Zero Knowledge is a complex tale involving murder, encrypted clues, financial betrayal, and a race to uncover a hidden truth about Bitcoin’s mysterious origins. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

The idea for Zero Knowledge for me began while spending time in Zug, Switzerland—where the story is set—within a vibrant crypto environment. The combination of this idyllic location and cutting-edge developments in blockchain technology proved to be a powerful source of inspiration. In this setting, all the research I needed for the story was readily accessible.

Your book has some very interesting characters that have their character flaws, but are still likable. How do you go about creating characters for your story?

The characters in Zero Knowledge evolved as I wrote the story. Duan was shaped in part by some of my own personality traits, which help explain his flaws. For Mina, I “borrowed” several of my wife Marina’s strong characteristics—though unlike Mina, my wife is in perfect health.

I enjoyed how the relationship between Lisa-Lotte and her father, Bernt, deepen over time. Based on feedback from beta readers, I added a backstory to explain Lisa-Lotte’s decision to join the police force.

I’m particularly pleased that reviewers praised the characters; developing them was a major focus for me throughout the writing process.

I felt that there were a lot of great twists and turns throughout the novel. Did you plan this before writing the novel, or did the twists develop organically while writing?

I began the writing process by outlining the story and crafting detailed character descriptions to bring them to life for myself. The method of Luc’s murder was the starting point, although at that early stage, I hadn’t yet defined the motive. In addition to writing, I have a passion for magic, and I incorporated techniques of misdirection—commonly used in magic—to lead the reader astray and heighten the suspense.

Magic and writing share many similarities. In magic, you often begin with the effect you want to create, then develop a method and presentation to entertain and continually surprise your audience. This process comes naturally to me and proved tremendously helpful while writing Zero Knowledge.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

I feel that both Duan and Lisa-Lotte still have plenty of mileage left in them. I already have an initial idea for a unique opening to a potential next book. That said, the way everything came together in Zero Knowledge—leaving no loose ends—will be hard to top.

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