Free to Trade: A Novel of Suspense

Rating:
Summary: Plodding style and corney characters - not much fun!
Review: Michael Ridpath has brought to life the dull financial markets into a lively whodunnit. Paul Murray is perhaps a little too clean cut as a London bond trader hunting down the killer of a colleague in his company.

Ridpath has an elegant and easy style that carry along a sparky story. He carries an intelligent insight into his characters that lends the plot a little depth.

The writing is appealing, with a prose that is understated. This is a novel I will remember with some affection

Rating:
Summary: A good mystery
Review: Ridpath did an excellent job of weaving information about financial markets and trading into a mystery that spans the globe from London to Phoenix. He did a great job of portraying the people caught up in the bond and borrowing industry, and the ethical dilemmas they face. I would heartedly recommend the book.

I would put the book on par with Dick Francis and Grisham.

Rating:
Summary: Needs some sharpening
Review: There is a germ of a good book in here. It needs to be whittled down by 50% and the characters need more personality. It has some excitement in the trading scenes, but you have to slog through worthless stuff to get to them. For example, we go through a long, dull chapter describing a visit to the narrator's mum, hear a description of his father, his father's death, etc. and it really is all for naught. I hope his other books are better. Maybe if he read some Hammet or Hemmingway he can pick up some pointers on how to make the prose more efficient.

Rating:
Summary: Plodding style and corney characters - not much fun!
Review: Thrillers set in real worlds are often the best escapism, I find. But not this time. Why? Because Ridpath's leaden writing deprives his setting of any real blood or believability. The result is rather tedious, because you'll find it very hard to care what happens to any of the hollow characters involved. A very over-hyped thriller...