Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews

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The Insider by Stephen Frey
Ballantine, December 2000.
Paperback, 356 pages.
ISBN: 0345428285.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

The Insider
by Stephen Frey

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 Furutani
William Morrow, September 2000.
Hardcover, 240 pages.
ISBN: 0688158196.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

Kill the Shogun
by Dale Furutani

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

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The Insider by Stephen Frey

Kill the Shogun by Dale Furutani