The Code Is for Readers Who Enjoy…

the technological and political threats in David Baldacci’s work and the psychological manipulation found in novels by B. A. Paris.

Readers who like strong female protagonists, malicious technology, and villains who manipulate public perception may find much to enjoy in Alex Demarchelier’s third thriller.

You might like The Code because the threat does not stem from a single dramatic attack.

It comes from the interaction of several smaller ones: a computer program that destroys; a false story that spreads; an anonymous source treated as trustworthy; and a public frightened into rejecting help.

Together, they create a crisis in which every response can be recast as evidence of a different conspiracy.

Alex must therefore do more than merely stop the code.

She must restore enough trust for the truth to matter.

A White House Cyber Thriller About Disinformation and Control

The kidnapping is over. Now someone is using a cyberattack to destroy the first family from the inside.

After two days of terror, Alex Demarchelier and President Perry Lowell finally have their children safely back in the White House. Yet relief is overshadowed by questions no one can answer.

How did Vivien Gibson infiltrate the Secret Service?

Who helped her escape from prison?

What happened to the twins during their time missing?

And how many people in the government remain loyal to whoever planned the kidnapping?

Alex knows that Vivien could not have acted alone.

The kidnapping was not the end of the attack. It was the opening move.

Then destructive computer code begins appearing across the country.

Businesses are disrupted. Digital records become unreliable. People fear losing their identities, finances, and access to the systems that modern life depends on.

Government specialists create a fix, but an online campaign warns the public not to install it. According to thousands of posts, the cure is the real threat.

The result is exactly what the conspirators need: confusion, fear, mistrust, and resistance to the only solution that can stop the damage.

Alex’s new friend, Helen Dillon, recognizes the pattern. The code is dangerous, but the manipulation around it may be even more effective. If the public can no longer agree on which information is genuine, every attempted solution is treated as another suspected attack.

Tell Me More the Protagonists

Alex begins the novel exhausted by fear, guilt, and the unanswered question of what happened to her children while they were missing. But the kidnapping changes the unwritten rules governing Alex’s role. She begins to set boundaries and refuses to be used.

Alex is not merely defending her family against external enemies. She is also defending their humanity against the machinery of power.

Vivien believes she has finally outsmarted everyone. She assumes a new identity, moves through Washington unnoticed, and turns private White House information into a lucrative new enterprise by publishing a mix of stolen facts, overheard conversations, and outright fabrications.

She understands that a plausible lie can travel farther than a complicated truth, and when her site attracts devoted followers, Vivien begins to see herself not as a fugitive or a criminal, but as a respected news entrepreneur and defender of injustice.

Her delusion makes the site more dangerous: She is not merely lying for money. She believes she has a mission.

Andreas—a criminal mastermind who wants more than victory—does not view chaos as an unfortunate byproduct of his operations. Chaos is a tool that undermines confidence in institutions, creates demand for stronger control, and weakens the first family.

Yet amid the cyber and media attacks, Andreas’s fascination with Alex deepens. She repeatedly adapts under pressure, refuses to break, and grows more effective. Andreas both resents and admires this.

His objective is not merely to remove Alex. He wants to prove he understands her better than she understands herself.

You may enjoy The Code if you like:

• A strong female protagonist
• Disinformation and manufactured scandals
• A fugitive female villain reinventing herself online
• A criminal mastermind hiding in plain sight
• A first lady refusing to serve as a ceremonial figure
• A conspiracy in which facts become weapons
• Psychological manipulation on a national scale

About the Alex Demarchelier Series

The Alex Demarchelier Series follows an internationally successful designer whose understanding of people repeatedly draws her into crimes involving technology, politics, financial manipulation, and dangerous personal relationships.

Each novel presents a central confrontation while continuing to follow Alex’s family life, public role, professional journey, and battle against enemies who weaponize institutions as effectively as they do individuals.

The Code is the third book in the series and can be read as a standalone because it has its own central conflict. However, reading The Deal first could enhance the reading experience, as it provides important context for the twins’ kidnapping, Vivien’s escape, and Alex and Perry’s arrival in the White House.

The series includes:

• The Wall
• The Deal
• The Code
• The Enabler

Continue the Alex Demarchelier Series with The Code, and enter a White House under digital siege, where malicious software can harm the country—but a convincing lie can turn the country against itself.

Meet the author