The Insider

The Insider Review

The prologue of The Insider is set in August 1994, in an alligator infested Louisiana swamp. There, a poacher named Neville has an encounter with a man piloting an expensive boat. The stranger claims to be an inspector with an oil company, there to inspect gauges on the company's wellheads. This sounds fishy to Neville, since he doesn't recall the company having any wellheads there. The poacher doesn't call the man on his apparent lie, however, abandoning his questions when the stranger lets it slip that he's spotted several twelve-foot alligators in his journey through the swamp. Neville, realizing the man has recognized him as a poacher, leaves the stranger to his work, but only after securing a promise from him to reveal the locations of the gators. The man tells Neville he will visit him later to do just that; Neville, who stands to make a significant amount of money from black market buyers desirous of the gators' skins and meat, departs.

Twenty minutes later, assured that he's now alone, the stranger cuts the engine, moves to the front of the boat, and removes a body from a canvas sack. Affixing cinder blocks to the corpse with thick chains, he dumps it overboard. He then leaves the bayou to keep his appointment with Neville--not to give him the information he promised, but to kill him.

Cut to June 1999. Ambitious young investment banker Jay West is interviewing for a position at the elite New York investment firm of McCarthy and Lloyd. Despite his scrappy personality, Jay feels a little intimidated. In the space of one morning, he is interviewed by three colorful, charismatic, hard driving men. The first is Oliver Mason, an aggressive lout whose arrogance is exceeded only by his success. Oliver, whose investment prowess is legendary (his co-workers refer to him as "God") takes an instant liking to Jay, later becoming his sponsor/mentor/champion at the firm. Jay is then passed on to Oliver's assistant, Bullock, affectionately known as "the Badger." Bullock doesn't share Oliver's high opinion of the candidate--in fact, he's barely able to conceal his disdain for Jay. Finally, there's Bill McCarthy, the genteel, suave, politically connected co-founder of the firm. Jay's brief session with this no-nonsense businessman leaves his head spinning.

Jay wonders if he can survive the torture these men promise to put him through--he's been told that he will be expected to devote himself to the firm 24/7. He quickly puts his doubts aside, however, when Oliver dangles the lure of a million dollar bonus in front of him. Jay signs on, effective immediately.

After working the arbitrage desk for a few weeks, Jay begins to suspect that something is very wrong at McCarthy and Lloyd, that Oliver's arbitrage success is due to something more than a combination of hard work and good luck. Jay comes to realize that Oliver owes his good fortune to his use of illegal insider information; he further realizes that his mentor has been carefully setting him up to take the fall for this illegal activity. The stakes increase when a trusted co-worker is brutally murdered and the mysterious Sally Lane, a beautiful blonde who might be in on the set up, joins the arbitrage team. Now enmeshed in an intricate web of high stakes financial, legal and political intrigue, Jay is confronted with two distinct problems--how to clear his name, and how to stay alive long enough to do so.

Okay, by now you're probably asking, what about that guy in the swamp? Well, I can't reveal just how he fits into the story, mainly because I don't want to ruin any of Frey's many surprises. I can tell you, however, that these seemingly disparate plot threads eventually intertwine, coming together in a logical, if tortured, manner. There are criticisms that can be leveled at the novel--it seems derivative of Grisham's The Firm--but they're overwhelmed by Frey's breakneck pacing and the sheer bravado he displays in following his audacious plot through to its harrowing conclusion. Frey, the author of four previous novels (The Takeover, The Vulture Fund, The Inner Sanctum and The Legacy) again offers up a tantalizing blend of action, intrigue and suspense. If it's excitement you crave, The Insider has it in spades.

The Insider Overview

Ambition. Greed. Blackmail. Murder.
All before the opening bell.

Hungry to play in the big leagues, Jay West lands a coveted position with a powerful Wall Street investment firm, working as the handpicked protégé of the successful, charismatic Oliver Mason. But Jay soon suspects that Oliver's stellar track record is more than a result of hard work or good luck. The man seems to have everything--including a violent temper and a boundless desire for money and prestige.

Then a trusted coworker is brutally murdered. With a conspiracy of deceit and corruption closing around him, Jay races to untangle the sordid lies that have quickly and too conveniently blackened his name. Trusting no one, Jay must rely on his own cunning and wits to stay in the game--and to stay alive.

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