The First Billion
by Christopher Reich
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christopher ReichEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-07-29
ISBN: 0440234697
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Dell
Book Reviews of The First Billion
Book Review: Another entertaining thriller from Christopher Reich
Summary: 5 Stars
Having thoroughly enjoyed "Numbered Account," I was ambivalent about reading another book from the same author because I doubted he would maintain the standard. However, I was thoroughly entertained by "The First Billion" & in some ways thought it superior to "Numbered Account."
If a tad more formulaic, "Billion" is smoother, more polished, with fewer rough edges than "Account." The story is indeed carefully plotted, & I liked the side plot that some readers here do not. I enjoyed the false start aspect of it.
Both Jett Gavallan & Grafton Byrnes are decent characters, & Konstantin Kirov is a decent villain with some complexity. Gavallan's ex is less well developed but still an OK character.
The background of a Russian IPO is a great choice. Reich explains the financial world he uses as a setting very well. The reader does not feel patronized & understands what is going on.
Another book I got to read for free because I am a deployed Soldier. If your church or community group collects paperbacks for this cause, donate some--it's a very worthwhile scheme.
Summary of The First Billion
Christopher Reich electrified readers with Numbered Account and The Runner, his first two international thrillers. Now the New York Times bestselling author whose work has been called ?gripping? (Chicago Tribune), ?chilling? (The Denver Post), ?wonderful? (The New York Times Book Review), ratchets up the stakes in an ingeniously plotted story of nerve-jangling intrigue and hot-wired suspense. Using today?s cutthroat global economy as a backdrop, The First Billion explodes into a breakneck tale of betrayal, revenge, and redemption...John ?Jett? Gavallan is a former fighter pilot, now the high-flying CEO of Black Jet Securities, an investment firm that earned its first billion before the techno dream crashed and burned. Poised for an offering crucial to his company?s survival, Gavallan is banking on the riskiest gamble of his dazzling career. In exactly six days, he will take Mercury Broadband, Russia?s leading media company, public on the New York Stock Exchange. But rumors of fraud have suddenly surfaced that could send the deal south. Gavallan makes a preemptive strike by dispatching his number-two man--fellow Desert Storm fighter pilot Grafton Byrnes--to Moscow to penetrate the shadowy Russian multinational. When Byrnes fails to return, Gavallan fears the worst. But
the truth is even more diabolical than he can imagine.
Plunging into a desperate search for his best friend, the renegade top gun is suddenly fighting a different kind of war, where there is no safe harbor and no one he can trust. Not Konstantin Kirov, the elusive head of Mercury Broadband who may not be what he seems. Not the bankers and traders Gavallan does business with every day. Not the exotic beauty who has told him all her deepest secrets--except one. Suddenly Jett finds himself trapped in a conspiracy that could shatter the delicate balance between nations--and plunge the global economy into chaos. Hunted by the F.B.I. and a band of elite killers, Jett races from Palm Beach to Zurich to Moscow in a desperate search for answers. But for this brave ex-commando haunted by visions of war, the truth comes at a terrible price. With Mercury rising and the hours ticking down, he is moving closer to a place where murder and revenge are the currency of choice...and where the first billion is the ultimate insider secret--and the deadliest obsession of all.
With breakneck plotting, stunning realism, and a sense of danger that keeps the heart racing, The First Billion is a knockout of a novel that will linger long after the final shocking twist is revealed.
From the Hardcover edition.
Money makes the world go round for Jett Gavallon, a high-tech entrepreneur who's on the brink of bringing a Russian telecom startup to market with an IPO worth billions. But when his best friend and second-in-command disappears after Gavallon sends him to Moscow to make sure the new company is on the up and up, Jett begins to have second thoughts, which are exactly what his Russian partners can't afford. Beset by an FBI task force looking into Mercury Broadband's financing by Russian mobsters, rumors of fraud being circulated by a Drudge-like online financial gossip columnist, and the discovery that his former lover is not who he thought she was, Jett puts his fortune on the line in a desperate attempt to save his company--and ultimately, his life. An exciting, fast-paced adventure by an author who puts his experience in international banking to work in the service of this carefully plotted thriller. --Jane Adams
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