The First Billion: A Novel

Christopher Reich always writes a page-turner in my opinion. In this book he keeps the reader on the edge of his seat to the end! His novels center around international intrigue and his plots inform his readers about the many facets of "money-laundering", espionage and terrorism. He never leaves me disappointed. Bea G.

This is a book that I found difficult to put down. For someone very interested in finance fiction (my favourite movie is Wall Street), and having just finished a spy novel involving old Russia and USA, not only is this book very well-written, but its attention to detail and at times quite wild plot twists sure stole a lot of spare time from me. The story is very imaginative, and even though some of the side-plots catches the reader a bit off-guard and thinking that they're very irrelevant, they do serve brilliantly as suspense-builders, forcing me to turn the pages even more eagerly. The portrayal of Russia is very clichéd, yes. And the characters are not difficult to understand. But that also makes the novel very accessible. I would accept the popular opinion that this book has to be made into a movie at some point; the descriptions are so precise one can easily visualize what is going on.

This book from Christopher Reich is outstanding. In this book Jett Gavalan and his investment banking firm Black Jet Securitiesare prepared to take a Russian company Mercury public with a twobillion dollar offering.The CEO of Mercury is a Russian oligarchnamed Konstantin Kirov.An internet columnist named Private Eye.POis bashing the offering and the Russian company.Jett's girlfriend is not who she appears to be.This book has assassinsat work trying to frame Jett for murder.Jett has to resort tohis commando training to escape some of the situations that hefinds himself in.Mix in Wall Street with this plot and you have another good read from Reich.This is my third Reich book and Ihave yet to get a bad book.

I found this to be a real page turner. It has an interesting and topical basis in the crime and corruption that can surround the taking of a private company public in the days of greed that we have been and are stil living through, to some extent. Add to the mix that the company is Russian and that the owner is as amoral as he is ambitious and then add to that mix those that are trying to prevent it from happening and the pages are starting to turn. The focus of the book, Jett Gavallon, a former F-16 jockey and now a high tech entrepreneur is suspected of some very serious crimes in his association with Konstantin Kirov, the owner of Mercury Broadband. How that all meshes together is what makes this book such a good read. I was fortunate to have a weekend during which I could really sit with this book and let the story just run. I throughly enjoyed it and I suspect you will too.

Jett Gavallan is a corporate warrior on a very dangerous mission: he must save his best friend from the grasp of a Russian mobster while somehow salvaging a huge business deal that might just keep his business afloat. Careening from San Francisco to Moscow to Florida and New York, "The First Billion" is one of the most suspenseful and satisfying books I've read this year, at once a nail biting page turner and an instructive meditation on the risks of international business. I'd place the style somewhere between Ludlum and LeCarre, but Reich has a snappy panache that is all his own. Highly recommended.