Reckless (Ty Hauck Series, 3)

Admittedly, I am a huge Andrew Gross fan. But, fan or not, this is another great read. Like Gross' other works, first and foremost, it's a page turner from beginning to end. Personally, that is the single most important quality for me. When I start a book, I want to NOT want to put it down....to look forward to when I will next pick it up, and to NOT want the book to end. Reckless accomplishes all that. I won't review the plot, others have done that. Suffice it to say, it is totally believable (a must requirement for me) with an ending that does not disappoint. Most importantly, like Gross' other books, the book is far more than just a beach novel. It's extremely well written and thought provoking. This is a timely work with a plot that could actually occur...a very scary thought. What more could a reader of this type of genre ask for? Gross gets better and better. I can't wait for the next one.

I have read all of Andrew Gross's books and I find it hard to say which is the best. I realize writers are supposed to give us better writing as time goes on but Andrew Gross has consistently given us great books since his first book. "Reckless" features Ty Hauck as he changes his vocation to a financial firm having decided he wanted to try something other than police work. Reckless is also very much up-to-date regarding the world financial situation with many banks and large financial institutions having loads of troubles causing some to close their doors and others to absorb huge losses. Were these loses caused strictly by the economy or were they "helped" by some rigging of stocks and other assets? When several break-ins occurred with murders in each one, some became suspicious that the break-ins were not really that but were deliberately acted out to get rid of the financial people in those houses. The police were accepting the killings as normal high-class neighborhood robberies with things gone bad causing the killings. One of those killed had been a very close friend of Ty Hauck's several years ago and he started questioning the killings as he wondered why was this woman killed? Merrill Simons was a well-known socialite who had just gotten a divorce from Peter Simons who was Chairman of Reynolds Reid, one of the largest Wall Street financial corporations. Merrill is now in love with Dani Thibault, who was a well-known financial player in many areas of the world. Merrill met Dani and was charmed by him so much that she fell hook, line, and sinker for him. But after being with him for some time she became suspicious of this "perfect" man. She went to the Talon Group, Haucks's employer, and asked if they could help her obtain information about Dani, thus bringing Ty Hauck into the case. Ty had spent many years on police forces from bottom to top and he missed police work but he also enjoyed his position with Talon. When he was called into a meeting and introduced to Merrill, he was requested to help her out in finding information about Dani so she could put her fears behind. What comes next takes Hauck around the world to check all the information about Dani's past employment, bogus names, crooked deals, and much more. This information opens a broad investigation not only about Dani but also his past cohorts and present contacts. "Reckless" delves into the world finances and those that control them. While some of us might think some of these manipulations exist in our present world, after reading Reckless your eyes and mind will be opened quite a bit as to the many questionable things we hear about in our news today. A terrific fast moving story. Andrew, you have done it again with a terrific suspense story.

This is an excellent thriller that starts out with the execution of a family in Greenwich Connecticut. The husband was a big trader on Wall Street. Ty Hauck is recently retired from the Greenwich police force and is now working for a security firm. He learns about the murders on television and when he realizes he has a connection to the wife, he decides to visit the crime scene. Using his prior status, he is able to get some info on the crime from the investigating officers. The murders cause a financial firm to fail. With everything bad happening in the financial marketplace, this sets the market back big time. The reader is given a clue that this may be a part of a bigger plot to bring down the financial system, from a mysterious call that was made to a London trader. Ty is then asked by his security firm to investigate a wealthy woman's "boyfriend" to determine if he is who he says he is. As Ty investigates he finds that the "boyfriend" was somehow tied to the murdered trader. His boss mysteriously tells Ty to stop investigating but Ty is determined to find the one responsible. His unsanctioned search lead him to find that another trader that committed "suicide" may not have been a suicide. In fact the boyfriend seemed to be involved with him too. In the meantime, Naomi Blum, a US Treasury agent is investigating the deaths of the traders too because in each case they had made some bad decisions that caused their firms to fail after their deaths. Naomi learns about Ty's investigation and starts to learn about him. Ty himself seems to be in a lot of trouble the more he investigates and realizes he does not have anyone he can trust with his information. Eventually, he and Naomi will become partners in an investigation that must be successful or the future of the whole US economy may be at stake. Naomi and Ty work have a great chemistry together and it makes the book work well. The book is a little slow at the beginning but takes off about 130 pages in. After that it is virtually impossible to put down. Seems to work well in light of actual market events of the last two years. Highly recommended.

After co-authoring five books with James Patterson and writing another three solo, Andrew Gross has made me a real fan! In "Reckless" Gross manipulates the reader through a complex and convoluted terrorist plot: Not the 9/11 type but a genius financial plan that is destined to crumble world markets and benefit a handful of conspirators. People are being killed including innocent women and kids. Former cop-turned-private-eye Ty Haulk teams up with FBI agent Naomi Blum and go rogue, to try and stop the craziness. Ty's motives are different than Naomi's in that one of the murder victims was a dear friend of his. Naomi tries to do the right thing and still stay within her chain-of-command. World markets are crumbling and Wall Street is a mess, and only a handful of people know what's causing the financial distress. You'll read this book and wonder if something like this could take place for real.

After a prologue set in London, in which a wealthy, Westernized Saudi Arabian financier receives an unwelcome phone call informing him that "the planes are in the air," this enthralling tale of murder and financial conspiracy starts off shockingly with a break-in at the Greenwich, Connecticut, home of equities trader Marc Glassman that results in a multiple murder. Ty Hauck, a former police detective who is now an investigator for a private security firm, was a friend of one of the victims, and he is moved to look into the case. At the same time, he is assigned to investigate a shady international financier known as Dieter "Dani" Thibault. He soon suspects that the two cases are connected somehow, and joins U.S. Treasury agent Naomi Blum in a quest that uncovers a worldwide financial conspiracy that goes beyond terrorism. In the process, we're taken on a whirlwind journey from Greenwich, New York City and Washington, D.C., to Serbia and London. This spellbinding suspense novel certainly kept me turning the pages, with its fast pace, compelling story line, intriguing characters, questions of identity, and frighteningly topical theme. Not so long ago, this story might have seemed outlandish, but now it seems all too realistic! Don't miss this one if you're a fan of entertaining, gripping, hard-to-put-down, contemporary thrillers.