A robbery of several thousand euros worth of "prestige items" occurs in the game's central bank, led by a band of orcs and a "dragon for fire support."

It is later noticed that this seemingly simple incident has deep implications – both financial (Hayek stock price) and logistical (compromised cryptographic keys), which sets the stage for the latter half of the novel.

These initial segments track the bank robbery and mystery man, Nigel MacDonald, who is revealed as a shadow identity created from Jack Reed's credentials as a programmer and gamer.

Using the game Spooks as a sock puppet for real espionage missions, Jack and Elaine are sent to uncover the identity of a mole inside Hayek Associates, which is subsequently revealed to be a front for the government.

It is then revealed that Hackman had staged the whole thing to use strategic put options to earn €26 million when his own company, Hayek Associates, took the fall for the initial robbery sequence.

Halting State was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 2008,[5] and The Guardian called it a "tight, well-observed thriller", but found the second-person narrative distancing.