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Booklists and Suggested Reading
Financial Intrigue Crime Fiction Booklist
Page Modified:
August 19, 2008
Follow the money . . . international banking,conspiracies, intrigue, investments gone wrong, cartels, multinational machinations, money laundering, and other bidness badness.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating
a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources:
Booklist
(BL),
Publisher's Weekly
(PW),
Kirkus,
and
Library Journal (LJ).
Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically
by author.Annotations are from Advance, the
Ingram
Book Magazine, unless noted.
- Total Control
Author: Baldacci, David
Publisher: Warner $ 32 ISBN: 0446520950 Date: 1997
Following on the heels of his sensational New York Times bestseller debut novel, Absolute Power, Baldacci returns with an explosive tale of terror, deception, and one woman's battle for truth. Sidney Archer's life is turned upside-down when her husband is killed in a fiery plane crash. But as further details emerge, Sidney learns that not only does the FBI believe her husband was reponsible for the bombing that caused the crach, they believe he is still alive!
Updated 8.8.05
- Eye of the Abyss
Author: Browne, Marshall
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312311567 Date: 2003
Kirkus
PW
Booklist
The author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize-nominated mystery, The
Wooden Leg of Inspector Anders, now delivers an atmospheric and powerful
thriller set during the rise of the Nazi party.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | World War Stars | Historical Crime Fiction Stars
Updated 9.22.03
- Rising Sun
Author: Crichton, Michael
Publisher: Knopf $ 26 ISBN: 0394589424 Date: 1992
Kirkus
Crichton's signature amalgam of suspense and science is put to dazzling effect in Rising Sun: a thrilling murder mystery that unfolds in the arena of volatile Japanese-American relations. The international electronics industry is the fiercely coveted prize in this ingenious, riveting novel.
Updated 8.8.05
- Nest of Vipers
Author: Davies, Linda
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23 ISBN: 0385475969 Date: 1995
PW
A writer who knows the intoxicating risks, irresistible temptations, and spectacular rewards of the world's financial markets firsthand--having been a merchant banker for seven years--offers a taut, fast-paced financial thriller that sweeps readers into a desperate battle of wits, played for the highest stakes.
Updated 8.8.05
- Wilderness of Mirrors
Author: Davies, Linda
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23 ISBN: 0385480385 Date: 1996
The bestselling author of Nest of Vipers takes readers from Hong Kong to London to Vietnam in a novel of deep cover espionage, international drug and arms smuggling, and high-stakes financial wheeling and dealing. An undercover agent for British Intelligence uses a diamond mine in Vietnam--and herself--as bait to entrap an international businessman, suspected of assisting China's illegal trade in nuclear weapons.
Updated 8.8.05
- Mistress of Justice
Author: Deaver, Jeffrey
Publisher: Doubleday $ 18.95 ISBN: 0385423772 Date: 1992
A young paralegal discovers secrets where she works damaging enough to smash
careers and dangerous enough to push someone to commit murder. The sizzling
world of a Wall Street law firm comes to life in an explosive thriller about
greed, corruption and betrayal in a world where everything, including love, is
for sale . . . if the price is right.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Set-Up
Author: Erdman, Paul
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312151101 Date: 1997
The exciting novel from the bestselling author of The Crash of '79 and The Panic of '89. When just-retired chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Charles Black finds himself framed for financial fraud while on a trip to Switzerland, the case against him seems ironclad. His wife is approached by someone who claims to be able to get Charlie off. The price: $3 million. But is this just another part of the frame-up?
Also: The Billion Dollar Sure Thing and The Palace
Updated 8.8.05
- The Last Days of America
Author: Erdman, Paul
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 13.95 ISBN: 0671242482 Date: 1981
Political tensions flare along the iron curtain, and as panic spreads, the world's economic structure begins to crumble. Soon, international alliances deteriorate as the price of loyalty is measured in Swiss bank accounts--and murder. An explosive thriller from the author of The Panic of '89.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Zero Hour
Author: Finder, Joseph
Publisher: Morrow $ 25 ISBN: 0688144500 Date: 1996
PW
Kirkus
A fasten-your-seatbelt suspense thriller that recalls Eye of the Needle and Day of the Jackal, Finder's latest novel is packed with realism and riveting insider detail. When a digitally encrypted, ominous telephone call is intercepted by the NSA's spy satellites, FBI Special Agent Sarah Cahill is summoned to investigate an impending terrorist attack on lower Manhattan.
Updated 8.8.05
- Paranoia
Author: Finder, Joseph
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312319142 Date: 2004
LJ
PW
From the critically acclaimed author of The Zero Hour and High
Crimes comes an electrifying, original new novel. Adam Cassidy is a low
level employee at a high-tech corporation who hates his job. When he manipulates
the system to do something nice for a friend, he finds himself charged with
a crime.
Updated 12.15.03
- Company Man
Author: Finder, Joseph
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 03112319169 Date: 2005
LJ
Recent widower and CEO of the major company in a small town is trapped by a conspiracy to sell the company out from under him and to corner him on murder charges for the death of a man who was stalking his family.
Updated 3.21.05
- The Chairman
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Ballantine $ 21.95 ISBN: 0345457609 Date: 2005
A master of financial suspense returns with a gripping thriller of money and
murder set in the perilous world of private equity--and his first continuing
character.
Updated 8.8.05
- Shadow Account
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Dutton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345457587 Date: 2004
Investment banker Conner Ashby is doing all right for himself--until he receives
a wayward email and is plunged into a terrifying nightmare.
Updated 8.8.05
- Silent Partner
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345443268 Date: 2003
From the "New York Times" bestselling author of Trust Fund and The Day Trader comes a masterful new thriller of money, power, and murder--and of a new technology that allows banks to practice a deadly game of industrialized racism.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Day Trader
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345443241 Date: 2002
The bestselling author of Trust Fund and The Insider returns with an electrifying new novel about a man willing to risk everything in a place where fortunes are made or lost with the touch of a button.
Updated 8.8.05
- Trust Fund
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345428293 Date: 2001
The bestselling author of The Insider returns with a fast-paced thriller about big money and tangled loyalties at the heart of an American financial and political dynasty. This is the tale of a family torn apart by its own ambition and the determination of one black sheep to make his own rules.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Insider
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Ballantine $ 24.95 ISBN: 0345428277 Date: 1999
Hungry to leave his dead-end banking job, Jay West lands a coveted position with
a powerful investment firm, but soon suspects that his boss's stellar track
record is more than the result of hard work or good luck.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Inner Sanctum
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Dutton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0525942068 Date: 1997
A bold, complex thriller by the author of The Takeover and The Vulture Fund. A young IRS agent finds herself in the middle of a terrifying mystery when her boss dies suddenly during the investigation of a high-profile candidate for the Senate.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Vulture Fund
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Dutton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0525939865 Date: 1996
A powerful new novel by the author of the New York Times business bestseller The
Takeover. Alerted to irregularities in the buying patterns of a risky new
inventment fund, Wall Street investment banker Mace McLain uses all his cunning
and razor-shapr instincts to uncover a string of bizarre connections that hint
at a huge conspiracy--a plot with roots in Washington politics and international
terrorism.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Takeover
Author: Frey, Stephen
Publisher: Dutton $ 19.95 ISBN: 0525939857 Date: 1995
The Firm meets Wall Street in this exceptionally taut, electrifying debut novel
about the intersection of high finance and unlimited political power. Three
seemingly unrelated incidents of violence signal the beginning of a terrifying
scheme so entwined in financial, political, and environmental sabotage that it
jeopardizes a presidential administration.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Bank of Fear
Author: Ignatius, David
Publisher: Morrow $ 20 ISBN: 0688131360 Date: 1994
Kirkus
From the author of the acclaimed Agents of Innocence comes an explosive international thriller that unveils the institutional terrorism of the Iraqi government. When Lina Alwan accidentally uncovers highly confidential information, she becomes the target of Iraqi thugs who think she knows how to access the late Iraqi ruler's billions.
Updated 8.8.05
- Walls of Silence
Author: Jolowicsz, Philip
Publisher: Atria $ 25 ISBN: 0743428447 Date: 2002
A crackling, character-driven business thriller, masterfully spun by a true-life
legal titan of global finance, Walls of Silence follows a fast-rising lawyer through a treacherous international maze of preying power brokers and deadly conspiracies.
Updated 8.8.05
- Single and Single
Author: Le Carre, John
Publisher: Scribner Price: $ 26 ISBN: 0684859262
Date: 1999
Booklist
Kirkus
The bestselling author of A Perfect Spy epitomizes and
transcends the spy novel genre to present a story of corrupt liaisons
between criminal elements in the new Russian states and the world
of legitimate finance in Europe.
- The Shadow Box
Author: Maxim, John R.
Publisher: Avon $ 23 ISBN: 0380973006 Date: 1996
PW
In a brief span of time, Michael Fallon's world collapses around him. His uncle and fiance are murdered, and he is fired from his prominent Wall Street investment firm. He realizes that someone very powerful has orchestrated his misfortunes--someone who'll stop at nothing until Michael himself has been silenced.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Millionaires
Author: Meltzer, Brad
Publisher: Warner $ 25.95 ISBN: 0446527297Date: 2002
Two brothers at an exclusive bank are suddenly asking themselves "Who wants to be a millionaire?" when they opt to take some money from an abandoned account. In this thriller by the bestselling author of The First Counsel, the men find themselves with extra zeros in their pockets and a friend dead. How will they stay alive?
Updated 8.8.05
- Market Forces
Author: Morgan, Richard K.
Publisher: Del Rey $ 14.95 (paper) ISBN: 03454755749 Date: 2005
From the award-winning author of Altered Carbon and Broken Angels comes a stand-alone thriller set in a near-future world, where the classes are in direct conflict, media sets the rules, and war is just another commodity to be traded.
Updated 8.8.05
- A Calculated Risk
Author: Neville, Katherine
Publisher: Ballantine $ 20 ISBN: 0345351363 Date: 1992
When financial executive Verity Banks' latest proposal is axed by her boss, she
decides to show how easy it is to break through automated security, hide money,
and then show senior management where it is. Then her former mentor, financial
wizard, Dr. Zooltan Tor ups the ante, and dares her to steal a billion dollars,
invest it to earn thirty million in three months, then put the original billion
back before anyone notices. To heighten the challenge, Tor and Verity will
compete against each other, though Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a
computer for her theft, but he cannot....
Updated 8.8.05
- Black Market
Author: Patterson, James
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 17.95 ISBN: 0671610872 Date: 1986
From the author of the #1 bestseller Along Came a Spider comes an explosive tale
of terrorism on Wall Street. When an elite terrorist group marks Wall Street for
destruction, a powerful anti-terrorist man/woman team races from Manhattan to
Paris to the Oval Office to circumvent the plot.
Updated 8.8.05
- The Devil's Banker
Author: Reich, Christopher
Publisher: Delacorte $ 25.95 ISBN: 0385337272 Date: 2003
In this thriller by "the John Grisham of Wall Street" ("New York Times"), forensic accountant Adam Chapel investigates a frightening scenario where terrorism is big business and money is the ultimate weapon of war.
Updated 8.8.05
- Numbered Account
Author: Reich, Christopher
Publisher: Delacorte Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385320175 Date: 1998
PW
Kirkus
In his explosive debut thriller, Christopher Reich tells the story
of a young man willing to risk everything - his career, his integrity,
and even his life - to hunt down his father's killer. Set in the
secret labyrinthine world of Swiss banking, Numbered Accounts
heralds the arrival of a tremendous new talent.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
- The Velocity of Money
Author: Rhodes, Stephen
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0688155383 Date: 1997
When attorney Rick Hansen lands a plum job at the blue-chip global investment firm of Wolcott, Fulbright, he thinks he has it made--until he realizes that his predecessor's suicide was probably murder. Hansen soon uncovers his colleague's involvement in one of the biggest swindles in history. And as the "Black Friday" of the 1990s approaches, time is running out for Hansen to stop the market from crashing--and to save his own life.
Updated 8.8.05
- A Cast of Thousands
Author: Shagan, Steve
Publisher: Pocket $ 22 ISBN: 0671741322 Date: 1993
Widely-acclaimed screenwriter, novelist and two-time Academy Award-nominee Steve
Shagan presents a provocative, high-voltage thriller that takes the reader
behind the scenes for a wicked and witty look at the powers and passions that
make Hollywood run.
Updated 8.8.05
- Death's Little Helpers
Author: Spiegelman, Peter
Publisher: Knopf $ 22.95 ISBN: 1400040795 Date: 2005
PW
LJ
Spiegelman, winner of the 2004 Shamus Award for Best First Novel for Black Maps, returns along with private investigator John March for this follow-up. Hired to find a missing Wall Street analyst, March soon unearths a rat's nest of family strife, business betrayals, and deceptions.
Suggested Reading: Private Investigators
Updated 7.12.05
- Black Maps
Author: Spiegelman, Peter
Publisher: Knopf $ 22.95 ISBN: 1400040752 Date: 2003
PW
John March, a former cop now working as a PI in Manhattan, takes the case of
Rick Pierro, a self-made man who has almost everything until he falls victim
to a serial extortionist adept at psychological and physical intimidation.
Suggested Reading: Fiction & Mystery
Debuts | Private Investigators
Updated 7.28.03
- Buddha Kiss
Author: Tasker, Peter
Publisher: Doubleday List Price: $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385485522
Date: 1997
PW
A brilliant atmospheric financial thriller - written by a top
British financial analyst based in Japan - that does for contemporary
Tokyo what Gorky Park did for Moscow. Gritty, fast paced,
filled with unique characters, and absolutely sizzling with the
oddities and obsessions of Tokyo life, Buddha Kiss is a
vivid journey into the complex heart of Japan.
- Black Money
Author: Thomas, Michael M.
Publisher: Crown $ 16.95 ISBN: 0517595230 Date: 1994
PW
Thomas returns to the subject of his bestselling first novel, Green Monday--the world of big money, power politics, and international crime--to create his most exciting thriller yet. On the invisible battlefield of shadowy electronic networks, an unlikely group of heroes confronts a global conspiracy.
Updated 8.8.05
- Hanover Place
Author: Thomas, Michael M.
Publisher: Warner $ 19.95 ISBN: 044651330X Date: 1990
Using his firsthand experience gained as curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and as an investment banking partner of Lehman Brothers, Michael Thomas has created a rich, sweeping saga of a family investment firm as it weathers the economic highs and lows of the 20th century.
Updated 8.8.05
- Hard Money
Author: Thomas, Michael M.
Publisher: Viking $ 17.95 ISBN: 0670531103 Date: 1985
Updated 8.8.05
- Some Else's Money
Author: Thomas, Michael M.
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 14.95 ISBN: 0671433024 Date: 1982
Updated 8.8.05
- Green Monday
Author: Thomas, Michael M.
Publisher: Wyndham $ 12.95 ISBN: 0671610023 Date: 1980
Updated 8.8.05
- The Money Harvest
Author: Thomas, Ross
Publisher: Morrow $ 8.95 ISBN: 0688029124 Date: 1975
Here is Thomas's classic Edgar-nominated political thriller. Investigator and ladies' man Jake Pope is out to discover what shocking
secret Crawdad Gilmore was planning to reveal before he was shot to death.
Updated 8.8.05
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