Readers will feel they know someone just like the characters in this timely novel on social status and social media.

Steen Sand, CEO of Stensure Networks, is the head honcho at an IT firm that's developed an Internet service to monitor, compute, and publish people's social status. His chief operating officer, Irene Lund, serves as his muse. He needs her to be part of his world, or he can't achieve anything of significance. But does she feel the same?

Chief financial officer, Michael Jensen, is a hard-core pessimist who has learned the hard way not to speak up against the status quo, in spite of his natural inclination to do so. Jensen's a numbers guy. He relates to spreadsheets better than he does to people. Will this cost him in the end?

Louise Hald, chief marketing officer, joined Stensure's management team after leaving her post as an assistant professor at a business school. She's beginning to wonder if she'll ever move past the "assistant" part in the eyes of her coworkers. What can she do to ensure she gets ahead?

And then there's Sophie Bech. She's made the long trip back to Denmark from South Africa for her own private reasons, and everything looks different to her now. She wonders what her return will hold for her. Was it a mistake? Will her fresh set of eyes-and values-help or hinder the team?

Reductionism-understanding complex things by reducing them to fundamental parts and interactions-comes up against social status, so subtle, intricate, and sought-after, in this intriguing modern-day novel. Will these characters-and their supporting players-make the changes they need to survive in today's world? Or will they succumb to the allure of using easy but underhanded methods to get ahead?