Code of Conduct was published by Atria Books in 2015. A billionaire philanthropist — publicly devoted to global health and poverty reduction — is secretly orchestrating a program to dramatically reduce the world’s population through engineered pandemics. He believes this is humanity’s only chance of survival on a planet with finite resources. Harvath must penetrate the conspiracy and stop the release before it begins.
The novel engages with the tension between environmentalist concerns about overpopulation and the moral horror of any program to reduce human numbers by force. Thor’s villain is not a cartoon megalomaniac but a man with a coherent (if monstrous) philosophical position — making the threat more unsettling.
Prescient Timing
Published five years before COVID-19, Code of Conduct’s premise — engineered pandemics, billionaire hubris, the ethics of population control — gained retroactive resonance. Thor’s ability to identify anxieties before they become headlines is one of the series’ consistent strengths.
Collecting Code of Conduct
First edition (Atria Books, New York, 2015): Boards with dust jacket.
Approximate market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $15–$25
- Signed first edition: $30–$80
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation. The pandemic premise gained uncomfortable relevance after COVID-19.