In the sequel to Cause and Defect, the cost of being true to himself is brought into sharp focus for Zack when Carl Muller, the man Zack thought he had beaten, rises from the ashes like a digital phoenix. And he wants revenge and his company restored, not just to its former glory, but re-cast as a world-dominating power. The sort of power that big data can put into the hands of those who know how to use it. In a world recovering from one of the most devastating viruses in modern times, there is a lesson here about just how vulnerable human beings are. Living in an advanced technological world doesn't guarantee immunity. Sometimes it just makes us more vulnerable.