The Inner Sanctum

Rating:
Summary: Hopefully this is Frey's only bad one!
Review: I've read a bunch of Frey books (The Vulture Fund, The Takeover, The Legacy) and have enjoyed each one of them. This book seems to be written during a period that Frey may have been tired!

Unlike other Frey books, this one slogs along at a very slow pace with incredibly boring characters. The whole thing revolves around a conspiracy to get a new Navy bomber built. The company vying for the contract is owned by a group of Washington politicians, some military bigwigs, and a bunch of investment brokers. The group meets in secret in a secured room (why the inner sanctum of course!) to discuss the progress of the project and to decide what to do with things or people that might jeopardize the project.

The main character, Jesse, is a woman whose boss was killed when he suspected that there was a conspiracy going on to rig the upcoming senatorial election. Jesse receives a posthumous email from her boss that tells her where she can find a folder with evidence about the conspiracy. Through some magic or some whim of the author, we are led to believe that the system can fire off the email without leaving an audit trail of where it went to just because it left the company and was later delivered from an external address back to the company. Doesn't the author know that most systems would have a copy of all incoming emails so it would be fairly simple to compare the outgoing message to all incomings to figure out the recipient.

Some problems I have with the book. First we have a methodic hit man who becomes a bumbling dolt when he has to go after Jesse. Secondly, we are expected to like one of the main characters, David. David is a stock trader who has very "dirty hands" and is highly involved in insider trading, performing [illegal] corporate transactions, possible money laundering, and hiding records of financial transactions. We are expected to like him. Thirdly, another main character, Todd, has been late in paying back the mob for his gambling debts. They seem to go way to easy on him.

If you read this book, try not to judge Frey on it. Just about everything else I read by Frey merits 4-5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Hopefully this is Frey's only bad one!
Review: I've read a bunch of Frey books (The Vulture Fund, The Takeover, The Legacy) and have enjoyed each one of them. This book seems to be written during a period that Frey may have been tired!

Unlike other Frey books, this one slogs along at a very slow pace with incredibly boring characters. The whole thing revolves around a conspiracy to get a new Navy bomber built. The company vying for the contract is owned by a group of Washington politicians, some military bigwigs, and a bunch of investment brokers. The group meets in secret in a secured room (why the inner sanctum of course!) to discuss the progress of the project and to decide what to do with things or people that might jeopardize the project.

The main character, Jesse, is a woman whose boss was killed when he suspected that there was a conspiracy going on to rig the upcoming senatorial election. Jesse receives a posthumous email from her boss that tells her where she can find a folder with evidence about the conspiracy. Through some magic or some whim of the author, we are led to believe that the system can fire off the email without leaving an audit trail of where it went to just because it left the company and was later delivered from an external address back to the company. Doesn't the author know that most systems would have a copy of all incoming emails so it would be fairly simple to compare the outgoing message to all incomings to figure out the recipient.

Some problems I have with the book. First we have a methodic hit man who becomes a bumbling dolt when he has to go after Jesse. Secondly, we are expected to like one of the main characters, David. David is a stock trader who has very "dirty hands" and is highly involved in insider trading, performing [illegal] corporate transactions, possible money laundering, and hiding records of financial transactions. We are expected to like him. Thirdly, another main character, Todd, has been late in paying back the mob for his gambling debts. They seem to go way to easy on him.

If you read this book, try not to judge Frey on it. Just about everything else I read by Frey merits 4-5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Frey's out of the pan and into the first on this one.
Review: It's unfortunate that so many writers, who have had some success, suddenly lose their touch. That's certainly the case with Stephen Frey's latest book, The Inner Sanctum. His two previous books were fairly well developed and rather interesting books based on his knowledge of the financial community. But he's totally off base on this one. An unbelievable plot (even for thriller authors) and wooden characters make this book one that can be passed up.

Rating:
Summary: Frey makes every book he writes a stimulating experience
Review: Jesse Hayes is an IRS agent working out of the Baltimore field office. She dreams of leaving her underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated federal job by obtaining a position with Sagamore Investment, a large money management corporation. When she begins to interview for a position, her boss suddenly dies, leaving Jesse with a file compiled on Eldridge Coleman, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, who has some interesting ties with the military-industrial complex (Ike's next to worst nightmare come true). Eldridge's opponent is the incumbent Malcolm Walker. Though they disagree on several issues, the widest gap between the candidates is over defense spending. Eldridge fully supports every spending initiative sponsored by the Department of Defense while Malcolm wants to reduce defense expenditures. ...... Jesse quickly realizes that the Sagamore group is involved with some of the shady defense dealings that ties in with Coleman. It appears that a conspiracy to rid the senate of a powerful anti DOD legislatures and replace him with a pro DOD person is in the works. The deal touches the senate, the navy, the private sector, and even the upcoming election. There are many individuals who want Jesse stopped at any cost, possibly even including the Sagamore exec that she finds herself attracted to in spite of the risk. ..... THE INNER SANCTUM is a fast-paced, action packed political thriller that takes the buying of national elections even beyond the scope of the recent 1996 Congressional and Presidential races. Though reality is stretched beyond the Lincoln Room and Jesse must be superwoman to survive the conspirators, Stephen Frey's latest novel is a fun to read palpitator especially for political conspiracy buffs. .....Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: drivel
Review: Rarely do I ever give up on a book that I have started. This was an exception-DRIVEL!

Rating:
Summary: Frey should quit while ahead
Review: Sorry, but a book of card board cut outs, washington defense cliches and simplistic dialogue seems a poor third novel for Frey. For those who say they couldn't put it down, a real page turner, what do they usually read--the telephone book?

Rating:
Summary: Stephen Fry is batting 1000%
Review: Stephen Fry is now 3 or 3 in his latest thiller about the abuse of power by high officials in government and wall street. This book has an excellent plot that keeps you turning the pages. The story never slows. A very fast read, simply because you can't put it down. Fry is one of the best new authors I've read in years

Rating:
Summary: My first Stephen Frey novel
Review: The Inner Sanctum has a solid story line and is a fairly good page turner. I would have given the book 4 stars, but the ending is a little weak. The author trys to have the conspiracy go a little too far. Also, the "super action" resolution of this novel is its weakest point. Overall "The Inner Sanctom" is a good if light read.

Rating:
Summary: The Inner Sanctum is a excellent book.
Review: The Inner Sanctum was an excellent book. It was exciting right from the start. I couldn't put it down. You never could tell what was going to happen. I was difficult to determine who was good and who was bad. That made this book extremely interesting. It is better than The Vulture Fund and The Take Over. I reccommed that you read it. If you liked his other books you will enjoy this one. If you also read Verticle Run By Joseph R. Garber and liked that you will like this book. They have a lot of similarities. Any John Grisham fan would also like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, if you don't expect too much.
Review: This book isn't great literature and doesn't claim to be, but it's fine for a lazy afternoon when you just want something to read. It's the kind of book you can enjoy but forget you read a year from now. It also has what you might expect: a plot based on a string of incredible coincidences and 'not-very-deep' characters (I found myself actually hoping that the bad guys would snuff-out the heroine at one point just to shut her up). It provided a pleasant diversion for a few hours which is all I really expected.