The Forever Factor: A Silicon Valley novel by Tom Hogan and Amanda Iles
“She wasn’t just chasing a breakthrough. She was racing against time—and grief.”
Welcome to today’s iRead Book Tour stop featuring The Forever Factor: A Silicon Valley Novel by Tom Hogan and Amanda Iles! If you love emotionally layered stories with high-powered careers and characters who feel all too real, this book belongs on your TBR list.
Keep reading for an exclusive author guest post, a peek inside the story, and a chance to win a fabulous giveaway!
Quick Summary
The Forever Factor is a gripping blend of speculative science, high-stakes suspense, and thought-provoking questions about mortality, ambition, and the cost of innovation.
👇 Keep scrolling for the giveaway.
📝 Book Info
The Forever Factor
By Tom Hogan, Amanda Iles
Published by Laughing Dog Publishing (Independent Publisher) on March 19, 2025
Genres: Adult Fiction 18+, Medical, Science Fiction, Thriller
Formats: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 412
Silicon Valley’s relentless pursuit of innovation collides with the profound quest for longevity in this thrilling new novel.
When visionary inventor Petra Alexander stumbles upon a groundbreaking discovery that could radically extend the human lifespan, she’s catapulted into the high-stakes world of Silicon Valley startups. Armed with ambition and a deeply personal drive, Petra must navigate the cutthroat corridors of tech giants, venture capitalists, and biohackers—as well as threats from powerful forces dead set against the transformative technology she’s developing.
Funded by “The Hydras,” an elite group of tech moguls dedicated to biohacking and longevity, Petra pushes the boundaries of science, spurred by her quest to find a cure for the rapid-aging disease that killed her sister and now threatens her mother. Reluctantly assuming the mantle of biotech CEO, she faces impossible choices: Who will control access to a life-saving breakthrough? What sacrifices will she make in the name of progress? And how far is she willing to go when her own life is at risk?
Packed with gripping suspense and nuanced ethical dilemmas, The Forever Factor offers a rare glimpse into the startup culture that shapes our world. From clandestine yacht gatherings to high-stakes negotiations in Silicon Valley boardrooms, the novel intertwines scientific breakthroughs, corporate intrigue, and human drama in a narrative that will leave you questioning the very nature of life, mortality, and innovation.
Fans of Michael Crichton’s techno-thrillers and Blake Crouch’s speculative fiction will find themselves captivated by this smart, fast-paced tale that dares to Should anyone be allowed to master immortality—or does the pursuit threaten the very future of humanity?
Content Considerations: R for language
📚 Where to Find The Forever Factor
Available on Amazon
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🛍️ You can also purchase The Forever Factor from your favorite indie bookstore online.
Bookshop.org is an excellent option that supports indie authors—and book bloggers like me—while avoiding the big-box route.
Also available at:
Barnes & Noble | Books-A-Million
Themed Tech Accesories
Perfect for staying up with page-turning thrillers.
🖋️ Guest Post from Tom Hogan
The Forever Factor, a suspense set in the startup world of Silicon Valley, had an interesting beginning. Before I started writing full-time I was neck-deep in Silicon Valley—first as Oracle’s first Creative Director, then in the VC (Venture Capital) arena, where my firm helped launch over fifty startups.
Given my access to some of Silicon Valley’s major players—from weekly meetings with Larry Ellison to regular meetings with the valley’s top VCs—when I started writing, people would always say: “You should write an insider book about the Valley, its lifestyles and characters.” I had resisted that request for my first three novels, but gave in for the fourth.
There was a starting point for this decision. Jim Goetz, an old friend who became one of the top VCs in the world, had told me through our years together that he wanted to write a book with me when he stepped back from some of his VC responsibilities. So we scheduled a dinner to talk about the project, with the idea being that Jim would provide the topic and underlying technology and I’d do the writing.
But when we got together it became clear that he had trouble taking his VC hat off. He had five topics, all of which would make for great startups. But they also made for a lousy novel, since the topics would leave the general public high and dry. After five interesting ideas but no potential 400-page novel, we decided to try again in a couple of weeks.
We then updated each other on our lives and families. Jim had just come back from a getaway with a group of friends, many of whom were fellow VCs. The friends shared stories of their passion for biohacking: using their own bodies as test sites for ways to try living as healthily as possible for as long as possible. And that’s when I knew we had the basis for a novel—the quest to live forever and how it’s never been more possible than now. It would take the reader inside Silicon Valley and its startups, but using the suspense novel as its premise.
There was just one problem. The quest for longevity is more a biotech issue than a technology one, and I knew squat about biotech. Luckily, Jim’s friend and fellow VC, Theresia Rouw, was best pals with Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia, who ran an MIT institute that focused on a number of human life issues, longevity being one of them. I sent her the first two chapters of the new novel and asked for her input. Her feedback was not only close to immediate, it was so thorough that it was clear to the two of us that it would work better if we did this face-to-face. So I headed to Boston.
A second piece of luck came as I was running my post-MIT outline by the group that reviews my novels. It turned out that Amanda Iles, an old friend and a great writer, had her grounding in biotech. She became my ‘science whisperer’, helping me understand what Sangeeta and her crew were focusing on and how we could piggyback on their work. After our third session with the outline I asked her if she’d be interesting in co-authoring the book. She said yes and here we are.
One of our challenges in writing a book like The Forever Factor is striking a balance between credible science and mystery/suspense. We hope we’ve achieved that goal, but would love to know what you think.
Happy reading,
Tom
About Amanda Iles
Amanda Iles is a writer who creates prose on behalf of Silicon Valley executives and companies, from Steve Jobs to the latest hot startups. Before writing professionally, she earned a biology/philosophy degree and worked in a developmental neurobiology lab at UC San Diego, followed by a graduate degree from the prestigious UC Santa Cruz science writing program.
About Tom Hogan
Tom Hogan is an author and screenwriter based in Austin, TX. Left for Alive is his first novel. He is also the screenwriter for The Devil’s Breath, a noir thriller set in Auschwitz. It was a finalist at the Napa Valley Film Festival and semi-finalist at the Austin Film Festival.
Tom’s past writing experience has been on the non-fiction side. He is the co-author (with Carol Broadbent) of The Ultimate Startup Guide: Marketing Lessons, War Stories, and Hard-Won Advice from Leading Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. The book highlights the lessons Tom and Carol learned as principals at Crowded Ocean, a marketing firm that has launched over 50 Silicon Valley startups. He has also written extensively for travel books, political journals, and Newsweek.
Professionally, Tom has split his career between academia and technology marketing. He was a lecturer in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Santa Clara University and UC Santa Cruz. He joined Silicon Valley in its infancy, where he was the original creative director at Oracle. Moving into the VC (Venture Capital) world, he was a co-founder of Crowded Ocean and now advises startups in Silicon Valley and Austin.
Now that you’ve met the authors behind the story, it’s time to win that gift card!
🎁 Giveaway 🎁
Enter below for your chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card, courtesy of the authors of THE FOREVER FACTOR (one winner) (USA and Canada) (ends July 15)
Please visit more stops on the tour for extra chances to win!
🗓️ Full Tour Schedule – Click to Expand
June 16 - Cover Lover Book Review – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
June 16 – @bearyintobooks – book spotlight / giveaway
June 17 - Liese's Blog – book spotlight
June 18 – @youngpink_bibilophile – book spotlight
June 18 - @bookscape__ - book spotlight / giveaway
June 18 - @michellegodardricher – book spotlight / giveaway
June 19 – Books R Us – book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
June 20 – Book Corner News and Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
June 23 – FUONLYKNEW – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
June 25 – Ilovebooksandstuffblog – book spotlight / giveaway
June 26 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
June 26 – @nessas_book_reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
June 27 – Happily Managing a Household of Boys – book spotlight / giveaway
June 30 – @adriftinfictionalworld – book spotlight / giveaway
June 30 - @tia.reads – book spotlight
June 30 - @this.human.reads – book spotlight
July 1 – @Shesreadingagain_ - book spotlight
July 1 - Deal Sharing Aunt – book spotlight / author interview / giveaway
July 1 - Gina Rae Mitchell - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
July 3 – @Leannebookstagram – book spotlight
July 7 - @bookreviewsbytaylor – book spotlight / giveaway
July 8 – @books_and_babe – book spotlight / giveaway
July 8 – @theliteraryescapade/ - book spotlight / giveaway
July 8 - @bookishrebel01 – book spotlight / giveaway
July 8 - @theratherslowreader – book spotlight / giveaway
TBD - Sarandipity - book spotlight / guest post / giveaway
THE FOREVER FACTOR by Tom Hogan and Amanda Iles Book Tour Giveaway
If tech gremlins bite the above entry form, click the link below to enter the giveaway.⬇️
Enter the Giveaway for The Forever Factor by Tom Hogan & Amanda Iles!
💬 Final Thoughts
The Forever Factor dives deep into the pulse-pounding world of Silicon Valley biotech, where cutting-edge science collides with personal loss, corporate ambition, and the relentless pursuit of immortality. With Petra Alexander at the helm of a life-altering discovery, this novel challenges readers to consider what it truly means to control life and death.
💙📚 Thank you for joining me on this stop of the iRead Book Tour! Don’t forget to scroll back up and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
🧬 Would you embrace a longer life if the science existed? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
If this book appeals to you, you might also like to read my reviews of:
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I love the sounds of this, my kind of book!
What's your favorite type of cuisine?
Sounds good!
Sounds like a great read.