The Inner Sanctum

* Stephen Frey is the New York Times bestselling author of The Takeover * Both The Vulture Fund and The Takeover were optioned by ParamountPictures and Neufeld/Rehme Productions, the producers of Tom Clancy's

Hunt for Red October and Clear and Present Danger * Published to coincide with the Dutton hardcover publication of Stephen Frey's The Legacy * The Inner Sanctum includes a teaser chapter for The Legacy

Amazon.com
If you need a good business thriller to keep your mind off the stock market, you can't do much better than this one from Stephen Frey, former Wall Street insider and author of two previous barn burners, The Takeover and The Vulture Fund, both available in paperback. The Inner Sanctum pits smart, ambitious, underpaid IRS agent Jesse Hayes against smart, ambitious, overpaid portfolio fund manager David Mitchell in a story about corporate greed and political corruption that reads like a cover of Time or Newsweek.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Oddly uneven, but good. , 2006-10-05
There's more realism here than most would like I think. One of the problems for many people is that they don't move in those circles where people really do talk to each other like little-lord-fauntleroy. So I think that many people are put off by what they see as unrealistic when it is completely realistic.

This is a combination of slice of life from that class, with some imaginative stuff. But this is not the potboiler that many are saying.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

As Bad as Everyone Says, 2006-05-26
Avoid this one. This is not really a "financial" thriller at all -- it's a lame attempt at a political thriller, written by someone who apparently knows very little about politics. This book is not badly written, but is severly hindered by a highly unrealistic plot and cardboard characters.

I'll make an effort to read another book by Stephen Frey, to see whether this book is an aberration (I hope so).


1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Frey must be kidding, 2006-01-30
The prologue to this book holds promise, a darkened room, a mysterious character. That promise quickly dissipates in Chapter 1 with artificial dialog like, " You know, I'll always be grateful to you for writing that recommendation, Neil. I think it made the difference in my being accepted to Maryland Business School." Do you know anyone who talks like that? Don't you suppose Neil knows the name of the school, since he wrote the doggone letter? Of course he was happy to do it. "I had people help me, and I promised myself to do the same thing for others when I got to this level."

With tripe like that, I'm ashamed to admit I kept reading, but I did, only to learn what a remarkable character Neil really was. As he lays dying on the floor from a remarkably fast-acting poison, Neil realizes (1) that the man he met for drinks has poisoned him, (2) that the man asked for a glass for Neil's beer to make it easier to add the poison, (3) that the man chose a secluded table on purpose and (4) that the commotion at the bar was designed to distract Neil. Thank heavens that Neil can think so clearly in his last moments, because the reader certainly would not be able to figure any of that out without help.

I did quit reading at that point. I'll spend my time with authors who give me credit for having a little intelligence.







0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Another Good Read But Unrealistic Plot From Stephen Frey, 2005-10-08
In previous novels author Frey, thru has main characters, has taken on what might be called The Evil Empire. Perceived Racists, Government officials out for personal gain,crooked financial manipulators. This time he seems to combine it all with a plot reaching up to the U.S. Senate, Military Black Budgets and insider stock trading. Nevertheless, the book holds ones attention as the pages fly by.


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Dissapointing overall..., 2005-09-19
I am a fan of Stephen Frey. His book 'Take Over' was fabulous. This one though seems to stumble around quite a bit.

First the story: It deals with an investment firm, the government, a huge airplane contract and a young IRS agent. This young IRS agent, Jesse, finds out that her admired boss, who was just killed, had some damning information on some illegal activities of a government contract and a political candidate. The boss knew that this was some explosive information he was uncovering so he set up a safeguard that if he was killed, he would have this information sent to someone that could figure out the entire web and uncover all the deceit. So who did he send it to? The FBI, the Police? Nope. He sent it to a 25 year old woman. He was killed for this information and he sent it to his employee, a friend, who is 25 years old to unravel it all. Huh? Well, the plot takes us to Jesse running for her life at times, having friends she is not quite sure she can trust (David, an investment banker who is a member of a firm that Jesse is interested in but he is a man that she may not be able to trust...and Todd who is a good friend of hers who has gambling problems and issues and a man that Jesse may not be able to trust as well) all the while trying to figure out who the bad guys are and what they are trying to acoomplish. Convuluted story.

The characters--nobody comes off real likeable. Even Jesse has some issues, some of which are brought up but not really explored The guys are even worse. You never really get to know either one of them real well and even worse, you don't really like either one of them.

The book has so many characters and it has such a weak plot that you as a reader end up just plodding along. Disappointing effort from an author that I very much enjoy.

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