In his gripping debut novel The Game: A High-Stakes Conspiracy of Power, Poker, and Profit (Black Rose Writing, 2025), Brandon Keller explores the ruthless race to control artificial intelligence—an innovation powerful enough to reshape the future. With its fast-paced plot and financial intrigue, The Game will appeal to fans of Stephen Frey’s financial thrillers and the speculative fiction of Orson Scott Card.
The story begins with a seemingly innocuous event: a fluke ride on a malfunctioning elevator. Financial prodigy Tyler Rush braces for a crash—but instead, the elevator begins to rise again and deposits him on the mysterious forty-first floor of a building that supposedly only has forty. There, he stumbles into an elite, high-stakes poker game filled with power brokers, government leaders, and his own boss, Mike Hayward.
Hayward encourages Tyler to join the game, even staking him with an entry fee. A seasoned poker player, Tyler feels confident—he’s honed his skills and mastered the art of reading his opponents’ tells. But he quickly learns that this is no ordinary game.
Lured into a risky bet, Tyler doesn’t realize until it’s too late that he’s playing for far more than chips and pride. When he loses, he discovers the terrifying truth: the stakes are life, death, and global domination. He’s now a pawn in Hayward’s scheme to steal the Einstein Code—an unfinished AI algorithm with the potential to grant unprecedented financial power.
As the situation escalates, Tyler’s reckless gamble puts his younger sister Anna—his only family—at risk. Hayward makes it clear that failure will cost Anna her life. Others who have crossed him have met with untimely deaths.
Complicating matters further is Jill, the brilliant programmer behind the Einstein Code. Tyler is drawn to her, but Hayward threatens both Jill and Anna if Tyler doesn’t deliver. With no good options, Tyler must take even greater risks. The stakes are enormous—and getting out alive may be the biggest bluff of all.
The Game is a pulse-pounding thriller packed with deception, danger, and daring gambits that will keep readers turning the pages late into the night.
Brandon Keller
Brandon Keller is a financial executive, poker strategist, and debut author with a passion for high-stakes fiction. The Game: A High-Stakes Conspiracy of Power, Poker, and Profit blends corporate intrigue, emerging AI technology, and the psychological intensity of Texas Hold’em. A longtime poker enthusiast, Keller draws on years of studying the game’s strategy and psychology. When he’s not writing, he leads an insurance company, explores the intersection of AI and finance, and enjoys life in Texas with his family, dogs, and cats.
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