The Vale Case · A file for the curious

Somebody wrote a confession, then hid his own name inside it.

A memoir came out called The Quiet Defection, by an author calling himself Adam Vale. That isn't his name. His real name is printed in every single copy of the book — on the copyright page — encrypted. He says he holds the only key, and that it exists nowhere but his head.

This page has everything you'd need to look into it. The facts, the cipher, the challenge. Make of it what you want.

The facts, as stated

• The book is a memoir about quietly leaving your own life while appearing to succeed.
• The author wrote it under a pen name to protect the real people inside it.
• The copyright page of every copy contains a block of AES-256 ciphertext. He says it's his legal identity.
• He has stated he will decrypt it publicly only "the day he can honestly say he has come back." Not a date. A condition.
• The book about a man hiding inside his own life contains its author, hidden, in the same way.

The cipher (this is the real one, from the book)

AES-256. Copy it. Try it. You will not break it without the key — that's the point, and it's worth confirming for yourself.

The challenge

It's AES-256-CBC, salted, base64-encoded. Standard. The algorithm is public; the key is not. Decrypt it and you have his name. Nobody has. If you're the sort of person who can't leave that alone — good. That's who this is for.

The bounty

I'll pay £300 to the first person who decrypts my name before I reveal it myself.

First verified correct decryption of the full plaintext wins. Submit the plaintext and a note on your method. The ciphertext above is the exact string from the book's copyright page; no purchase is needed to attempt. It's AES-256-CBC, salted, base64 — that's all the help you get. I reserve the right to reveal the name myself at a time of my choosing; the bounty stands until then.

This is not a riddle with a clever trick. It is real encryption, and the key exists in no computer — only in my head. That is precisely the point. If you're the sort of person who can't leave that alone: good. That's who this is for.

The second seal

The cipher above is the one nobody can win. The key is in my head and it is staying there until the condition is met.

So here is one you can win, and it is worth the same £300.

This one is a Vigenère cipher — classical, hand-solvable, no computer required. The algorithm is public. The key is a single two-word phrase, and it is not on this website, or on the back of the book, or in the free sample. It is printed inside the book itself, in the second part, and you will know it when you reach it.

The clue. The key is the place he stopped on the way home from the best night of his career, on the night this whole book turns on. Two words. Thirteen letters. Exactly as it is written in the book.

Decrypt it and the plaintext tells you precisely what to do next. The first correct answer to arrive wins £300.

Strictly speaking you do not need the book — it is a classical cipher and a patient person with a pencil and a crib can break it cold. No purchase is necessary and none is required to claim. The book simply hands you the key instead of making you earn it. One winner. The bounty stands until claimed or until I close it publicly on this page. My decision on verification is final, and I will publish the solution and the winner here when it goes.

One seal you can open. One you cannot. That is the whole book, really.

If you want to make something of this

You're free to. Here's the useful stuff in one place:

• The hook: a real, unbreakable secret printed in a published book.
• The human angle: the memoir itself — the man who sat in his car outside his own house for years and called it "two minutes."
• The crypto angle: form-meets-content — the book about concealment conceals its author by the same logic.

Read the book The interview he gave himself → Follow the case · @whoisadamvale

The book is out now — paperback, Kindle, free on Kindle Unlimited. The author will not confirm or deny anything. That, too, is the point.