Sometimes, when I’m looking for a break from reading compliance materials, I look to read a thriller. Maybe a financial thriller would be a good change of pace. A publisher offered me a review copy of the financial thriller from an award-winning author and I cracked it open.
Mortal Bonds is Michael Sear’s follow up to his award-winning debut novel: Black Fridays. That book introduced Jason Stafford, a former Wall Street executive who went down a dark path and landed in prison.
In Mortal Bonds, Stafford is investigating a financial fraud. William von Becker ran a largest investment firm, but it turned out to be a fraud. After von Becker dies in prison, his family hires Stafford to find some of the missing money. They think there is a lot of missing money and want to return it to gain leverage with the Feds. It’s a thriller, so bad things start happening.
The “bonds” in the title refer to bearer bonds. Unfortunately, for Sears when I hear bearer bonds I think of Die Hard with Hans Gruber holding the Nakatomi Plaza hostage to steal $640 million in bearer bonds in the vault. That was a great action movie, with some ridiculous plot devices, but a fun story with enjoyable characters.
That’s too high of a bar for Mortal Bonds. I didn’t read the first Jason Stafford book, so perhaps I needed some of the back story to help with the book. It was fine for a light, fluffy read, but not remarkable.
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