Paper Targets: Art Can Be Murder by Steve Saroff

The New Noir. Art, math, obsession, greed.

"The writing is outstanding, beautiful and haunting, the story engrossing, the characters solidly real. Stunning, original and thought-provoking, as well as a damned fine read." – Kosh/UK

Part Montana wilderness, part crime, and part misdirected love, Paper Targets is a story of confessed secrets. Paper Targets is infused with nature and solitude and unpacks questions about why people sometimes do bad things. Based on the actual fringe events of two of the world's largest multi-billion-dollar criminal frauds: the collapse of WorldCom and Enron.

"An astonishing novel. Highly recommended to everyone, especially those interested in noir, art, a blazing narration, and all of our deeply unsettling subconsciouses. Saroff also seems capable of laying down the perfect sentence on command." - Michael Fitzgerald, author of Radiant Days and founder of Submittable.

"Wow isn't enough. Just amazing." - Russ Fletcher, MATR.

"This powerful and cinematic novel, Paper Targets, is refreshingly unique." – Flooding Island

Paper Targets – Art Can Be Murder: Enzi, a drop-out and drifting runaway, becomes a criminal computer hacker who then falls in love with Kaori, an artist. When Kaori later confesses through her paintings to murder, Enzi starts questioning everything he has ever done. But as Enzi tries to extricate himself from the violent men he has become indebted to, he is pressured to keep "pounding code." While Enzi plans his escape, he is forced to look inside for answers about his motivations.

Steve Saroff is the host of the podcast Montana Voice, and the author of over 30 traditionally published short stories, first printed in Redbook and other national magazines. His available books include Paper Targets; The Long Line of Elk; and, the forthcoming Mixed Drinks. He was a runaway who became a ‘coder’ and then started several software companies. Two of his start-ups were purchased by public corporations. He was the founder of FreeMail Inc, the first commercially successful web-based email system. FreeMail was acquired just before the criminal fraud and combined collapse of WorldCom and Enron (still the world’s largest criminal frauds). His novel Paper Targets digs into the buried mysteries of that corrupt time.