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Marked To Fail: A Mossad Spy Thriller About a Gripping Race to Expose a Financial Scandal That Could Fund a War. Based on Real Events.
A fictionalised retelling of the Wirecard scandal, Marked To Fail fuses financial thriller with geopolitical espionage to expose the hidden machinery behind a billion-dollar lie.
When a delivery boy is killed in New York, no one imagines the death will matter. But buried inside a routine police report is a detail that points to something far a London fintech darling quietly routing millions of everyday payments through a shadow network tied to Iran’s missile program and Hezbollah.
Mossad sends James Ashford, known inside the Office as the Actor — a director-general’s special operative with a personal stake in the hunt.
As the investigation deepens, Ashford gathers an unlikely circle of a disillusioned lawyer, a conflicted whistleblower, a journalist chasing the story of her life, and a rising tech executive who begins to suspect that the company she helped build is not what it claims to be.
To the world, Virex is a unicorn.
To those inside, it is a weapon.
And what Ashford uncovers is not just terrorist financing, but a financial machine built to move money, erase truth, and turn political power invisible.
When a delivery boy is killed in New York, no one imagines the death will matter. But buried inside a routine police report is a detail that points to something far a London fintech darling quietly routing millions of everyday payments through a shadow network tied to Iran’s missile program and Hezbollah.
Mossad sends James Ashford, known inside the Office as the Actor — a director-general’s special operative with a personal stake in the hunt.
As the investigation deepens, Ashford gathers an unlikely circle of a disillusioned lawyer, a conflicted whistleblower, a journalist chasing the story of her life, and a rising tech executive who begins to suspect that the company she helped build is not what it claims to be.
To the world, Virex is a unicorn.
To those inside, it is a weapon.
And what Ashford uncovers is not just terrorist financing, but a financial machine built to move money, erase truth, and turn political power invisible.
426 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 26, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 12, 2026
This book was a 3.5 star read for me. It was an enjoyable read. I will be over on my social channels discussing this book and all the others!
August 19, 2026
I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of this book and enjoyed it! I don’t read thrillers constantly, but they’re my favorite palette cleanser. This one was quite different than any other I’ve read before. I loved the multiple characters and POVs - there are more than I typically see in a book so it takes a bit to get familiar with them all, but the set up of all the characters does not feel slow at all. The financial aspect was different, and totally understandable and easy to follow for someone that has no familiarity with the subject. I wasn’t sure how this one was going to end, but it was pleasantly surprised and pleased at the same time!
October 2, 2026
Riveting Suspense.
Thrilling spy story of a covert Mossad operation to take down a Russian backed financial scheme to get into the US banking system.
Non-stop suspense with intriguing characters and destiations.
Great read.
Thrilling spy story of a covert Mossad operation to take down a Russian backed financial scheme to get into the US banking system.
Non-stop suspense with intriguing characters and destiations.
Great read.
September 2, 2026
What an extraordinary book, the story makes you dive in right from the first pages. Myself, I’m a slow reader, but with this book I couldn’t stop till I finished it. If you like good thrillers with twists I would definitely recommend this one!
Review of advance copy
A somewhat complicated read… not so much in the way it's written, but in its plot-heavy focus, the way in which that plot is told to the reader, and its subject matter of “international finance" which, I suspect, would be well out of the average thriller reader’s wheelhouse.
That said, it's very clear the author knows his stuff, but I think he may have expected a little much from the reader in regards to what they can reasonably be expected to already know. There were so many financial, corporate and regulatory details, so many acronyms and "shorthand terms", that I lost count of how many times I had to stop and reread bits just to try and get my head around where this novel was going. Add in to that early part of the book a LOT of characters, a LOT of backstory, and (I think) a LOT of unnecessary setup for many of those characters and, to be honest, I really didn't get into the full enjoyment of reading this, or have the focus of the novel clear in my head, until I was past the 1/3rd mark.
But I did then really start to appreciate it. Most of it at least. The style of writing is very much that of the mega-selling, popular fiction authors that pack out airport bookstores. I personally don’t like the fully omniscient point of view many of those authors use (I think it and the constant swapping from one character to the next is off-putting and makes it harder for a reader to “bond” with the main character), and I prefer to be “shown” what’s going on rather than being “told” (either by character dialogue or authorial comment), but Max Grossman’s book also gave us some moments of quite poetic prose that I admired a lot. It showed that this author really can write.
Overall, “Marked To Fail” doesn’t “fail” at all. It’s a good read and I give it a 6.5 out of 10.
That said, it's very clear the author knows his stuff, but I think he may have expected a little much from the reader in regards to what they can reasonably be expected to already know. There were so many financial, corporate and regulatory details, so many acronyms and "shorthand terms", that I lost count of how many times I had to stop and reread bits just to try and get my head around where this novel was going. Add in to that early part of the book a LOT of characters, a LOT of backstory, and (I think) a LOT of unnecessary setup for many of those characters and, to be honest, I really didn't get into the full enjoyment of reading this, or have the focus of the novel clear in my head, until I was past the 1/3rd mark.
But I did then really start to appreciate it. Most of it at least. The style of writing is very much that of the mega-selling, popular fiction authors that pack out airport bookstores. I personally don’t like the fully omniscient point of view many of those authors use (I think it and the constant swapping from one character to the next is off-putting and makes it harder for a reader to “bond” with the main character), and I prefer to be “shown” what’s going on rather than being “told” (either by character dialogue or authorial comment), but Max Grossman’s book also gave us some moments of quite poetic prose that I admired a lot. It showed that this author really can write.
Overall, “Marked To Fail” doesn’t “fail” at all. It’s a good read and I give it a 6.5 out of 10.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I was lucky to be one of the early readers for this amazing spy thriller. What a fantastic and addictive read with many stories happening at once, but all tied together beautifully. This one had me gripped from the very first page and never let up. It was impossible to put down. Such great descriptive writing, I could picture each scene as if I was there. I highly recommend this to all thriller and mystery lovers!
September 13, 2026
I love a good spy thriller and Max Grossman's debut has been added to my favorites list.
If you love gritty novels based in reality then this is for you. The tension builds steadily with satisfying breaks and the character development is brilliant. I was fully immersed the entire time I was reading and can't wait for the next installment!
If you love gritty novels based in reality then this is for you. The tension builds steadily with satisfying breaks and the character development is brilliant. I was fully immersed the entire time I was reading and can't wait for the next installment!
Review of advance copy received from Author
A gripping and engrossing, globe-hopping spy thriller. It has a good, varied cast, lots of cliffhangers and gives someone like me with no real financial knowledge an understanding of how the system works and can be exploited. Highly recommend.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Thank you to the author for the ARC copy of this book.
Marked to Fail is a well-written, page-turning spy thriller. I really liked the mix of espionage, money, corruption and all the secrets going on behind the scenes. There’s plenty happening, but I never felt like the story was getting too complicated or that I needed to keep stopping to figure out what was going on.
I also really appreciated that it didn’t become overly political. It touches on some pretty important issues that are definitely relevant to the world we live in today, but they’re woven into the story naturally rather than taking over the whole book. That made it feel both interesting and easy to read.
There were enough twists and uncertainty to keep me guessing, and I definitely found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
Overall, this was just a really enjoyable thriller. Sometimes you want a book that makes you think, but you also want to be able to switch off and escape into the story — and I think Marked to Fail manages to do both really well.
Marked to Fail is a well-written, page-turning spy thriller. I really liked the mix of espionage, money, corruption and all the secrets going on behind the scenes. There’s plenty happening, but I never felt like the story was getting too complicated or that I needed to keep stopping to figure out what was going on.
I also really appreciated that it didn’t become overly political. It touches on some pretty important issues that are definitely relevant to the world we live in today, but they’re woven into the story naturally rather than taking over the whole book. That made it feel both interesting and easy to read.
There were enough twists and uncertainty to keep me guessing, and I definitely found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next.
Overall, this was just a really enjoyable thriller. Sometimes you want a book that makes you think, but you also want to be able to switch off and escape into the story — and I think Marked to Fail manages to do both really well.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Marked To Fail was bloody brilliant!! I can’t remember the last time a spy thriller grabbed my attention so quickly. From page one, I was hooked and didn’t want to put it down. Two nights in a row, I didn’t put it down until 4:30 in the morning, when I had to be up at 6:30 am. The book hangovers were well worth it! Both the style of writing and the story itself had a great flow to them. Even with the corporate and financial aspects being slightly above my pay grade, I found it easy to follow. My favourite aspect of this story, besides the amazing characters, was the twists and turns. Countless times I thought I had figured out the plot and where the story was going, only to turn the page and find out I was off the mark by a long shot. Marked To Fail had me emotionally invested in Agent James Ashford (aka The Actor) and his eclectic band of allies as I followed them through this world of corporate greed and geopolitical espionage. Fabulous read. I seriously can’t wait for the next book!
August 27, 2026
Excellent book. Great research, the story is full of surprises and suspense. Makes you wonder how steady is the global financial system. Very thought-provoking.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews