Didn’t finish- just too much stock trading & didn’t care for writing flow ( )

A well written financial novel is one of my favourite types of book, so I usually find Paul Erdman's books very enjoyable. Awhile ago I saw this one by Michael Ridpath and it seemed to fill a similiar niche so I picked it up, now 2 years later I've finally read it and can say I am a little annoyed with myself for not doing so sooner as it was excellent.

The story is based around a bond trader, Paul Murray, who is learning the ropes and stumbles into a complicated scam being run against his firm, this coupled with some questionable trading, a dead co-worker and another co-worker who turns out to be a Nice Guy (aka crazy creeper) makes for a very compelling read. The result of which is not so easy to foretell with the plot leading you down paths which seem like the answer but turn out not to be.

I found it to be well structured and whilst based in the trading world there's enough there that it would be accessible and enjoyable to those not familiar with or interested by that side of finance. ( )

Spiel in der Welt der Bond Markets und ist wie immer auch ein Thriller. Der Hauptakteur ist ein ehemaliger Olympia-Medaillengewinner im 800m-Lauf, der jetzt in London als Trade Manager arbeitet. Das Buch hat aber auch Nebenschauplätze in den USA (Wall Street, Las Vegas). Spannend, fachlich interessant. ( )

Plot-based thriller set in the world of financial bond trading. As such displays all the usual pros and cons of genre fiction (limited character development and description but the pace and twists in the plot sustain the reader's interest).

I found the novel interesting for two reasons:
1. to learn a bit more about the financial world and how traders work
2. to chart the development of an author from his first novel as a 34 year old (this one) through his other works, the ninth of which was published in 2010

Some elements feel a little dated now, particularly the lack of mobile phones, but greed and backstabbing appear to have always been essential ingredients in the financial markets. ( )

Paul Murray is an ex-Olympic runner, so his training is perfect for the rigors of bond trading for a mega-million-dollar London financial house. The pace is breakneck, the smell of success is intoxicating. Paul his really found a home here, and maybe even the love of his life in his colleague, the bold, irreverent, Debbie Chater.

Until that dream is dragged from the murky waters of the Thames. Paul is first stunned by the news, then, dissatisfied with the police report. He begins a dangerous, chaotic tumble into the darker side of trading -- uncovering suspicions investments and double-deals that are stained with Debbie's blood. From the black glass towers of London to the frenzied trading of Wall Street and the dark side of Las Vegas glitz, Paul gets entwined in a twisted web of international financial outlaws that could send him for the nastiest rollover of his life. ( )