TOM GOLDEN is retired from leading one of the largest forensic accounting investigation practices in the US. He has a national reputation in financial crime investigation and is a frequent presenter to the Fortune 500 and many organizations including the FBI and IRS.
A CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Golden was also an adjunct professor at DePaul University, Chicago, where he developed and taught the school’s first forensic accounting course in 2002. He was the financial fraud expert appearing in the 2017 film documentary ALL THE QUEEN’S HORSES detailing the largest municipal fraud in our nation’s history.
Prior to turning his attention to the literary world, he was the lead author of the award-winning Wiley book A GUIDE TO FORENSIC ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATION, now in its second edition. He continues to write novels and speak about his high-profile financial crime investigations.
ECHOES OF DECEIT: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY – BOOK 3
Chicago is rotting from within.
Forensic accounting investigator Sam Halloran is still reeling from a brutal case in Guatemala. Doubting his purpose and his future, he throws himself into a new investigation inside Chicago Public Schools—expecting routine fraud. What he uncovers is anything but.
The deeper Sam’s team digs, the uglier it gets: political greed, mob pressure, and buried secrets powerful enough to destroy lives. Chicago’s power brokers don’t just ruin people—they bury them. And this time, they’re waiting for Sam.
Then Catherine Jennings steps back into his life—sultry, sharp-edged, unforgettable. Once his student. Briefly, his lover. Now, he learns that she's the daughter of the CEO at the center of his investigation. Their connection is a legal and personal disaster… but desire ignores boundaries, and neither is ready to walk away.
As duty and desire collide, Sam is forced to confront the failures and ghosts he’s outrun for decades—his family, his father, and the lingering fear that his life’s work has lost its meaning.
When betrayal turns deadly, Sam must decide what justice truly means—and how much he’s willing to sacrifice to find it.
About the Sam Halloran Thriller Series
Each novel in the Sam Halloran Thriller Series stands on its own. While Sunday Night Fears explores how Sam Halloran’s past shaped the man he becomes, later books like One Honest Soul and Echoes of Deceit plunge directly into high-stakes financial fraud investigations. New readers can start with this book—or anywhere in the series.
Available in paperback, Kindle, hardback, and audiobook formats.
ONE HONEST SOUL: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY – BOOK 2
Fifteen years after a mistake shattered his conscience and changed the course of his life, Sam Halloran has reached the top—now a partner at one of the world’s largest accounting firms and among the best at uncovering corporate fraud. Yet no success comes clean. Guilt shadows every victory.
Now Sam faces a new nemesis in Javier Mendoza—a ruthless industrialist whose empire is built on fear, exploitation, and murder. With government officials bought and witnesses silenced, Mendoza controls everything—and everyone—in his orbit.
When one of Sam’s top investigators is drawn into Mendoza’s grip, the investigation turns personal. As the line between justice and vengeance begins to blur, Sam risks everything to confront a man few dare to challenge—knowing that the truth may exact a cost even he cannot afford.
Inspired by a true investigation, One Honest Soul is a gripping financial thriller about courage, corruption, and the high price of redemption.
Fans of John Grisham and Joseph Finder—and readers drawn to financial thrillers in the tradition of The Big Short—will be riveted by the twists they never saw coming.
About the Sam Halloran Thriller Series
Each novel in the Sam Halloran Thriller Series stands on its own. While Sunday Night Fears explores how Sam Halloran’s past shaped the man he becomes, later books like One Honest Soul plunge directly into active financial fraud investigations. New readers can start with this book—or anywhere in the series.
Available in paperback, Kindle, hardback, and audiobook formats.
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SUNDAY NIGHT FEARS: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY – Book 1
Sam Halloran is ambitious, flawed, and haunted by demons he can’t escape. Desperate to prove himself, he’s driven by a voice he’s never managed to silence—and determined to make his mark inside one of the elite international accounting firms.
But Sam is older than his peers, underprepared for the culture he’s entered, and carrying scars from a childhood he’s never fully confronted. The pressure is relentless. His Sunday night fears—a dread that grips him at the start of every week—threaten to unravel him before he even gets his chance.
When he finally lands his first public‑company audit assignment, he’s determined not to blow it. But deep in the company’s books, Sam discovers what previous auditors missed: fraud—massive, deliberate, and threatening the company’s survival.
Suddenly, the walls begin to close in. The company’s seductive accounting manager blurs the line between ally and enemy. Every new clue paints a bigger target on Sam’s back. And the closer he gets to the truth, the more his past threatens to destroy what little he has left.
Sunday Night Fears is the origin story of forensic accounting investigator Sam Halloran—a character‑driven thriller that reveals how a man is forged under pressure, and what it costs him. The novel begins with Sam’s formative struggle before exploding into his first major fraud case, inspired by a true story.
Like John Grisham’s The Firm, Sunday Night Fears places an ordinary professional inside a system that rewards silence and punishes scrutiny. Grounded in the author’s real-life investigative experience, the novel blends suspense with the quiet tension of uncovering a truth others would rather ignore. The deeper Sam looks, the higher the personal and professional cost of doing the right thing.
About the Sam Halloran Thriller Series
Sunday Night Fears is where Sam’s journey begins—revealing the man behind the investigator before the first fraud that changes everything. Later books in the series plunge directly into the heat of a new investigation, following the seasoned professional this novel creates. New readers can start here for the full arc, or anywhere in the series for a complete, stand‑alone story.
Available in paperback, Kindle, hardback, and audiobook formats.