A captivating financial thriller that works despite some daunting jargon.
A retired computer genius is called into action when the world financial markets are at risk in Mattison’s thriller.
In the year 2027, a year after his abrupt departure from the ICARUS project, Rory O’Connor is living off the grid in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He’s lost his best friend, Peter Costello, in a violent robbery in Chicago, and left his job and the city—his days in international finance and intrigue are behind him. Or so he thinks. As ICARUS, the game-changing quantum AI platform that operates the world’s financial markets (“Co-located servers, fiber networks, and complex algorithms had created a stock market run more by machines than by men or women”), launches its final phase, some unusual activity online lures Rory back into action. A sometimes-convoluted narrative finds Rory working with Peter’s sister, Mia, along with Rory and Peter’s former boss, Milton McGrady, the CEO of a company called Celtic Capital, to beat bad guys from China, Russia, and India to the contents of an encrypted thumb drive left by Peter. The stakes include dire consequences not only for the individuals involved but for the world financial order as well. Rory and Mia fight the good fight around the world, mostly in Switzerland and Chicago. Along the way, of course, they fall for each other, increasing the tension when they both get into life-threatening situations at the Basel headquarters of ICARUS, a complex containing a mainframe called Quoz. Despite its challenging-to-parse subject matter—including AI, the financial world, politics of world powers, crypto-currency, and the blockchain—the novel is an exciting read. The author has created a likeable and relatable hero in Rory, and Mia is a worthy sidekick. Together, they offset the book’s financial and political mumbo-jumbo with big doses of humor and some exciting action sequences. Readers’ enjoyment won’t be stymied much by the lack of an MBA or intimate knowledge of finance; Mattison explains enough for readers to keep up and knows how to spin an exciting yarn.
A captivating financial thriller that works despite some daunting jargon.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798888452028
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.
Three siblings on very different paths learn that their family home may be haunted by secrets.
Eldest daughter Beth is alone with her fading mother as she takes her final breath and says something about Beth’s long-departed brother and sister, who may not have disappeared forever. Beth is still reeling from the loss of her mother when her estranged siblings show up. Michael, the youngest, hasn’t been home since their father’s disappearance seven years ago. In the meantime, he’s outgrown his siblings, trading his share of the family troubles for a high-paying job in San Jose. Nicole, the middle child, has been overpowered by addiction and prioritized tuning out reality over any sense of responsibility, much to Beth’s disgust. Though their mother’s death marks an ending for the family, it’s also a beginning, as the three siblings realize when they find a disturbing videotape among their parents’ belongings. The video, from 1999, sheds suspicion on their father’s disappearance, linking it to a long-unsolved neighborhood mystery. Was it just a series of unfortunate circumstances that broke the family apart, or does something more sinister underlie the sadness they’ve all found in life? In chapters that rotate among the family’s first-person narratives, the siblings take turns digging up stories and secrets in their search for solace.
Answers are hard to come by in this twisting tale designed to trick and delight.Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9798212182843
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.
After escaping from a serial killer, a woman tries to reclaim her life.
After a childhood as an Army brat, Morgan Albright is determined to put down roots. She bought a small house in the perfect neighborhood outside of Baltimore, living with a friend and working two jobs to make ends meet. Morgan’s life is happy and fulfilling, and she is making progress on her financial and career goals. Her perfect world is shattered when someone breaks into her home and murders her roommate. At first, the police assume it was a random act of violence, but after discovering the killer stole Morgan’s identity and her entire savings, they realize the crime fits the profile of a serial killer named Gavin Rozwell. The police inform Morgan that her roommate was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time; she was the real intended target. Morgan’s grief, coupled with the financial devastation from the identity theft, leaves her no choice but to return home to Vermont to live with her mother and grandmother. Morgan reconnects with her family and rebuilds her life, including landing the perfect job and falling in love. The police and FBI pursue Gavin, who continues to stalk and kill women, each time leaving a reminder at the crime scene that shows he’s fixated on Morgan as the one who got away. Roberts shows Gavin’s slow descent into obsession and madness as the inverse of Morgan’s healing journey back to herself and her community. The novel highlights Morgan’s preparations for the inevitable final countdown with Gavin, but the lack of immediacy and urgency of the threat makes for a subdued, restrained thriller.
Roberts revisits a favorite theme: The power of community can defeat a great evil.Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284112
Page Count: 448
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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