Rating: 
Summary: Okay nothing special!
Review: Please do not let me waste my hard earned money on another of these cookie-cutter Frey books. To be compared to Grisham is an injustice to Grisham. Grisham has shown versatility in characters, unlike Frey (have you heard of a young,hot shot, investment banker at Wall Street's most exclusive...etc, etc before??) Likewise, story lines of Grisham's (convicted murderer on death row, tobacco trial, poor man's lawyer, etc.)have shown versatility and impressive literary growth. The Vulture Fund had me scratching my head shortly after beginning, as I seemed to be reading the same sentences in several chapters (narrowed eyes, etc.). The plot seemed almost ludicrous at times as I tried to imagine the hard to fathom, splintered direction the novel was travelling. I enjoyed The Takeover in total, although I groaned at the cliches and completely unrealistic plot twists. I decided to try the next, hoping for an exciting, improved finance-based thriller for my business-fiction appetite. I am sorry for this. The books had so many similarities in characters and so little literary range it was frustrating. Please let me know of a true Grisham-caliber business/fiction writer. I would love to read an improved Frey book that takes some of the good of The Takeover and runs with new ideas and direction.
Rating: 
Summary: Unimaginative,implausible, poor writing= FRUSTRATION
Review: Please do not let me waste my hard earned money on another of these cookie-cutter Frey books. To be compared to Grisham is an injustice to Grisham. Grisham has shown versatility in characters, unlike Frey (have you heard of a young,hot shot, investment banker at Wall Street's most exclusive...etc, etc before??) Likewise, story lines of Grisham's (convicted murderer on death row, tobacco trial, poor man's lawyer, etc.)have shown versatility and impressive literary growth. The Vulture Fund had me scratching my head shortly after beginning, as I seemed to be reading the same sentences in several chapters (narrowed eyes, etc.). The plot seemed almost ludicrous at times as I tried to imagine the hard to fathom, splintered direction the novel was travelling. I enjoyed The Takeover in total, although I groaned at the cliches and completely unrealistic plot twists. I decided to try the next, hoping for an exciting, improved finance-based thriller for my business-fiction appetite. I am sorry for this. The books had so many similarities in characters and so little literary range it was frustrating. Please let me know of a true Grisham-caliber business/fiction writer. I would love to read an improved Frey book that takes some of the good of The Takeover and runs with new ideas and direction.
Rating:
Summary: Frey fails to deliver.
Review: Stephen Frey must have been in a big hurry to finish this one. Likewise, his publisher must have needed it fast. That's the only plausible reason something so unpolished could have gone to press. I like Frey's premise, but his character development, plot structure, and writing style are amateurish at best. I challenge anyone to track the point of view in this book! In addition, Frey manages to offend most female readers with supposedly high-powered women characters who are obsessed with pleasing a man. And the ones over age 35 are terminally depressed about their fading looks. Please! Frey makes Grisham look like a literary genius. I recommend instead any novel by Andy McNab.
Rating:
Summary: Just plain bad
Review: Stephen Frey should go back to being an I-banker because he sure can't write. His writing makes Grisham look like Faulkner. The plot is not only bad, but stretches the limits of imagination and fictional generosity. The CIA is a spy organization. It does not train special counter-terrorist military units. That's what the Defense Department and the FBI does. Also, apparently the bad guys brought Mace (the protagonist) to run the vulture fund -- even though they know he's smart and could very well be a threat -- because they needed his contacts. This doesn't make any sense. Surely the head of the bank (who masterminded the illicit fund) would have had far more contacts in the financial world than a vice-president in his bank. The dialogue is no better than the plotting, and perhaps even worse. One would hard pressed to find a vice-president in a prestigious I-bank who talks like some inexperienced high school teenager when it comes to relationships with women. In sum, the book has all the signs of a bad writer: nonsensical plot, cardboard characters, banal dialogue, and badly researched facts. This is the second book I've read by Frey (the first being The Takeover, which was also a waste of paper), and I will never read him again. I've read all the authors in the new genre of "financial thrillers" (Frey, Michael Ridpath, Linda Davies), and they should all go back to banking. A message to John LeCarre: could you please write a spy novel involving banking world.
Rating:
Summary: P U - JIM MULVEY
Review: SUCKED-- COULDN'T GET THROUGH IT couldn't keep my attention on the train- --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition
Rating:
Summary: Haphazard collection of cheap gimmicks
Review: The book does not appear to be the work of a professional writer. It consists of one incredible event followed by another.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful, Sexy and Superb!
Review: The guy on the train with A.D.D. (see 6/30/97 comments) should buy the book on tape...or if he's lucky, they'll make a movie out of this one!
Stephen Frey has a definite gift in story writing. He has a way of capturing the reader emotionally into the hearts and minds of the characters...so that you feel what they feel and you think what they think. It's an ingeniously creative plot which takes you on an exciting journey through the streets of New York, the jungles of Honduras, the backroads of West Virginia, and the lawns of Washington D.C. The old fashioned ideals of hard earned money and tales of rags to riches are challenged by modern day political scandals and schemes of greed and desperation... testing the humanly elusive values of faith, hope, and love.
As a Wall Street professional, I found myself living vicariously through the adventures and heroics of Mace McLain...rather than falling asleep on the train.
This book will make you wonder if things like this really happen on Wall Street and in the White House...and it will make you wish the characters were really real
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful, Sexy and Superb!
Review: The guy on the train with A.D.D. (see 6/30/97 comments) should buy the book on tape...or if he's lucky, they'll make a movie out of this one! Stephen Frey has a definite gift in story writing. He has a way of capturing the reader emotionally into the hearts and minds of the characters...so that you feel what they feel and you think what they think. It's an ingeniously creative plot which takes you on an exciting journey through the streets of New York, the jungles of Honduras, the backroads of West Virginia, and the lawns of Washington D.C. The old fashioned ideals of hard earned money and tales of rags to riches are challenged by modern day political scandals and schemes of greed and desperation... testing the humanly elusive values of faith, hope, and love. As a Wall Street professional, I found myself living vicariously through the adventures and heroics of Mace McLain...rather than falling asleep on the train. This book will make you wonder if things like this really happen on Wall Street and in the White House...and it will make you wish the characters were really real
Rating:
Summary: Silly plot, 1-dimensional characters
Review: The plotline, while preposterous, was at least entertaining and fast-moving. Unfortunately character development doesn't seem to be the author's strong suit - suitable for those looking for something one step beyond a comic book (heroic, ex-quarterback young investment banking stud saves the world). OK beach reading, that's about it.
Rating:
Summary: The Vulture Fund is a good book.
Review: The Vulture Fund was a good book. It was not quite as good as the Take Over. It was still vey interesting and it is vey much worth reading. It is a thriller and has a surprising ending that you will enjoy.
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