Jennifer Government
Max Barry
 Hack, a low level employee at Nike, is contracted by one of his higher ups, John Nike, Vice President of Guerrilla Marketing, for an ambitious marketing campaign. The company is planning to release the new Nike Mercurys -- which sell for thousands of dollars but cost pennies to manufacture -- and in order to drum up interest in the items, John Nike plans to increase "street cred" in the worst way possible: by having Hack kill people who try to buy them. Hack, bound by his contract but unable to contemplate murder on his own, subcontracts to the Police, now a mercenary organization, beginning a chain of business transactions which could land Nike in hot water should word of the plot leak. After several children are murdered at various Nike chains on opening day, agent Jennifer Government takes it upon herself to track down the perpetrators, even if she can't get the funding for it. Along the way, readers are also introduced to Billy NRA, an athletic man who gets in over his head, and Buy Mitsui, a former French stockbroker. Also involved is Hack's unemployed girlfriend, Violet, who engineers a dangerous computer virus to sell to the highest bidder. Billy NRA is caught up in the illegal business of the NRA. He is forced to tag along on NRA operations involving murder and even attempt (and fail) to assassinate the President of the United States. Throughout the novel Billy teeters between helping the NRA and helping the government. Buy Mitsui starts the novel as a successful stockbroker who just made a big break. Feeling good about it, he gives a girl some money in the mall only to find out that the girl is killed after she uses the money to buy Nike Mercurys. Feeling personally responsible for the girl's death, Buy's life begins to go downhill. He contemplates suicide until he gets help from Jennifer Government, who he then begins dating. He becomes a part of both Jennifer and her daughter's life. Violet eventually sells her software to ExxonMobil who take her all over the world to exploit the software's power. This sudden disappearance leads Hack to turn to Claire, Violet's sister, which in turn destroys Violet and Hack's relationship. After the company uses Violet's virus, they never pay Violet the sums due. Angered, Violet joins ranks with John Nike who could help her get revenge. John Nike tells her to kidnap Jennifer Government's daughter to keep the government off his back. She is able to kidnap Kate, Jennifer Government's daughter, but in the end, Jennifer Government and Hack are able to retrieve her and ultimately, bring John Nike to justice.