Mon, 30 Apr 12 at 17:50 |
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Oline Cogdill Reviews Clawback
The Sun Sentinel‘s Oline Cogdill reviewed CLAWBACK last week. Although the paper has not posted the article online, numerous other papers around the country have:
‘Clawback’ makes finance interesting
Financial thrillers – once the least interesting category of mysteries – now flourish, thanks to vivid storytelling and an economic downturn that shows how high the stakes can be.
Mike Cooper’s fresh approach in “Clawback” mixes high-octane action with the details of banking and money management for a solid plot.
Silas Cade is a former black ops soldier who now works as a consultant, forcing sleazy investment managers to give back millions to managers who are a little less sleazy. Silas makes sure those former Masters of the Universe, as Tom Wolfe called them, are no longer on top of the world. Silas has his own definition of clawback-”a term of art, referring to the mandatory return of compensation paid on a deal that later goes bad. Sometimes the claw is literal.”
Silas has just finished retrieving $10 million for a hedge fund manager when his client is murdered. But this may not be the first money manager killed. Wall Street mogul Quint Ganderson claims that several other managers – each with a history of losing money – have been murdered and he hires Silas to ferret out the assassin. Clara Dawson, a financial blogger looking for a big story, joins Silas’ investigation. Silas’ network of shadowy computer experts follow the money to try to track down who is killing the hedge-fund managers while Clara researches the backgrounds of the companies.
While Cooper doesn’t make the victims sympathetic, he illustrates how the financial crisis and greed affect all aspects of society. Cooper, the pseudonym for a former investments executive, brings an insider’s view of the financial world.
Cooper shapes Silas as an enigmatic hero whose clients thrive on cutting-edge technology while Silas depends on “disposable technology” to keep off the grid. In his own way, Silas is a spy who lives in the shadows, without a home phone or even a computer that could be traced to him.
“Clawback’s” tense plot offers good payback.
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