Trading Down

Author/Guide: Stephen Norman

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2007, 2009: A new kind of terrorist…

ISBN: B075QF8LJ8
Genre: Technothriller, Thriller

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What you need to know before your trail

Chris Peters loves his work in a multi-national bank: the excitement of the trading floor, the impossible deadlines and the constant challenge of the superfast computers in his care. And he loves his beautiful wife, Olivia. But over time, the dream turns sour. His systems crash, the traders turn on him, and Olivia becomes angry and disillusioned. So much bad luck.

Or is it? A natural detective, Chris finds evidence of something sinister in the mysterious meltdown of a US datacentre. A new kind of terrorist. But can he get anyone to believe him? His obsessive search leads him to a jihadist website, filled with violent images; a man beaten to a pulp in a Dubai carpark; and a woman in a gold sari dancing in the flames of her own destruction. Slowly, a tragic story from decades ago in Yemen emerges.

Locations

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Hong Kong
I: Victoria Park C

Travel Guide

Yemen

Not many novels set in Yemen, and the story starts here, in the middle of a town on the edge. A man has gone missing and his family struggle to survive. Yemeni life is chaotic and dangerous. Houses are cramped but men have a room at the top of the house so they can go and get some peace and smoke Qat. The women then have space to cook and clean below…

Walking around the streets here even for locals, is not safe. the police are out in force and you never really know who your enemy is. Shadows and light play tricks with you mind on the cobbled, dusty alleyways of the old town

London, New York and Hong Kong

The story is set in investment banks across the globe and the author states at the very beginning that it’s not based on one bank or one set of people but an amalgamation of a few situations that people may well recognise. There is a lot of legal speak and financial terms to digest – Triple Witching is not as much as you think, and Portia is not someone you’re going to be friends with anytime soon. Still, the author has more than done the research to get the blood, sweat and tears into this novel, and link international finance to crime and immigration issues.

Booktrailer Review

Susan: Thebooktrailer

I surprised myself with this book as from the description I wasn’t sure it was for me – set in an investment bank? Meh. However, this was a story of intrigue and double dealing and in the world where terrorism creeps into all walks of life, this is a heck of an intriguing thriller.

It starts off quite literarily with a bang and fires on all four cylinders till the end. I did find the financial speak a little too much at times – Triple witching has nothing to do with Halloween and Portia is not a character. I know absolutely nothing about financial rules and investment banks but the real story is the intrigue and terrorism plot behind all this.

The locations are interesting too – a story set in Yemen which has repercussions later on in HK, London and an intriguing storyline all the way over in New Jersey. It certainly makes you think just how small the world is nowadays and how money data, viruses etc can spread.

Very relevant to today’s world. Cyber terrorism is shockingly possible and reading about it in such a plot brings it home, makes you think. What would happen if the banking infrastructure was entirely destroyed?