One Honest Soul

by Tom Golden

He’s the best in the business when it comes to exposing corporate fraud and corruption, but a fatal failure in his past haunts him.

Fifteen years later Sam Halloran is a partner at one of the largest accounting and auditing firms in the world. By any measurement, he has made it to the top of his profession. Yet he still feels responsible for the murder of someone helping him expose a massive leasing scam.

So when a Fortune 500 client asks him to dig into allegations from a whistleblower involving fraud and the mistreatment of young women in Guatemala, the financial investigator leaps at the chance for redemption although it means confronting a ruthless, homicidal monster.

Determined to bring the fiend to justice, Sam is horrified when he places his star female financial investigator in the twisted killer’s clutches. And with virtually everyone in the country under the kingpin’s thumb, the forensic accountant’s quest for redemption goes horribly awry.

Can Sam take on a Central American tyrant without causing deadly collateral damage?

One Honest Soul is book 2 of the exhilarating Sam Halloran thriller series and inspired by a true story. If you like no-nonsense heroes, ripped-from-the-headlines crimes, and stories that pull no punches, then you’ll love Tom Golden’s latest fast-paced adventure.


Series Reading Order
The Sam Halloran Thriller Series begins with Sunday Night Fears, but you can start with One Honest Soul. I say that because it all depends on what kind of reader you are.

If you like to know the backstory... how someone got to be where they are today… really get into their head, then you’ll want to begin with Sunday Night Fears, which begins with Sam as the sales manager at a candy and tobacco wholesaler… and how he ventured into his accounting career. (Did I say that both books are inspired by True Stories?)

But, if you want to get right into the meat of how forensic accounting investigations are run… from the initial client call, to the pain-staking political wrangling between the client, their lawyers and the investigator (Sam), to that first pretext visit at the client site and then the full-blown investigation and its ugly aftermath—begin with One Honest Soul. There will be some spoilers but not enough to make you fully aware of what Sam Halloran endured before he made a name for himself.

Back Cover Description
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, SAM HALLORAN made a mistake.

“Someone I cared for was murdered; someone I loved was lost.”

He hasn’t been the same since, even though he’d become immensely successful as a partner at Hamilton Pierce and the best in the business at what he does—Forensic Accounting Investigation. But he would be tested again.

The anonymous letter writer told of horrors that El Jefe, Javier Mendoza, engaged in on a routine basis in running the plant. To Sam, it all seemed like another executive tyrant stealing from his employer and taking advantage of others, just because he could
.
But Javier Mendoza would prove to be different. He ran the largest and most profitable distillery in the world for a titan of the consumer products industry. That was how corporate felt about him… but in Palencia, Guatemala he was much more than that—powerful, politically connected, ruthless… some would say, a monster, especially the women who labored in his plant.

Would Sam’s investigative team become additional victims consumed by Mendoza’s network of crime? Would Sam, again, miss the signs—like he did fifteen years ago?

444 pages, ebook

Published July 21, 2021

About the author

Tom Golden is the author of the Sam Halloran Thriller Series, financial crime novels inspired by investigations he conducted over a thirty-year career uncovering fraud inside corporations, public institutions, and government systems.

Golden never set out to become a forensic accounting investigator—or a novelist. Early in his career, he changed direction dramatically, leaving sales to enter public accounting later than his peers and without a traditional technical background. That unconventional path, marked by failure, pressure, and persistence, shaped both his professional instincts and the themes that now define his fiction.

Over the course of his career, Golden investigated complex financial crimes across the United States and internationally, ultimately retiring as partner in charge of a major forensic accounting practice in Chicago. His work has involved corporate fraud, public corruption, and high-stakes investigations where truth carried real personal and professional consequences.

Those experiences form the backbone of the Sam Halloran novels, which blend authentic investigative detail with character-driven suspense. At the center of the series is a flawed investigator wrestling with family, conscience, and the long pursuit of redemption—themes that unfold across the trilogy.

Golden is also the lead author of A Guide to Forensic Accounting Investigation, an award-winning Wiley textbook used by professionals and universities worldwide. In retirement, he writes fiction, speaks to professional audiences, and mentors young professionals—in person and through The Fraud Guy Blog, where he shares insights on conducting investigations, leading teams, and standing out in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

He lives with his wife on a wooded property in north-central Illinois, where he writes, studies Scripture, and continues exploring stories about integrity, failure, and the cost of exposing the truth.

Reviews

[Thais Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

In our world, just as much as there is good and evil, there are also two types of people; the victim or the victor, and the outcome for our individual definition of success lies in our power to choose, in our courage, and perseverance. This masterpiece is an inspiring allegory, Tom Golden smartly conveyed that it is our choice to either succumb to our fear of failure or use it as steppingstones.
In this second book of the Sam Halloran series, Sam- the best fraud investigator in the nation-and his team embarked in a dangerous investigation in Guatemala pertaining to a whistleblower accusation that involved fraud and exploitation of women by a psychopath who had law enforcement in the palm of his hands. Sam struggled with his childhood relationship with his alcoholic father and was haunted by the guilt he felt from his first fraud case in which the secretary was killed. This new investigation incited a personal sense of duty but also the fear of endangering the lives of his team, or much worse, something happening to his best staff, his protégé, Veronica.
This novel was a real page-turned for me. The vivid language transported me into each page, it had me submerged in the buildup of endless possibilities, followed by a change of expectations or, in some instances to a complete state of awe. The characters were well developed, each with uniquely engaging stories and yet beneath the surface they shared courage and perseverance. I cannot wait for book #3! I highly recommend it.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grabbing your attention at the start and never letting go, One Honest Soul is an account of an evocative investigation of a corrupt empire; building suspense and making you constantly question how justice can ever prevail. Sam Halloran, as the main character, is compelling in both his personality and his expertise. Intriguing, interesting and so entertaining - Tom Golden has written another page turner!