The Auditors

By: Jay Hirschman

Narrated by: Mike Paine

Jase Mathews, a rising star at PHS, the globe’s most prestigious and largest accounting firm, is on the cusp of making partner. His latest assignment, the high stakes audit of the colossal Sharp Industries, is his golden ticket. For Jase, it’s the pinnacle of his career—until the audit results start to whisper a different story.

As Jase meticulously dissects Sharp Industries financial processes, unsettling anomalies emerge and with the help of a few trusted allies, Jase begins to unravel inconsistencies that stretch far beyond simple bookkeeping errors. What they uncover lurking within Sharp Industries’ ledgers is a tangled web of deceit so vast that it threatens to destabilize not just the company, but the very foundation of the world’s economy. Could the deceit run deeper than Sharp Industries itself? Could Jase’s own esteemed firm, PHS, be complicit in the deception?

Torn between his loyalty to PHS and the looming threat of worldwide financial collapse, Jase must decide who to trust and how far he is willing to go to expose a truth that could unravel everything.

Can Jase expose the truth and hold the guilty accountable or will the web of deceit be too much for one lone auditor to handle?

©2025 Jay Hirschman (P)2025 Jay Hirschman

Believable enough to be true, presented straight

First, a shout out to Mike Paine for his determinedly stoic delivery of the contents of this story. Sure, narration with character voices can be fun and add variety, but then you would wonder if the drama was for effect, and might be detracting from the realism of the contents. His straight reading puts the listener into the mindset of hearing a news report (albeit, a 7 hour long one) and not watching an on-stage performance. The story starts off a bit slow and steady, establishing the narrator and the circumstances of his employment. But once the accounting oddities are discovered, it's a rollercoaster ride of cat-and-mouse intrigue as the corruption is revealed and attempts to cover it grow stronger and with more serious consequences. The ending is unexpected and rewarding. [Disclosure: I received this title for free and listened at 2.0x.]

Suspenseful and Believable

Steadily suspenseful—like watching something you know could actually happen. Hirschman keeps the tension tight without resorting to shock value, and the realism makes it even more compelling. A smart, grounded thriller that pulls you in and keeps you there.

Gripping, and Intense

Didn't want to stop listening. Jase Mathews is brought to life in this action packed thriller. The excitement and suspense grow with each chapter culminating in a very clever ending. Love it!