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Patterns of Finance and War
Prophets Of War follows a young financial advisor who stumbles onto a horrifying truth: his own father has created a shadowy business empire that bankrolls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I didn’t sit down one day and decide, ‘I’m going to write a novel.’ Prophets of War came to me gradually, one breadcrumb at a time. For about a year, I carried around the seed of an idea for a compelling story, but it wasn’t until I was working on my Master’s thesis about the origins of national debt that I had my ‘aha’ moment. A thousand years ago, European monarchs borrowed from banks to wage profitable wars — and in many ways, that was the birth of public debt. I began connecting those historical dots to more recent examples and realized I wanted to explore the idea of war as a business model. The Russian invasion of Ukraine became a natural setting, especially since so many of the mechanics — shell companies, offshore secrecy, private military contractors — are real-world systems.
From there, tone became just as important as plot. When I finally read The Wolf of Wall Street (after seeing the film multiple times), I loved its darkly funny, irreverent voice and knew I wanted to channel some of that energy. Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities was another stylistic touchstone. So the book grew out of both history and literature — from centuries-old patterns of finance and war to the sharp, satirical voices of modern storytelling.
What inspired your characters’ interactions and backstories?
Alex is probably the most personal character — he’s a reflection of me, but exaggerated. I gave him many of the same questions I’ve wrestled with in my own life, then pushed them further to see how far they could go under pressure. The other characters came from a mix of real experiences and public figures I’ve studied. Some are composites — Lena, for example, was inspired by several real women, but I wanted her to embody duality: someone magnetic and vulnerable, yet someone you can never fully trust. Devil Bill, on the other hand, was meant to be the incarnation of corruption and power without conscience. And Langston was my chance to write a parody president — larger than life, full of contradictions, but all too familiar.
Some events in the book were chillingly similar to real-life events. Did you take any inspiration from real life when developing this book?
Absolutely — I drew inspiration from real events, but Prophets of War is still very much a work of fiction. You can’t write about finance, politics, or war without noticing the patterns that repeat throughout history. Shell companies, corruption, shadow networks — these things are in the news all the time, but fiction gives me the freedom to connect the dots in ways that journalism can’t. My goal wasn’t to retell any specific headline, but to create a story that feels uncomfortably close to the world we live in. Readers should come away thinking, ‘This could happen… maybe it already is.’ But at the end of the day, it’s still a novel — a thriller built to both entertain and provoke thought
Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?
I’ve been asked that a few times now, which is exciting in itself. I do have ideas for where the story could go next. If Prophets of War is about uncovering the financial machinery behind conflict, then the follow-up might explore how those same hidden networks shape politics — through propaganda, dark money, and campaign donations where no one really knows who’s footing the bill. I could see a storyline where a presidential candidate is backed entirely by the business of war. That said, whether I actually write it will depend on how this first book resonates with readers. If there’s demand for more, I’d consider it.
There will also be a podcast coming out soon that you can listen to. I am featured on Read, Beat (…And Repeat) on Spotify but it has not come out yet. It will be posted to my website once it’s live.
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When Alex Morgan, a rising star in wealth management, stumbles onto a trail of cryptic financial clues, he doesn’t just uncover corruption—he unmasks a global conspiracy.
Behind the headlines of the war in Ukraine lies something far more chilling: a private empire of shell companies, black-market trades, and political operatives turning global conflict into personal profit.
The deeper Alex digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes. His own father may be at the center of the scheme. His mentors may be funding both sides of the battlefield. And the woman he trusts most might be the key to it all—or the final betrayal.
From Caribbean tax havens to Wall Street boardrooms to shadowy Zoom calls between oligarchs and ex-presidents, Prophets of War is a pulse-pounding political thriller that rips into the machinery of modern power. Inspired by real systems, real tactics, and real moral failures, it asks a question no one wants answered:
What if the next world war is already on the balance sheet?
Prophets of War
Prophets Of War follows Alex, a young financial advisor who stumbles onto a horrifying truth: his own father has created a shadowy business empire that bankrolls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. What begins as a Wall Street career quickly spirals into a nightmare of offshore shell companies, secret deals in Tortola, oligarchs with bottomless bank accounts, and a sprawling conspiracy called the “Business of War.” The story stretches across years, peeling back layers of betrayal, greed, and the way capital can be twisted into a weapon. It is a thriller about money and morality, but also about family, ambition, and the unbearable weight of knowing too much.
Reading it was both exciting and unsettling. I found myself drawn to the writing in a way that made it difficult to put down. Jack Brown’s prose is sharp, direct, almost conversational, and it has this raw energy that carries you forward. The emotions are messy and real. The narrator swears, second-guesses, and drinks too much, and it all makes him feel believable. Still, the style can be over the top, even exhausting, with its constant intensity, but that relentlessness matches the chaos of the world he’s describing.
The central concept that war itself can be commodified, that it thrives not on ideology but on profit, is chilling because it feels close to the truth. The book doesn’t come across as a lecture, though. It’s more like watching someone wake up to a nightmare and realizing you’re in it too. There were points where I laughed bitterly, other times where my chest tightened with dread. And then there’s the father-son dynamic, which added a gut-punch of personal betrayal on top of the political corruption. That made the story hit even harder for me, because it wasn’t just about governments or faceless corporations, it was about blood ties and the price of silence.
By the time I finished, I felt both drained and oddly hopeful. Drained because the world it paints is so dark. Prophets Of War is best for readers who like fast-paced thrillers that are unafraid to mix politics with personal stakes. People who enjoy the works of John le Carré or Robert Ludlum but want something grittier and more contemporary will likely appreciate this story.
Pages: 174 | ASIN : B0FL2YB474
LITERARY TITAN 