Absolute Risk by Steven Gore

 

Published by Harper on October 26, 2010

FBI Agent Michael Hennessey enhanced his career by participating in the arrest of financial mathematician Hani Ibrahim for funneling money to foreign terrorist groups. After leaving the FBI, Hennessey pursued his suspicions that Ibrahim was framed. As the novel begins, Hennessey has arranged a meeting with Fed chair Milton Abrams to discuss Ibrahim but Hennessey apparently commits suicide just before the meeting is to occur. Ronald Minsky, CEO of Relative Growth Funds, is supposedly using Ibrahim's theories about fractal analysis to operate the world's most successful hedge fund. Abrams believes Minsky is making money illegally, a fact Hennessey may have stumbled onto. Abrams wants Graham Gage to uncover the truth. Gage's search leads him to a scheme that could cripple the world's economy.

In a related subplot, Gage's wife Faith finds herself in the midst of a worker's rebellion in China following an earthquake. Workers are unhappy about unsafe buildings that were constructed with the help of foreign corporate bribes. Yet another subplot involves the vice president, who has been suckered into endorsing a National Pledge Day that expressly excludes all Americans who do not adhere to the Christian faith.

I liked Absolute Risk more than the previous Gage novel, Final Target. The insufferable smugness that characterized Gage in the first novel is gone and the plot is more straight-forward. On the other hand, I didn't think Absolute Risk maintained quite the degree of suspense that makes a thriller memorable. The subplot involving Gage's wife in China creates more dramatic tension than Gage's investigation into Relative Growth, yet it's a less significant part of the story. Having said that, I disagree with the reviewers who felt bored by the discussions of economics that occur throughout the novel. I thought they were interesting and integral to the plot; I never got the sense that Steven Gore was lecturing me about economics, nor did I feel that the characters' perceptive opinions about economic theory hindered the story. While I don't have the kind of economics background that would permit an informed opinion about the credibility of the scheme that Gage eventually uncovers, I can say that if it could happen (and Gore makes it seem plausible), we should all be very afraid.

There is a political component to the story that will turn off some readers. It didn't bother me, but some readers might think Gore is unduly critical of politicians who fail to keep church and state separate. It's a timely social issue that has been handled well in other novels, but it was a bit out of place in this one. That component of the novel seemed unnecessary and even distracting, although all three of the novel's storylines do tie together nicely in the end. Still, it isn't a large part of the story and it contributes amusement value, if nothing else. Be warned, though, that if you don't want to read about religion and politics in a thriller, you should find a different book.

Gore's prose is polished and free of clichés. His sentences are never awkward.  I look forward to reading the next Gage novel; something I wouldn't have predicted after reading the first one.

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