0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Unrealistic Thriller, 2005-09-05
Most of Stephen Frey's novels have the common thread of big time financial dealings. He manages to come up with different twists, plots and characters. This one is about a top Wall Street firm where the Senior Partner is planning to make billions thru devious and quite illegal means. Along the way we find the head of the CIA,who is running for President, implicated. Terrorists take over a nuclear facility as part of the scheme. Mace McLain is the hero in this read. He suffers from something common in Frey's writing. His hero's are just too
perfect and superhuman to be believable. Still, it's not a horrible read. But, not top notch.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Cheesy. Yep, that about covers it. Cheesy., 2004-11-06
Cardboard characters.
Cheesy plot.
Little or no basis in reality - like how would the CIA director (yet he's called "General" even though he's the Director of the CIA) who wants to run for President explain the hundreds of millions of dollars he wants to use for his campaign that he skimmed from his evil plan?
This book is a little Iran-Contra, a little Trading Places and a lot of silly garbage all rolled into one.
And - to make it all the worse, I heard it as a book on tape and the reader made nearly EVERY male bad guy voice the same - a raspy, impatient tone. Kind of like James Garner with a sore throat.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Lots of promise, but no delivery, 2003-02-27
I just discovered Stephen Frey recently and really enjoy his books. This one, however, was a big disappointment. I read a few reviews and found I should have paid attention because they were right on the money. This book has a great beginning that really drew me in, but as it went on, the writing went downhill and the end really seemed to be slapped together. What could have been a fabulous final third of this book, had it been developed, just kind of fell apart. He must have been in a hurry to meet a dealine or something - totally unpolished. I highly recommend The Day Trader, and The Legacy, but would not recommend The Vulture Fund at all.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
What happened?, 2003-02-24
Did someone forget to edit this book? It was poorly written and lacked basic editing. The plot was unrealistic- to the point of being goofy. I caught myself rolling my eyes time and again throughout the book. Unfortunately, this is the first and last Frey book on which I will waste my time.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Frey fails to deliver., 2001-05-02
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.