Nest of Vipers

ISBN: 0-7887-0200-9 Order from: Recorded Books

A conventional thriller of Forex trading and the Mafia, the book features a quirky and not entirely likable heroine, and occasional lapses into expositionary lumps.

Reviewed by David on July 01, 2000

Genre: Mystery

Synopsis: This is an unabridged recording of Nest-of-Vipers. Firmly set in the early 1990's England, the thriller begins with the official but unproven suspicion of mafia ties to the unusually consistent profits in the currency trading in one of the City investment banks.

A young, beautiful, successful and somewhat adventurous trader, Sarah Jensen is carefully tempted into an unofficial investigative role at the prestigious bank suspected of trading on inside information. Sarah, resourceful and somewhat self-destructive, quickly gets deep into the plot. Unfortunately, not realizing the ruthlessness involved in the plot, she triggers a deadly reaction. On the run from professional hit men, with fires and murders around her, Sarah has to confirm her suspicions, and take actions to neutralize her opponents, even while her allies seem determined to stab her in the back.

Full Review: The novel is meticulous in descriptions: from the terms and tools used in currency trading, to the dress, architecture, food and travel of the characters. While helping to build a solid picture, especially in readers presumably unfamiliar with trading floors, or London geography, after a while these extended interruptions from the suspenseful plot start to break the pace of the plot and jar the reader's attention.

Though external descriptions ocassionally serve a useful purpose, the frequent description of emotional state of the major characters, with significant doses of angst, seem particularly useless. The author eschews the subtlety of showing the mental state of a character through his action or dialogue, in favor of tedious, vacillation-filled descriptions of their thoughts.

Another clumsy note is added with periodic foreshadowing, of the type "little did he know that...". While the basic plot is sound, the semi-governmental conspiracy seems a bit implausible. A bigger flaw is some problems with the main character, Sarah. No doubt intentionally a bit ambiguous, to compensate an otherwise cloying combination of beauty, intelligence, courage, wealth and physical skill, her character is at times goes beyond quirky into somewhat repellent. Sarah's (and other characters') chain smoking, while somewhat disturbing is appropriate in England. Her "romantic" attitudes, moral flexibility, and her accomodation with what should be viewed as a despicable criminal is less so.

Finally, the choppy view-hopping complicates sympathy-building, as well as making the otherwise simple plot hard to follow.

In general, this is an entertaining and suspenseful novel, with colorful characters, murder, conspiracy, money and sex, but sufficiently flawed to be only marginally pleasant.

Overall: 5; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 5; Style: 5; World-building: 5.5; Originality: 4.5;

ISBN: 0-7887-0200-9 Order from: Recorded Books