Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Trigger Point by Matthew Glass

Summary:
"Trigger Point is a thriller for smart people written by a very smart writer. It's a chilling vision of a very plausible, very scary future where Wall Street, the White House, and the Pentagon intersect-and nobody wins." -Mike Lawson, author of House Divided

It's 2018. The United States has finally emerged from the past decade's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic recession that threatened to tear the country apart. Eighteen months into his term President Tom Knowles sees a chance to put his stamp on world affairs when thirty-two American aid workers are massacred inUganda by terrorists. Knowles decides to send troops into an area that China considers to be its African sphere of influence. Privately, the message from the Chinese is keep out. Publicly, they can only stand by and watch.

Six weeks later, stock prices on Wall Street are falling. Amid rumors of insolvency, a major investment bank leads the rout. When the bank refuses a government bailout, and it becomes known that the Chinese State Investment Corporation is its major shareholder, the stock market slide turns into a panic. Are U.S. stock prices being manipulated by the Chinese government in retaliation for intervention in Uganda? If so, what investments are safe? As the president's team takes drastic action to protect the U.S. economy, the Chinese government strikes back to protect its interests and the confrontation shifts rapidly from Wall Street to Africa, where U.S. and Chinese forces stand eye to eye. Who will blink first? And what will happen if neither side does?

An economic and geopolitical thriller from a writer who has been described as the heir to Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton, Trigger Point moves from the jungles of Uganda to the boardrooms of Wall Street, from the Oval Office to Beijing. With tension on every page, Matthew Glass has written an electrifying novel that paints a terrifying portrait of where we may be headed.

Reviewer: Fashionta
The novel starts off seeming to flail around to establish a plot, or at least a common theme, which was hard going initially. After a few chapters it settles down to a small number of subplots that are decently woven and allow the reader to follow each one without difficultly.

The story is topical enough, but I'm not sure how much fictional financial and economic information current readers are willing to put up with, considering the glut of such real life stories in the papers each and every day right now.

It's a well written story, but lacks somewhat in character development, possibly due to there not really being any core character to spend that much time on. While it reads at an acceptable pace, it failed to really grab me and draw me in, so I give it 3 stars.

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Review Courtesy Of: NetGalley

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