ONE ALGORITHM: EXECUTED. FOUR TONS OF GOLD: GONE.
I was bracing myself for a techno-thriller, but nowhere was this racy narrative flooded with show-off techno detail that detracted from either the flow or tension.
It may be a bit misleading to call this a Jake Rivett Heist Series, although it is No. 1, as there is less of the New York Detective than there is of David Belov, a backroom programmer at an investment bank. But perhaps the glue will be the heist part of it.
However, there is enough of the tenacious, wiry motor-bike riding detective to get a good sense of what he is about, and I do look forward to the next of his exploits.
David Belov has fought his way out of the clutches of his Russian gang childhood to become a brilliant computer tech, cloistered in the depths of the banks innards. He is a timid quant, barely acknowledged by the Ivy-league floor-traders. Then his world falls apart when he is blackmailed into writing an algorithm that will intentionally crash the gold market. Shoring up their collateral involves the bank moving the bank’s physical gold reserves to the vaults of major investors.
The gold disappears en route.
And David is the fall-guy. Jake Rivett of the Major Crimes Unit is after him, convinced of his involvement.
On the run and in fear for the safety of his wife and young son, he is forced to turn to his childhood friend, gang leader, Vlad. Their uneasy history is deftly dealt with in a series of flash-backs which flesh out these two characters convincingly. Confronting his past may just allow him a future…
Denison Hatch
The tension mounts with ever increasing intensity. A highly recommended yarn; the launching of a promising writing career for Denison Hatch.
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