'Artifice and Innocence' is the story of a small data analysis
consultancy trying to defend itself against the power of a multinational
drug company. Set in the world of research science in contemporary
London, the narrator, bookish mathematician Steve Rockett, is
intellectually strong but emotionally weak. When a strange flamboyant
character gives Steve some notebooks containing an encoded message, he
becomes obsessed with his tormentor and the puzzle, at times not being
sure what is real and what is only in his mind. Steve's stress is
further compounded when a large pharmaceutical company tries to unfairly
discredit his struggling business. Is there a link between the puzzle
and a new drug in the final stages of its clinical trials? A chance
remark made by Steve's sister may be the key to unlock the puzzle and
turn the tables on his oppressor.