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Magic and Writing
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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Arnaud Pascolo’s latest international crime thriller is more than an intense whodunit or police procedural – it’s a gripping mystery that begins with a shock and never lets you come up for air! You have to do more than put together the pieces and find the villain – you have to figure out the crime!
Crypto company BionTic is facing financial difficulties, but a strange text message gives Luc Stark hope for a brighter future. The meeting invitation results in his being handed an envelope labeled “Clue One,” which he is instructed to open after leaving. Moments later, the man answers a phone call, and Luc suddenly collapses and dies. When police detectives begin looking into the strange death, they learn that is only the beginning of the mystery.
Zero Knowledge
Zero Knowledge is a gripping techno-thriller that blends the raw emotion of a terminal illness with a cryptic, high-stakes mystery rooted in the world of cryptocurrency. The story begins with a tragedy—Mina, diagnosed with terminal cancer, decides to end her life on her birthday, leaving her husband Duan devastated. But just when you think you’re reading a love story about grief and letting go, the book shifts gears. Luc, Mina’s friend’s husband and a key figure in the crypto world, dies mysteriously. What unfolds is a complex tale involving murder, encrypted clues, financial betrayal, and a race to uncover a hidden truth tied to Bitcoin’s mysterious origins.
From the first page, Pascolo’s writing grabbed me. He opens with a personal gut-punch and gradually builds a suspenseful narrative that snowballs into a larger, more intricate conspiracy. The emotional weight of Mina’s euthanasia is handled with striking intimacy. I felt the grief. I felt the love. But it’s not just sadness; it’s how Pascolo turns the knife slowly and then tosses the reader into the frigid waters of a cyber-thriller. His prose is crisp. His dialogue feels real, sometimes painfully so. There’s no padding here—just raw feeling and tight plotting. And the alternating storylines work beautifully, weaving personal pain and techno-intrigue together in a way that never feels forced.
There were moments when the tone veered just a bit too dramatic for me, like soap opera meets crypto noir. Still, I couldn’t put the book down. The mystery surrounding Luc’s death, the eerie envelope clues, and the idea that someone might be using virgin Bitcoins from the earliest mining days, maybe even Satoshi Nakamoto’s stash, kept me flipping pages late into the night. Pascolo has a knack for balancing tension with curiosity. It’s part grief memoir, part whodunit, part cyberpunk, and somehow, it all clicks.
I’d recommend Zero Knowledge to anyone who loves a thriller with heart. If you’re into tech, crypto, or just enjoy a twisty, emotional ride with a mystery at its core, this is your kind of book. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never heard of blockchain or think Bitcoin is wizard money, the human drama pulls you in, and the cryptographic suspense keeps you there.
Pages: 335 | ASIN : B0F4PPGMZV
Zero Knowledge
Zero Knowledge is a gripping novel that blends human drama with cyber intrigue in the heart of Switzerland’s “Crypto Valley.” It begins with a deeply emotional story about Duan Ripa losing his wife, Mina, to cancer, and shifts into a fast-paced mystery surrounding the sudden death of Luc Starck, a controversial crypto entrepreneur. As the novel unfolds, a diverse cast—from grieving widows to obsessed bloggers—gets entangled in a web of secrets, danger, and betrayal, all orbiting the high-stakes world of cryptocurrency. The backdrop of sleek Swiss towns and the raw emotions of loss, desperation, and ambition are ever-present, driving a story that feels both personal and wildly unpredictable.
Pascolo’s writing is clean and crisp, with a real knack for emotional depth. The way he painted Duan and Mina’s final moments was heartbreakingly real. I found myself needing a break to gather my thoughts. On the flip side, the novel’s pivot into a more thriller-like, corporate conspiracy felt abrupt to me. While the second half is certainly exciting, it sometimes lost the intimacy that made the early chapters so powerful. Still, Pascolo’s portrayal of the fragile, flawed humanity in every character kept me hooked, even when the plot zigzagged faster than I expected.
What really stood out to me was how relatable Pascolo made grief, greed, and hope feel, despite all the high-tech talk of Bitcoin wallets and cyber heists. The dialogue never felt stuffy or overworked, and the characters, even minor ones, popped off the page with quirks and contradictions that felt so real. Pascolo clearly put a lot of thought into explaining the crypto concepts, and while it added depth and realism to the story, it sometimes made me slow down and really absorb the world he was building.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Zero Knowledge to readers who enjoy a mix of emotional storytelling and smart, high-stakes mysteries. If you like novels where love and loss crash headfirst into dark secrets and tech intrigue, this one’s for you. It’s a wild ride, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes thrilling, but always full of heart. Just make sure you’re ready to have your emotions pulled all over the place.
Pages: 335 | ASIN : B0F4PPGMZV
LITERARY TITAN 