Absolute Risk-Steven Gore

Absolute Risk
Steven Gore
Poisoned Pen, Dec 1 2010, $24.95
Avon,Oct.26, 2010. $9.99
ISBN 9781590587713

Fed Reserve Chair Milton Abrams asks San Francisco private investigator Graham Gage to investigate the death of a former FBI agent Michael Hennessy in France just before they were to meet even though it appears to be a suicide. His inquiry leads Gage to deported MIT Economics Professor Hani Ibrahim, who was kicked out of the country after Hennessey proved he was leading a money laundering scheme to fund foreign terrorists.

In rural China, an earthquake causes mass destruction and leads to anger and rioting from fuming workers upset with the government response. Their insurgency places the mission of Gage's wife Faith to rescue two Chinese friends from government forces in peril. Gage finds evidence that Ibrahim, using a too big to fail hedge fund, is plotting a terrorist assault on the fragile world economy. However, his work endangers his spouse from Ibrahim’s subordinates. Meanwhile, evangelical President Cooper Wallace believes the global economic recession is part of God's master plan so he has doubts if he should intervene in alleviating the crisis.

The second gage tale (see Final Target) is a fabulous somewhat over the top financial thriller. Fast-paced, Steven Gore provides the reader with incredible insight into the too big to fail funding yet with plenty of macroeconomics, the action never slows down. Readers will want to join Gage as he hops from California to Marseille to China following the money trail.

Harriet Klausner