Constructed

Constructed is a romantic psychological thriller that follows a young woman, a social media company, and a country as they exchange one future for another. Founder Steen Sand has made a big business out of social status, but cash flow is negative. Deluded by a charming head of operations who has her chief where she wants him, an introverted marketing professor with an insatiable advertising-budget, and an efficient but pessimistic chief financial officer, Steen sinks his firm into debt. Shunning guns and gangsters to escape her rowdy past, tomboy woman Sophie Bech has made the long trip back to Denmark from South Africa. She uses social media to construct herself in the image of a model citizen, and she mercilessly seduces a younger nerd and an older reporter into helping her change her life. But the criminal syndicate won't set her free. A murder changes everything. Driven by fury, Sophie takes control of her life and pits herself against an underworld kingpin. She urges Steen to take action, too, but when he hesitates, his second-in-command steps out of the shadows and climbs to the top of the pecking order. Steen, Sophie, and South Africa become unlikely allies in a breakneck struggle where everyone else wants something they have. Constructed can be enjoyed as a basic thriller, but it's the novel's dark undertone, open to interpretation and filled with suspicion, that makes it complex, enthralling, and satisfying.