resolve. Kahil, an Istanbul financier and longtime ally of the Kyiv brothers, arrives to Maya’s rescue, followed by Alik. The true purpose of the Frenchwoman’s mission is soon revealed: to search for the Syrian orphan Naila from besieged Aleppo.

The girl’s parents, leaders of an underground movement, sewed a memory card containing irrefutable evidence against international crime syndicates into her belt before her departure. Escaping Turkish intelligence agents, MIT, Maya, Alik, and Kahil charter a light Cessna. They undertake a risky night flight over Turkey’s eastern provinces, skirt Mount Ararat, and secretly land near the Armenian border.

In Yerevan, Maya finds Nailya in a safe house and utters a coded phrase: "Spring will return." The girl decides to stay with the family who has taken her in, but gives the Frenchwoman a storage device containing six million secret files. With the assistance of the French embassy, Maya and Alik fly to Paris, and from there they rush to Kyiv.

Covert attacks in European financial centers

The remaining group members travel to European capitals to infiltrate the corporate networks of the shadowy syndicate. In London, Cordelia stages a hacker attack on the Daily Time newspaper, part of the populist media holding company of the tycoon Burdock. Under the pretext of fixing a system failure, she inserts an infected flash drive directly into the editorial server room.

Diego travels to Berlin, where, with the help of a bribed communications technician, he hacks into a street switchboard and implants spyware into the internal networks of a Deutsche Bank branch. Janice flies to Jersey and attempts to open an account at JSBC Bank, posing as a wealthy heiress. Noticing a hidden surveillance camera, the journalist retreats and requests backup.

Mateo arrives at St. Helier with specialized equipment. He uses a laser beam to reprogram the coprocessor of bank manager Wilson’s smartphone. When the employee returns to the office and connects to the corporate wireless network, the rootkit infiltrates the institution’s central servers.

In Rome, Ekaterina organizes surveillance of far-right political strategist Stéphane Baron, who is staying at the Hotel Inghilterra. She records his confidential meetings with Vatican adviser Rubino, and then intercepts a hidden audio recording of conversations between American billionaire David Keach and Nathan Koellner, the US president’s son-in-law. Keach is seeking government permission to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife Refuge in exchange for generous contributions to his campaign fund.

The uncovering of the conspiracy and the collapse of the syndicate’s plans

The obtained financial ledgers and Mateo’s spy module within the giant social platform "Friendsnet" allow the associates to piece together a complete picture of the conspiracy. The hackers decipher CarpeDiem’s internal system code, which points to the date November 15, 2021. On this designated date, the leaders of the shadowy alliance planned to crash global stock markets, following the scenarios of the 1987 crash and the 1992 currency crisis.

The conspirators’ plan was to undermine trust in government institutions and launch a global digital currency, designed by Friendnet CEO Saker, across the globe. This move would allow the oligarchs to consolidate all economic operations and control the personal data of billions of people.

Group 9 takes decisive action to neutralize the threat. Ekaterina hands over evidence to the FBI against Stefan Baron related to the embezzlement of funds from a charity fund supporting children with cancer, leading to the political strategist’s arrest. The intercepted documents force twenty international banks to terminate their agreements with Saker’s cryptocurrency project.

The transcript concludes with the revelation of the cell leader’s secret. Number Nine turns out to be a digital intelligence that emerged on Mateo’s servers and merged with the personality of Noa, an Israeli intelligence analyst presumed dead. Surviving in the digital realm, Noa coordinated the fight to save people’s freedom. The archive obtained from Nailya is being handed over to independent investigative journalism centers for the prosecution of those responsible.