Rating: 
Summary: Another Good Frey Book!
Review: Jay West leaves a commercial bank to go to work for a highly
profitable and scuessful investment firm,McCarthy and Lloyd.He
soon discovers that the leader of the abitrage desk Oliver Manon is having an affair with his coworker Abby.Abby dissapears
and is found dead.Jay discovers that another coworker Sally is
using a false identity and that she has stolen a computer disk from his apartment.Oliver Mason's second in command Carter
Bullock is also exhibiting suspicious behaviour.Next Jay finds
out that the arbitrage desk is being investigated for buying
takeover stock using insider information.After Jay launches his
own investigation he discovers that he is going to be the fall
guy for the insider information investigation.After Jay flees
New York he discovers the true conspiracy that is being planned.
When the true intentions of the conspiracies is presented to the
reader you will be shocked.This turned out to be a very good
book that will keep you reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good read
Review: Book starts out wit Jay West the main Charater striving a more prestges job wit better money talkin bonus in the seven figures. After jay starts right away things are a little strange around the trading desk and as time goes on people are not as they apeear to be and Jay is being set to take a big fall.I thought this was a good book it traveled in many directions but the author does a good job bringing it all together witha pretty good ending.
Rating:
Summary: The Insider
Review: I find Mr. Freys stories to be fast and attention holding in fact of a real page turner it is. I have read all but one of his books and find the financial world very interesting. he potrays a lot of what is happening right now in 2003 but written back in 1998. I will continue to enjoy his writings.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting! What a conspiracy!
Review: I really liked this page-turner!While "The Insider" is the first and only book of Stephen Frey's that I have read, you can bet I will be reading some of his other writings. One thing I keep asking myself is, "In our financial world, do things like this really happen?" In lieu of the Enron and WorldCom Group fiascoes having been recently brought to light, the convolutions brought forth in this book truly seem possible. "The Insider" is full of can't put the book down, page turning suspense. Prevailing greed, power, self-indulgence, corruption, and innocence are components of Frey's interesting characters in this thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Escape Literature
Review: I would recommend Stephen Frey's The Insider to anyone who enjoys reading novels solely for the purpose of suspense. The Insider is an adequate piece of escape literature. If you are looking for any sort of intellectual stimulation, you will not find it in this novel. Frey's failure to develop any of the static characters found in this novel only contributes to its weakness as a novel. Frey brings us through an undeveloped plot using third person omniscient. This works in many novels, but the use of it here only leads to poorly developed plot and characters. Frey attempts to use a surprise ending to make up for these weaknesses. However, any experienced reader notices this in an instant. The use of scrambled chronology adds to the weakness of the novel as well. The Insider is about a man named Jay West who is hired for a large trading company for the sole purpose of being framed with insider trading. Throughout the novel he finds himself in many predicaments because he discovers too much information too many times. Frey leads us through many twists and turns of the plot that are practically impossible to make any sense out of because of the lack of information about past events or characters Frey provides us with. This piece of escape literature includes elements of suspense, mystery and romance, all of which are poorly developed. This is a novel for anyone who enjoys reading for the sole purpose of reading. The reader will not gain anything from this novel other than the knowledge of the events that occur.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining if you can forgive a weak plot
Review: If you are willing to completely let go of reality, you might enjoy this one. Ok, so the plot is a little thin and the characters could definitely use a little more substance. Still, like an action adventure movie where you are entertained in spite of the stupidity going on around you, this book has something to offer. It is a quick read and it won't challenge you to think a lot. A good vacation read.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: In Frey's thriller (difficult to classify, but most accurately a financial thriller), The Insider, Jay West is an unlikely hire for one of the most elite jobs at one of Wall Street's most prestigious firms, McCarthy & Lloyd. He holds an English degree from Lehigh, as opposed to the typical banker who blooms from Princeton or Yale, and comes from a blue-collar family. However, when the successful and charismatic Oliver Mason handpicks him and offers him a minimum $1 million bonus, Jake simply cannot refuse. From there, the plot unfolds, and Jake discovers that all is not well - he is being set up to take a big fall. While I overall did enjoy the book, I was discouraged by several faults of the novel. First, the predictability of the earlier stages of the novel was blatant. Second, I did not particularly care for Frey's style of revealing the "twists". He tended to lay out the surprises in a rather random fashion and then continue on as though they were never mentioned. As a result, the third person omniscient point of view was not always omniscient. The dramatic irony was not played very well. It is almost as though Frey was having a difficult time deciding whether he would use first or third person. While I have to knock the book a little, I did overall enjoy it, especially the ending. I would recommend it if you are interested, but if you are trying to decide between this novel and another, try the other and visit this one later. In the end, The Insider was an enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: A good story, but a little 'borrowed'...
Review: Let me start off by saying that Stephen Frey is a very good writer, and THE INSIDER is a very suspensful and entertaining read. Unfortunately I have read some of Frey's other works prior to THE INSIDER (THE TAKEOVER, THE INNER SANCTUM, or THE VULTURE FUND for example.) The problem is that while Frey's books are very enjoyable to read, they do tend to follow the same format. That is, the hero is a recently hired investment wiz in a high rolling investment business and is tricked into either participating or covering up a scheme of some sort. One reviewer said that Frey's characters are all very attractive people that have similar personalities. That comment was well founded. Now don't get me wrong, I loved THE INSIDER, Jay West was quite a character. But Frey uses the same character mold in his other books (THE TAKEOVER), and after reading some of his other books the theme gets played out. I gave it 4 stars because if it is the first Frey book you have read, then it is very good. However, if you have, like me, read his other material, then you will quickly find THE INSIDER to be a little anti-climatic.
Rating:
Summary: Quick read with a resourceful main character
Review: Stephen Frey is a talented writer who provides his readers with main characters who have the uncanny ability to get themselves into trouble without even trying. In his latest outing, THE INSIDER, that poor unfortunate person is Jay West, an unlikely candidate for a seat on an arbitrage desk at a boutique investment house on Wall Street. Jay is everything that he shouldn't be in investment banking. He is not an IVY grad and lacks a prestigious MBA. He holds an English degree from Lehigh University and comes from a working class family in the steel region of eastern Pennsylvania. Despite his apparent shortcomings, he is selected, recruited and hired for a position with McCarthy and Lloyd and his future looks bright. Immediately immersed in the day-to-day activities of the arbitrage desk, Jay proves to be so insightful that he shortly realizes all is not as it should be. Once he catches on, he still tries to succeed because after all, he has a powerful incentive. At the end of one year, he stands to reap a cool million dollars as his bonus. But that reality is never meant to be and Jay is set up to take a serious fall. Before the book is 2/3 of the way through, Jay is being pursued by the US Government and some really nasty characters from an extremist Irish liberation organization. Another reviewer here at Amazon has stated that Frey borrows his newer characters from books he has previously written. I won't diagree completely. Some of them are starting to sound very much alike. But there is still enough of a difference to keep the reader wanting to know how Jay West will get out of his precarious position. That's what makes Frey's books such entertaining page turners. He doesn't use a lot of detail where it isn't necessary and he keeps the plot moving in a forward direction. This is not Tolstoy or Faulkner. What this book is is a quick, entertaining read with a likeable character who the reader comes to care for. A beach book or a book for when you're snowed in is what comes to mind. I've read his other books, also sold here at Amazon and liked them enough to seek this one out. Give it a try, I think you'll like it.
Rating:
Summary: The Insider
Review: The Insider by Stephen Frey is about a hot shot stock broker that gets hired to a big company called McCarthy and Lloyd. Jay West, 27, just came from a low class business and says he is ready for the big leagues. Oliver Mason is one of the top men at McCarthy and Lloyd and has faith in Jay. On the first day he came in, he made enemies with on of his co-workers because he doesn't believe he can help the company. Jay is set to prove him wrong. The first month went pretty smooth. He made new friends at his abitrage desk named Abby and Sally. One day, he came in early and noticed that Abby wasn't working. When he went to look for her, he couldn't find her. Finally, he checked on of the confrence rooms and saw Oliver gropping Abby. Oliver was a married man! He couldn't believe what he saw. He couldn' t tell anyone though. Some more strange things started happening with Oliver and his co-workers. Why was Oliver having an affair? He has a feeling there is a lot more to pretty boy Mason. He is trying to find out what.....
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