Shakedown

Savvy Wall Street broker Damon Traynor, the narrator of this uneven financial thriller from Bodenham (The Geneva Connection), has established his own equity fund. When he gets a chance to bid on a U.S. government-owned defense company, which—if the numbers are correct—would net his investors big money, he’s ready to jump at it. His only opposition comes from Frank Marcuri, his biggest backer, who considers the proposition too good to be true. Shortly afterward, Marcuri dies in a helicopter crash, and Traynor’s other investors urge him to take the deal. After he does, people close to Traynor start dying, and he realizes he’s been duped. As he investigates, he uncovers a web that includes organized crime, foreign agents, and a covert operation whose head reports directly to the president of the cash-strapped United States. While the financial manipulations ring true, the rushed ending defies logic, with the villain suddenly abandoning any pretense of caution and Traynor becoming a cold-blooded killer. Smooth prose compensates only in part for one-dimensional characters. (Nov.)