The Fourth Order: A Novel

As we read in the newspapers and magazines the drivel that we do not torture and all the other supposed facts along comes a fiction Novel more to fact than some wish to see. Micheal Rose is caught up into what he believes is a financial hostile takeover but is much more than that. Slowly he discovers internal things that affect his family and friends. The understanding of this and eventual direction of the story is very interesting and leads to a conclusion that exemplifies our probable position with terrorism. A fine novel and I highly recommend it.

I have read four previous Stephen Frey novels, and they have all been great. This one is especially timely. His novels have a financial background, but he writes in layman terms, so anyone that does not have a business acumen, can still enjoy them .... and learn a lot about financial issues. Some readers complain that his stories are unrealistic and not credible. I do not agree, because truth is stranger than fiction. This guy has a vivid imagination, and knows how to keep a story moving.

If you are major fan of Stephen Frey (as I am), you may have been a little disappointed by his last 2 books in the Christian Gillette series. While The Chairman: A Novel was perhaps his finest work, the subsequent sequels have been progressively worse. Finally, that downward spiral has been reversed with The Fourth Order. This work is quite timely, addressing the issues of domestic spying and torture, it still works around the periphery of the world of high finance - Frey's trademark. Exciting and relatively unpredictable, I found it quite enjoyable. The characters were generally unrealistic, and the fact that the protagonist engages in an affair on the heals of his wife's murder made him quite unlikable. The overall plot, however, challenges the reader to walk the grey area of right and wrong in the quest to fight terrorism. If the reader can get past the utter unbelievability of the characters, this book is well worth a read. Frey's best work since The Chairman: A Novel.

National security thrillers are about treachery and power and no one writes these mysteries better than Frey in this story about a secret government agency working to combat terrorism.

It's been a while since a stand-alone work from Stephen Frey has been released. That state of affairs is remedied with THE FOURTH ORDER, a fast-paced and thoroughly readable potboiler (and that, from me, is a compliment) that continues the author's practice of piercing the complicated and complex veil of high finance. The novel's protagonist is Michael Rose, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Trafalgar Industries, a major energy company that has gotten ever larger under his careful hand. Rose has set his hostile takeover sights upon Computer Information Systems (CIS), a large information technology company. What Rose doesn't know is that CIS is a "cutout," a company that is being used by the nation's intelligence services to funnel money off of the books in order to finance gray operations outside of Congress's oversight. In this particular case, CIS is being manipulated by a shadowy government organization bent on combating terrorism by any means possible. If Rose is successful in his efforts to acquire CIS, then the revelations that would follow could not only cripple the fight against terrorism but also bring the government down. Rose accordingly must be stopped, either through manipulation or by murder. As always, Frey does a masterful job of explaining the ins and outs of the financial world --- in this case, the steps to implementing your very own hostile takeover --- and has conceived a fanciful but nonetheless fascinating shadow organization answerable only to the president. If there is a flaw here, it's that things are wrapped up just a bit too quickly, almost as if Frey ran out paper or patience. A more thoughtful denouement might have served this exciting narrative better. This is a minor quibble though, considering that it is a riveting, engrossing read for the overwhelming majority of its pages. Frey has established himself as one of the preeminent authors of financial thrillers, and THE FOURTH ORDER is the perfect place for those unfamiliar with his work to start. After reading it, leave room on your bookshelf for more. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub