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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage Two of ThreeThe Insider by Stephen FreyBallantine, December 2000.Paperback, 356 pages. ISBN: 0345428285. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Jay West is offered an attractive, high-salaried
position at McCarthy and Lloyd,
a Wall Street investment firm that seems too good to
be true. He is even offered a million dollar,
no strings attached bonus, for less than a year's
work. But immediately after accepting the position,
West starts having misgivings. He wonders whether
it was a good idea to have rushed into signing
the contract without first showing it to an attorney.
After working at the company for a couple months
and not having much luck bringing in big money,
Jay's boss Oliver invites Jay out to his exclusive club
for dinner. Oliver asks Jay to place a
couple of large, unusual trades, but doesn't offer
any research to back
up his picks. West doesn't know whether he
should place the trades. He doesn't want to upset
his boss and possibly lose the million dollar bonus,
but he is concerned something worse could happen if
he does. To his everlasting regret, Jay makes the trades,
and the consquences are dire indeed.
Stephen Frey is known for his exciting financial thrillers. Frey, who is a former vice president of corporate finance at a major Manhattan bank and worked in mergers and acquisitions at J.P. Morgan, knows his financial lingo and law. The Insider, also a financial thriller, begins in a similar manner to John Grisham's The Firm, in which the main character thinks he has landed a great job with great pay, but circumstances turn out to be much different than he expected them to be. Frey's character John West finds himself in a similar situation: great job, unbelievable pay -- but like Grisham's Mitch McDeere, he has been mislead. The excitement -- and Frey provides a great deal of it-- is watching to see if West is clever enough to figure out his situation and then extricate himself from it -- without ending up in jail or dead. This is great reading for thriller fans and financial buffs. Kill the Shogun by Dale FurutaniWilliam Morrow, September 2000.Hardcover, 240 pages. ISBN: 0688158196. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Masterless samurai Matsuyama Kaze is weary from
his long and, so far, fruitless search of Japan for the
daughter of his slain Lord and Lady. Kaze has
he vowed he would not rest until he found their
abducted daughter, and his quest has now taken
him to the new capital of 17th century Japan,
Edo (now Tokyo). When an assassination attempt on
the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the new Shogun, fails Matsuyama
is blamed for the crime. On the run from the authorities,
Matsuyama nevertheless determines that the young
girl he seeks is being held captive at the Little Flower,
an infamous brothel specializing in children. Now Matsuyama
must utilize all of his skills and intelligence
in order to rescue the girl and to prove his innocence -- before
he is executed as traitor to the Shogun.
Kill the Shogun is the last book in Dale Furutani's compelling trilogy which features the masterless samurai, or ronin, Matsuyama Kaze. Each chapter is prefaced with a lovely, original haiku, which comments on the action to come. Seventeenth century Japan really comes alive in this exciting adventure story which features a complex hero who is ruthless, yet compassionate, ferocious, yet tender when need be. And he is an absolute terror in combat. In his quest, Kaze has met a wonderful cast of characters -- soldiers, statesmen, actors and artisans are all skillfully drawn by Furutani. Although this book is billed as the last in a trilogy, the ending seems to hint at a sequel. That would be welcome news indeed for the many who will be sad indeed to see the end of the adventures of Matsuyama Kaze. --Claire E. White Mystery Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |