羅伯特·哈裏斯，1957年齣生於英國諾丁漢，就讀於劍橋大學塞爾文學院時已展露齣過人纔華，畢業後先後工作於英國廣播公司、《觀察傢報》，並擔任《星期日泰晤士報》和《每日電訊報》專欄作傢。2003年，羅伯特·哈裏斯獲得英國新聞業的奧斯卡——年度最佳專欄作傢——的殊榮，這是英國新聞業者的最高榮譽。他自1993年開始小說創作，首次齣版的《祖國》（Fatherland）常被與馬丁·剋魯茲·史密斯的《高爾基公園》及奧威爾的名作《一九八四》相比，更登上瞭超級暢銷書排行榜。此後的《密碼迷情》（Enigma）、《大天使》（Archangel）、《龐貝》（Pompeii）、《影子寫手》（The Ghost）、《最高權力》（Imperium）、《權謀之業》（Lustrum）都是風靡歐美的暢銷小說。因為題材新穎，情節構思精巧，其作品常常被拍攝成影視作品，國際大導演羅曼·波蘭斯基對羅伯特·哈裏斯的小說推崇備至。

《恐慌指數》是哈裏斯齣版於2011年的力作，講述瞭一位天纔科學傢在金融危機背景下，被自己開發的賺錢工具毀滅的故事。

At the nexus of high finance and sophisticated computer programming, a terrifying future may be unfolding even now.

Dr. Alex Hoffmann’s name is carefully guarded from the general public, but within the secretive inner circles of the ultrarich he is a legend. He has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that predicts movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions. But one morning before dawn, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside mansion, and so begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him.

Fiendishly smart and suspenseful, The Fear Index gives us a searing glimpse into an all-too-recognizable world of greed and panic. It is a novel that forces us to confront the question of what it means to be human—and it is Robert Harris’s most spellbinding and audacious novel to date.