Shadow Account, by Stephen Frey

October 22, 2009 by Nekkidblogger
Filed under: New York Times bestseller, Stephen Frey, Thriller, bestseller, book review

Stephen Frey, who is a specialist in mergers and acquisitions and works in corporate finance, has written a series of financial thrillers. This book, Shadow Account, is not the best of his books, but I still found it to be an interesting and very entertaining read.

We meet up with the main character, Connor Ashby is in his apartment in Manhattan, with his wealthy engaged to someone else girlfriend Liz Shaw. Then an email addressed to a person named Victor arrives. The email indicates that revenues are profit is being manipulated in a very big but unnamed firm. Connor realizes the email he received was an error, but before he can decide what to do Liz sends him out to buy cigarettes. When he returns Liz has been killed, the apartment has been completely trashed and a goon is trying to kill him. Responding quickly, he manages to get out of the apartment and run off. However, when he returns with the police, his apartment is clean, nothing is broken, and there is no corpse. It is as if nothing has happened.

As he follows a twisting trail of misdeeds and misinformation that stretches nationwide, Conner slowly uncovers a shocking plot as undeniably real as the gunshot wound in his arm. Now, surviving will mean struggling to expose the truth as relentlessly as his shadowy enemies seek to conceal it— and fighting for his life as ruthlessly as those determined to end it.

Shadow Account has a good plot, and it quickly hooks you. And in the course of the story, Frey explains the complex financial issues in a fashion that makes them understandable. Having read this book, you will better understand some of the recent meltdown scandals like Enron.

Stephen Frey’s novels of big money and murder in the world of finance have earned this New York Times bestselling author a richly deserved reputation as a master of suspense who always delivers a high yield. Now he raises the stakes, and the risk factor, in this new thriller that pits a young Wall Street player against corporate conspiracy and White House intrigue—in a dangerous game of double crosses, dirty tricks, and deadly consequences.

Shadow Account. It does jump and twist a little here and there, and may be a little too convoluted at times, but it is a very entertaining and enjoyable read in a genre with relatively few very good writers.

Links to the books by Stephen Frey: amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.