Graveland by Alan Glynn

Published by Picador on May 28, 2013

The CEO of a Wall Street investment bank is shot dead while jogging. That same bloody weekend, a hedge fund manager is killed. Despite the absence of supporting evidence, talking heads speculate that domestic terrorists are targeting Wall Street. The murders intrigue freelance reporter Ellen Dorsey who, after hours of research, surmises who the next victim is likely to be. Should she go to the police with her suspicion, or should she report the story?

Three parallel plot threads unfold as Dorsey continues her investigation. First, Connie Carillo's trial (she's accused of stabbing her investment banker husband to death) is a hot item on all the news networks. Second, Frank Bishop, downsized out of his career as an architect and recently divorced, loses his mediocre replacement job at a mall just as his daughter Lizzie goes missing. Third, James Vaughan's health problems convince him to step down as CEO of a private equity firm and Craig Howley is poised to become his successor, a position that gives him access to surprising secrets. A related development involves the experimental drug Vaughan is taking. Rather than weaving in naturally with the rest of the story, that thread initially feels like an outtake from a bad science fiction movie that was added to the novel as an afterthought. Although that storyline fizzles out, the relationship between Howley and Vaughn turns out to be the most intriguing aspect of the novel.

Slightly past its midpoint, it seems as if the novel should be nearly over. Most of the stories have come together, the reader has learned the identities of the shooters, and events appear to reach a surprising climax. Yet the story continues, and when the final plot thread connected with the rest of the story, I was even more surprised.

Alan Glynn writes fast-moving prose, often employing short sentences and brief paragraphs, but with a sense of literary style. I'm impressed by Glynn's ability to convey the world of finance both through the doublespeak jargon of money managers and from the angry perspective of the working stiffs who lose their jobs and pensions because of financial shenanigans. Graveland reflects justifiable anger at the greed that motivates financial managers who, playing with money, contribute nothing of value to the economy while diverting wealth (none of which they create) from the middle class to their own bulging pockets.

Glynn's characters are complex yet easy to understand. While the plot is overly ambitious, the characters hold the story together. The ending is an anticlimactic disappointment that dampens my enthusiasm for the novel as a whole, but most of Graveland is so absorbing that I'm willing to forgive its unrealized ambitions.

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