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The Fear Index

The Fear Index

3.10 out of 5 (15 ratings)

Format:
Paperback 
Pages:
400 
Publisher:
Cornerstone 
Publication Date:
24 May 2012 
Category:
Thriller and Suspense 
ISBN:
9780099553267 

Description

Meet Alex Hoffmann: among the secretive inner circle of the ultra-rich, he is something of a legend. Based in Geneva, he has developed a revolutionary system that has the power to manipulate financial markets. Generating billions of dollars, it is a system that thrives on panic - and feeds on fear. And then, in the early hours of one morning, while he lies asleep, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside home. So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts - with increasing desperation - to discover who is trying to destroy him - before it's too late ...

Showing 1-4 out of 15 reviews. Previous | Next

  • The Fear Index: The lesson to be learned: How to take a used subject and turn into a very readable novel. The story is derivative. I saw a major piece of the theme in a television drama back in the 50s, maybe the 60s, and of course there was novel, FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley, written in the Nineteenth Century with another, very large piece of the theme.

    5.00 out of 5

    kencrowe

  • An enthralling thriller set in the world of hi-tech private banking, with shades of Philip Kerr's "Gridiron" and the financial thrillers of Michael Ridpath. Hoffmann is a physicist formerly employed on the Hadron Collider at CERN, though he had been dismissed after his artificial intelligence experiments generated unforeseen consequences. He used his expertise to develop merchant banking algorithms which had led to his organization becoming a market leader.His bank's unique selling point was the deft analysis of risk and volatility in the markets, and complicated hedging mechanisms. However, odd thing start to happen ...Hoffman receives unlooked for gifts, and is then attacked in his own home. And that is just the start...

    4.00 out of 5

    Eyejaybee

  • I could not put it down. A real triller

    4.00 out of 5

    RobinMichel

  • A fun book, nothing too serious, about artificial intelligence and stock market trading. Highly implausible, but still quite a page turner.

    4.00 out of 5

    michaeldwebb

Reviews provided by Librarything.

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