An Agent of Deceit

Ben Webster #1

by Christopher Morgan Jones

Ranging from Moscow to Berlin to London, An Agent of Deceit follows the story of investigator Ben Webster's attempt to expose the huge money-laundering operations of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malin, a man whose crimes are hidden "deep in Russia, buried under layers of permafrost". Malin is flat-eyed, immensely powerful, hugely dangerous – "a creature of the Soviet", and a worthy opponent for Webster, a journalist turned investigator still haunted by the death of his friend Inessa in a Kazakh jail 10 years ago. (Alison Flood, Guardian - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...)


Reviews:

‘The best debut spy adventure I’ve read in a long time. The two main characters — a British investigator with a private intelligence agency and the key manipulator of a corrupt Russian oligarch’s finances — are vigorously portrayed, with satisfying twists and intrigues’ The Times

‘Chris Morgan Jones's debut arrives with a weight of expectations on its shoulders. But it's clear right from the chilling, detached opening that these are going to be met . . . Like the icy eastern winter that seeps through the pages of his novel, Morgan Jones's prose is clean and cold, crisp and ominous . . . this is a world Morgan Jones knows, and it shows. In its intelligence, its crispness, its refusal to recognise anything other than shades of grey, there are undoubtedly resonances of Le Carré here. But An Agent of Deceit is too good to need the publishing shorthand for "classy thriller": this is a debut that definitely stands on its own merits’ Observer

‘So-called "new Le Carrés" are 10 a penny, but Morgan Jones has a better claim to the title than most, having worked for 11 years at the world's largest business intelligence agency. On one level this intelligent, sophisticated spy thriller is about money laundering. But it's also about the willed innocence that makes such activities possible – the difference between not knowing and choosing not to know . . . dapper prose and stately pacing . . . Genuinely scary’ Guardian

'A well-paced, plausible thriller that brings a wealth of experience of corrupt modern business and flits between the City of London, the Cayman Islands, Moscow and Berlin faster than a liquidity crisis' The Times

‘Morgan Jones weaves an engaging narrative that, through Lock particularly, confronts the dilemma of the west’s engagement with dubious characters and companies – and not just those from the former Soviet Union. It is an issue with which many institutions have been grappling lately in places such as Libya . . . An Agent of Deceit is a worthy entry to the long line of spy yarns, and a reminder of how little we still know of wealth and power in Russia, for all the public visibility of the 21st-century oligarchs’ Financial Times

‘Brimful of insider knowledge, this debut novel heads into the world of corrupt Russian business dealings . . . an elegant, tense thriller’ Grazia

‘Elegant, deep and powerful. An Agent of Deceit is a thinking man’s thriller that reminded me of John Le Carre’s classic spy novels – but set in a chilling contemporary world in which spies have gone private and corporations are more powerful than governments. A remarkably assured debut’ Joe Finder, author of Buried Secrets and Paranoia

‘Accomplished and believable’ Sunday Times

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Espionage, Mystery, Russia, Detective, Crime

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Chris Morgan Jones worked for eleven years at the world’s largest business intelligence agency, and has advised Middle Eastern governments, Russian oligarchs, New York banks, London hedge funds, and African mining companies. The author of The Silent Oligarch and The Jackal’s Share, he lives in London.

Reviews

[Jaden Terrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say THE SILENT OLIGARCH is an excellent first novel, except that it doesn't have the feel of a first novel. It's much better than that. Author Chris Morgan Jones spent eleven years working for the world's leading business intelligence agency, and his in-depth knowledge of corporate espionage gives credibility and weight to the book. THE SILENT OLIGARCH has a complex plot and a large cast, both of which are necessary to the portrayal of the shadowy webs of intrigue that take place around corporate tables and in the shuffling of currency.

Protagonist Ben Webster is an investigator for an international corporate intelligence firm. When a wealthy but shady client offers to hire his company to investigate Russian bureaucrat Konstantin Malin, Ben sees a chance to solve and perhaps avenge the murder of a woman named Inessa, Ben's friend and colleague when he worked as a journalist in Russia. Ben has always believed Malin was behind Inessa's death, which still haunts him.

I found Ben a sympathetic and well-drawn character. Richard Lock, the front man for Malin's empire is also well-drawn; I found myself repulsed by some of his actions, even as I felt sorry for him because of the predicament he was in and his desire to break free of Malin's organization and begin again with his wife and daughter. But then, I'm a sucker for redemption.

The action builds slowly in this book. Its' an intelligent thriller about corruption, machinations, and the toll these things take on men's souls. I enjoyed the book and look forward to Jones's next one.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this one up solely because some of it was based in Kazakhstan. If this was the case, there was little or no reference to culture, foods or anything of interest. Therefore, I will not be including it in my World Challenge.
If you readers enjoy conference room back stabbing intrigue, computer savy techies, and a bit of cloak and dagger, you will enjoy the plot. Silent Oligarch is heavy in financial forensics- something that does not interest me.
The character Lock is painted as a man who is trying to redeem himself of his sordid past. I only saw a money grubbing money laundering thief who suddenly needs to change his ways because he bloody well got caught. The other main character Webster is still haunted by a decade old murder and is at least a decent man trying to do good.
This book just wasn't for me.

[Andy Plonka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of spy novels and international intrigue. and this book has both. The first two thirds were slow going for me as the author set up the various parts of the plot. The last third of the book flew by as the characters met their various fates and I found myself understanding and enjoying what I had decided was not my kind of book. This one was published in Great Britain as Act of Deceit so if you enjoyed the British book this is the same thing, different title.

[Kathleen McFall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Distinctive Debut

Of late, I've noted a nascent theme embedded in some new fiction writing, especially the thriller/suspense variety: a scathing critique of capitalism, in particular, its human impact. It's not a surprise, I suppose, to see a vanguard of contemporary American fiction seeking to make sense of the most pressing intellectual topic in society today - the literary manifestations of the Tea Party and Occupy movements.

This new work is in some cases fantastical with authors honed into conspiracy theories or shadowy illuminati as primary fodder. Others seek out the holy grail of le Carre documentary-style faux realism. Others still are intimate portraits of lives ruined (or realized) from wealth (or its absence).

All are important and exciting to read; it's a trend that's akin to what happened in the sci-fi pulp fiction of earlier eras, the glory days of Phillip K. Dick and the like, when new authors bravely excavated and extrapolated contemporary realities, inserting fiction into social dialogues where it belongs.

The Silent Oligarch falls into this emerging genre (whose label has yet to coalesce), a quiet thriller in the le Carre category noted above, a plot heavily anchored in - and moved along by - the financial details of doing business in the new Russia. The Silent Oligarch is a very good book and well worth my time to read.

As described by the publisher, "A nondescript bureaucrat in a drab government agency, Konstanin Malin secretly controls a vast business that dominates the nation's oil industry, making him one of the most feared and wealthy men in Russia."

But it's really Richard Lock, a British neer-do-well attorney, who is the front man for this vast wealth machine. Rewarded with a life of un-surpassing ease and luxury, Lock signs the documents, sets up the fake offshore accounts, and carries the various electronic keys that make the oil and gas industry in Russia just barely legal - and legitimate enough to lure foreign investment.

Unsurprisingly for the plot, Lock suddenly wants out of this "sinister" underworld (a middle-age crisis, the motivation is unclear...), to return to a simple life with his wife and daughter. A host of government agencies, shadowy and otherwise, are only to happy to help him, granted he provides the goods on the real oligarchs pulling and pushing the Russian levers of business. The good guys, located in London, are represented in the plot by journalist-turned spymaster Benjamin Webster, brought in to apply pressure on Lock as he takes timid baby-steps toward changing his life.

But wait, does this nefarious plot go all the way to Putin? Of course it does.

And that's what makes this book work. The storyline is ripped from the headlines of business media from around the world. Anyone paying attention to the billion dollar ups and downs of the oil and natural gas industry in Russia (heard of Sakhalin?), the imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the assassination of journalists just doing their job, and the simple fact that Putin is once again President of Russia would have little trouble believing the premise of this solidly researched and well-written thriller.

My threshold for reading fiction of this type is twofold: Do I learn something and is it entertaining? Both were easily met, with the first more so than the second. The focus on financial realism - deeply important and clearly an area in which the author has considerable knowledge and expertise - made the book a bit tough to access. In turn, this is also what makes the book distinctive, and probably will make it stand the test of literary time.

Russia is one of the most interesting places in the world today, and probably one of the most dangerous in this time of rapid transformation. The Silent Oligarch provides a glimpse into the havoc that unbridled capitalism and the lure of wealth (along with the sense of violent entitlement) can wreak on the fabric and culture both of a country and its people. Take note America.

[Ian]

An Agent of Deceit is an intelligent and convincing thriller set in the world of international finance. The story is told alternatively from the perspective of two lead characters.

Lock is a Dutch lawyer, brought up in the UK, who is employed by a shadowy Russian businessman. Over the course of a decade or so finds himself irrevocably tied to an increasingly complex network of companies whose chief purpose appears to be to disguise the passage of large sums of money originating somewhere in Russia. Lock is the ostensible owner of the entire network while retaining a very low media profile, but in practice is irrevocably in thrall to his mysterious Russian boss. In terms of business, Lock has become enormously wealthy and successful, but this has been at the expense of the breakdown of his family life and he has become increasingly dissatisfied. When one too many of Lock’s deals goes wrong, he finds himself at the centre of an investigation by Webster, an employee of a private intelligence agency. Webster has his own reasons for pursuing the investigation with particular vigour - a decade previously he witnessed the murder of a Russian journalist and believes that Lock’s boss may have been linked to this. The book follows the course of the investigation as seen by each of the two men.

Chris Morgan Jones worked for almost 10 years for a private intelligence agency and specialised in Russia. Therefore, he writes about a topic that he knows well, and this comes across clearly. Stories about shadowy Russian oligarchs are common in the newspapers and other media and the The themes which are explored in this novel therefore have some significance. This is territory which has been covered effectively by John Le Carre, and I suspect that this novel will appeal to the same sort of readers who enjoy Le Carre’s books.

This is not the sort of novel which I read very often. However, it is an engaging story with plenty of twists and turns which manages to avoid the obvious ending. In general, the characters seem to have real substance. Perhaps the one exception is Lock’s boss, Malin, who is not completely convincing as the lead villain. However, this may be a deliberate choice on the author's part for reasons which become clear as the book reaches its climax. Not everything is tied up in the finale, and there is potential here for at least one follow-up. A good book for the holiday period for a reasonably serious reader or anyone with an interest in this genre.

[Michael Griswold · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate not liking books. My Amazon history will tell people that. And I really hated not liking The Silent Oligarch because it had virtually everything a good political thriller would need: a shadowy bureaucrat nestled deep inside the Kremlin, a dummy corporation that makes the connected very wealthy a lawyer meant to be the perfect fall guy, and a tireless journalist still smarting from the murder of his friend, years earlier. All of the motivations seem plausable, and parts of the book do suck the reader in, but at the end, my reaction to the book as a whole is "I read this."

This book just didn't grab me. I thought the set up to the story was a bit slow and plodding and the characters just weren't able to consistently hold my attention. I'm really disappointed because the concept of the book sounds like an absolute winner, but most of the book felt flat and distant to me. I don't think I was ever invested in whether the characters lived, died, or moved to the Bahamas and changed their name and fingerprints. As a book expieriance, it was just sort of there.

[Klaas Roggeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

A slow start, very slow, but this spy thriller eventually pays off. The first part is really a bit boring, which isn't completely surprising as it mainly deals with financial deals and corruption. The latter part is packed with spy action, which is more exciting obviously.


(I picked the Dutch translation up for free years ago when working a temp job at a recently closed down literary organisation. I probably would have preferred reading the English language original.)

[Orchid · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Sentence:
"High in the air Webster watches the unbroken desert flow past, a deep copper red in the dawn, the sand ridged like waves rolling down toward the south."

What me to want to read The Silent Oligarch was the premise of a good old-fashion mystery/thriller. Did it make the cut, in that respect yes it did.
I loved for once reading a book that did not have a single damsel in distress or one with content that left me skipping pages left and right.
Admittedly, the first page of The Silent Oligarch did not interest me and left me feeling a little worried over how the rest of the book was going to go. Even so, I kept reading and the story and Mr. Jones' writing really picked up and began to pull me into the story and the lives of the two main characters. The more I read the more invested in the outcome I became.

While the mystery of who was pulling the strings was kind of vague-up until the very end- I had my personal theories, and I must say that I nearly spot on. I would tell you what my theory was and the conclusion, but then the whole entire outcome would be exposed and that is the last things I want to do to ya'll. I'll just say this, it was well written from beginning to end and kind of stressful at times as both characters very nearly met their end at one point or another throughout the book.

I really liked how all the details slowly painted the full picture of corruption in Russia-in the book-and how the big the scope of Malin's empire was. I was also intrigues to see how exactly Lock fit into the whole scheme and what his role was. While the plot and story building were really good, what really makes this book is Lock and Webster and the changes that are wrought in the both of them as their stories progress.

At first I did not care for either Lock or Webster, the two main characters of the book. I thought that Lock was a weak willed character with absolutely no chance of breaking out of the life that he had come to be a part of. I know that probably sounds mean, but it's the truth. I did not think that he would ever get the nerve to try and walk a better path, so I pleasantly surprised when he started to evolve and get a backbone.
As for why I did not care for Webster in the beginning, well, let's just put it down to he was not very likable at first. But as the story progressed and you saw how what he did affected him and the way he thought I could not help but start to warm up to him. I loved the fact the he had doubts as to whether what he did was actually helping or hurting those that he got involved with.
In short, both characters go from being kind of meh, to ones you want to see survive the ordeal that they currently found themselves in.

What I really liked best about The Silent Oligarch would have to be how the tension slowly built through out the book. By the time I hit the half-way point in the book I did not want to sit it aside because I needed to know how things were going to turn out for both Lock and Webster, which meant that I was not much company on New Year's Eve because I wanted to finish the book before the year ended.
While I really did enjoy reading The Silent Oligarch there are two things that very nearly made me throw the book across the room in disgust. My first and biggest problem with this book would have to be how the Lord's name was taken in vain. A LOT. I was really enjoying the story and then the characters started throwing around the Lord's name left in right and not in a reverent manner. This irks me to no end while reading.
The other thing I did not like was there was bit more language then I had originally thought there was going to be, though it was not nearly as bad as my first complaint. These two reasons are why this is not a five pineapple read.

Final Verdict: The Silent Oligarch

The Silent Oligarch earns 4 out of 5 pineapples.

Review taken from my blog, The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia.

[Gerald Sinstadt · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Le Carré casts a long shadow. If not the originator of espionage novels, he has taken the genre to a challenging new level. Books by other authors regularly emerge invoking the Le Carré name as recommendation. Very few - perhaps Alan Furst and Joseph Kanon - justify the claim. But now here is a new name delivering a first novel of quite stunning achievement.

Chris Morgan Jones postulates a pernicious enmity between two men of unimaginable wealth. One, Konstantin Malin, is a Russian oligarch manipulating dubious deals in oil and gas. He employs Richard Lock, a British/Dutch lawyer, to set up a spider's web of interlinked offshore companies to channel money out of Russia and back in again. Ben Webster is employed by a British investigation firm who are hired to bring down Malin. Webster identifies Lock as his target. Inexorably, the two men are drawn together.

The plot works, the detail is convincing, the tension scrupulously controlled, the conclusion implicit throughout but ultimately still surprising. So far, so Le Carré. What takes the comparison further is the quality of the writing and the sharpness of the observation. The relationship between Lock and his wife - an estranged couple who are striving to find a way to mend their relationship - is portrayed with almost painful insight.

An Agent of Deceit is as much about human frailty as it is about a shadowy world of money and power. No doubt Chris Morgan Jones will live comfortably for a while on the proceeds from a remarkable book; his readers will hope it is the first of many.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel written by Mr. Jones, following an 11-year career working "at the world's largest business intelligence agency." He has drawn heavily on his experiences advising Middle Eastern governments, Russian oligarchs, New York banks, London hedge funds, and African mining companies.

The story quickly moves between London, Moscow, Kazakhstan and the Cayman Islands. It explores a sinister unexplored world where the wealthy buy the justice they want and the silence they need. The main character is Richard Lock, an English lawyer who has spent many years in Moscow at the bidding of the Russian mafia and has been well rewarded financially. It is his job to hide all the transactions taking place and launder the money in the process. When his world begins to fall apart, and his friends begin to die in strange ways, he believes that he will be next -- and tries to find a way out.

[Michael Drysdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This financial/espionage thriller is about a shady Greek businessman’s attempt to destroy a Russian oligarch, Malin. This is done by employing British investigator Ben Webster who decides to investigate the oligarch’s front man, Dutch lawyer Richard Lock. The story is seen through the eyes of these two characters.
I thought the book was very well written with a style similar to John Le Carre. The book describes how a maze of offshore companies might be used for money laundering. I found this interesting if a little text book like. The author really conveys a mood of menace and gives a good description of the moral dilemmas facing Webster and Lock. However I found the pace too slow and the plot lacked excitement. Three and a half stars.

[Book Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt this book to be a 2 1/2 stars. For such a busy and intricate plot, the author did a very nice job keeping his writing, crisp and clean so that you could follow and fully understand what was happening. But then I kept expecting there to be more exciting events that would bring peaks to the story line but they never came. He also did a nice job of getting you to connect with the main characters, but not enough to be emotionally invested, which is what keeps me turning the page with enthusiasm. Overall, it was a book that was nice enough when I was reading it, but a book I had to remember to pick up to continue.

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a different type of spy/industrial espionage book. It’s so much more plausible than the others I have read and the characters are created as realistic people, they are not simply one sided and mysterious.

The book drags a little in some parts, as if it could have been a bit shorter and not quite so detailed, but at the same time I think that’s part of what makes it so realistic. And despite that I still felt myself wanting more detail, not about the land scape which was constantly talked about, but about the “business outside of business”, the few parties and dinners, that sort of thing.

All in all a great, but different, book.

Received as a goodread, thank you!

[Liz Lipperman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read thrillers, preferring lighter mysteries, but the premise of this book intrigued me. Not only was I pleasantly surprised, but I also got a great history lesson as a bonus. The author weaved his fast paced plot through Russia, London, Berlin, and the Riviera and carried me right along with him. By the time I hit the halfway mark, I began to wonder why it has taken me so long to read this genre. If The Silent Oligarch is representative of the genre, count me in for more, especially if they're penned by Mr. Jones.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jones has written a fairly engrossing book about the duel between an investigative journalist and the chief financial advisor to a powerful Russian oligarch. It's not suspenseful, but the characters are interesting and the writing is of a high caliber.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I'm going to read the others in the Ben Webster series!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great. Could hardly put it down. Cliche but true. On to Ben Webster #3!

[Sharad Sakorkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I leisurely browsed through this book with lot of time on my hand in a charity book shop before buying. A debut novel that too invoking the name of my favourite author. I agree with The Guardian "New Le Carres" are 10 a penny, but Morgan Jones has a better claim to the title than most... I loved reading the Agent of Deceit.

It is a story of, yes, I would say two lead characters - Richard Lock and Ben Webster. Powerfully portrayed, both of them leave a mark on one's mind. Russia after break of Soviet Union. The Russia of Putin and his oligarchs. Lock is an Anglo-Dutch lawyer working in Moscow for years since the early nineties. He allows himself to become an underling of an oligarch, helps him earn huge money and also earns for self as well. Right from the beginning one gets a feeling that this seems to be a decent guy in the wrong place. A professional who puts his head down and does things as told. The impression gets confirmed as the novel progresses. Webster, on the other hand, is an English journalist turned spy working for a private intelligence agency in London after having spend ten years as journalist in the "new Russia." Nurses a bee in his bonnet about exposing corruption at the high places. Soon ill luck catches with Lock. He has to save himself and his oligarch boss from international attention and hounding. Webster's consulting company gets into the picture. Stalin's long standing dictum comes into play "No man, no problem." Webster takes it upon himself to save Lock and bring down the oligarch, 'the boss man.'

Characters a deeply etched. The prose is economical, precise and helps one see oneself in whatever is happening in the moment. There is a part where one witnesses a minor oligarch's daughter's birth day.
It is quite captivating to see what it means to be rolling in money and splurge cash. The author builds sufficient tautness, tension and the reader gets drawn in fully. At the same time it is not one of those mindless-action-guaranteed type of spy stories. It evokes all kinds of feelings. As I have already said, the story is grounded in reality.

Go for it. It is a sensible spy thrillers.

[Elizabeth Sulzby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is what I wrote about this book on Facebook (in lieu of a review):
RACHEL MADDOW WATCHERS: In his first novel, "The Silent Oligarch,"(Penguin, 2012) author Chris Morgan Jones has an investigator character say the following about money laundering from Russia which will make much sense to Rachel Maddow Friends: "Because the money flows through the States. All money flows through the States, just about. Let me tell you something. In Manhattan, southern district, on an ugly stretch of wall in the Assistant U.S. Attorney's office, there's a big poster showing the Milky Way. And underneath, it reads, 'Jurisdiction of the Southern District of Manhattan.' " This was in response to the Dutch man who was the fake owner of a "whole bunch" of Russian companies and who had just been testifying in the Cayman Islands about this business and thought he had come out of it quite well--until the investigator told him they had questioned him gently because the FBI is now investigating him. After voicing outrage the Dutch frontman asks, "Why would the FBI be interested, all of a sudden, in Cayman companies and Russian oil?" So, see, Friends, life mirrors fiction. Or fiction mirrors life. See why Rachel knows the southern district of Manhattan is tied to everything? And why 45 HATES those offices?

[Gordon Gauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is unlike any book I have read. With all the talk of collusion and Russian meddling I thought this would be something to help me understand the way the Russians are involved in business around the world. I would recommend that you read it in chunks and don't spend too much time away between reads. Easy to get confused on who is dealing with who.

[Eddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It looked like an interesting story, but it seemed slow. So when something happened I missed it because the writing was bland. I read til the end to find out what happened, but I couldn't wait for it to be over because it didn't keep my attention. The characters seemed ok, it was just the style.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's tough to follow the excellently written Sough House series. Nothing terribly wrong with this book, but not as engaging. This book has a finance and business theme. A different type of espionage mystery.

[David Crosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, slow paced initially but it suited the scene setting. I was fully engaged with all characters and their situations, it all felt a bit doomed to not end well, and I wasn't disappointed. Thoroughly recommended.

[Margaret P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

[Darlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

For fans of corporate espionage thrillers with tentacles in Russia, have at it.

[Jean Papillon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think the real agent of deceit is the author of this boring, predictable, run out of the mill so called thriller. So much of it is implausible.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best novel I've read in 2016. Quite excellent

[Paperback Dolls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Previously posted at Paperback Dolls.com

My dad says that since the end of the Cold War, two things will never be the same again: James Bond movies and espionage/suspense books. This has often been the truth – I mean lets face it, it’s hard to find a good villain in this day and age and without the east/west division Berlin has just become a rather boring place for drop-boxes.

Which is why I was very excited and intrigued when I received the opportunity to review The Silent Oligarch by Christopher Morgan Jones.

Jones introduces us to the world of post-Cold War Russia – where if you managed to move quickly enough after the fall of the Iron Curtain, you are now sitting pretty as a billionaire thanks to Russia’s natural resources. In our case – Oil.

We are also introduced to three main characters:

Konstantin Malin has reached the top position within the Ministry of Natural Resources – a simple government bureaucrat, no? Well, obviously not. In fact, thanks to his frontman Richard Lock he has been laundering oil money for years – investing and making money abroad and then bringing it right back into Russia.

Richard Lock, the money launderer who is the face for Malin’s many business interests, but he now feels that he is out of his depth – the ventures have just become too big. What started out as a great way to launder funds has now become a billion dollar industry he can’t seem to control.

Thanks to some shady dealings with another shady businessmen – the secrets these two men have been trying to hide might just be about to explode across the front pages of the international media.

Which is how we get to Benjamin Webster – in the days just before the end of the Cold War he was a young journalist trying to make a name for himself. An incident involving a young Russian colleague who was asking one too many questions led him to leave Russia behind. Now a corporate intelligence investigator, he is asked to expose Malin and Lock – and finds out there may be a connection between the events that led to his friend’s murder.

The Silent Oligarch is very much a character-centric book and together with the understated writing style it makes the reader feel as if we’re sitting in the room, on the sidelines watching as the story unfolds – it reminded me a lot of the John Le Care style of writing. Slowly building up the suspense and the drama to a masterful finish.

What I found to be extremely intriguing about The Silent Oligarch is that I was left constantly wondering who the ‘hero’ or protagonist of this book was. The POV changes every chapter or so between Webster and Lock so you get the sense that each of them, in a way, takes on that role. No black and white heroes and villains here – and it was in the grey areas that this book excels.

The POV changes also served to show the reader the similarities and contrasts between these two complex characters. In one chapter we see Webster with his family, the interactions with his wife and children. In the next chapter we see Lock realizing how much of his daughter’s life he has missed and what his relationship with his wife is like.

For both Webster and Lock the outcome of the Malin case will serve as a turning point and for each one there are moments when they wish they could just turn their back on it all and disappear.

Then there is the Silent Oligarch himself – Malin. Through Lock’s eyes we see a man of secrets and power, a man Lock looks up to, despises and fears all at the same time. As the book moves forward we learn more about his motives and how Lock came to become the man he is today.

I should add that there is another character that has a very important role in this book – Russia herself. I don’t know why I feel this way, but to me at least it appeared as if Russia wasn’t just a place where much of the plot took place, rather, Jones’ Russia was an actual presence throughout the book – a living breathing thing.

The Silent Oligarch is Jones’ début novel and I hope that it won’t be his last. Jones has a unique style and has written a brilliant tale of suspense – for the post-Cold War reader.

[Ashli Hughes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow burner, took a while to pick up but once it did I couldn’t put it down.

[Mal Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Refreshingly Original Thriller About International Intrigue with Minimal Violence

If you imagine today’s Russia to be in the grips of gun-toting mafiyas bound by their own Slavic brand of omerta and competing with Mexican drug cartels to rack up impressive body counts, you’ll be set straight by this thoroughly credible tale of high-level skullduggery based in Moscow and played out in London, Berlin, and the Riviera. In The Silent Oligarch, Chris Morgan Jones’ debut in the world of present-day espionage, you’ll encounter a sophisticated version of intrigue much more reminiscent of John Le Carre than Robert Ludlum.

This finely crafted novel revolves around an obscure Russian bureaucrat named Konstantin Malin, a lifer in the Ministry of Oil and Industry who controls a large share of his country’s oil and gas industry, the world’s largest. His front man is an English expat lawyer in Moscow, Richard Lack, whose Russian wife and child have left him for the less morally ambiguous clime of London. Lack is at the helm of a vast and almost impenetrably complex global network of shadowy enterprises, the sole purpose of which appears to be to launder enormous quantities of Malin’s money and funnel it back to Russia for investment.

Lack’s cozy life in Moscow begins coming apart when a Greek oilman, one of the many wealthy businessmen Malin has cheated, decides to unmask Malin’s fraud and put him out of business. Enter Ben Webster, a former journalist posted to Russia now employed at a significantly higher salary by a private, London-based intelligence agency. As Webster sets out to unravel the real story behind Lack’s role as “owner” of an enormous global energy conglomerate, Lack himself is forced to testify in court in several countries as a result of the Greek tycoon’s lawsuit. The truth begins leaking out, and even the FBI becomes interested in the case.

Tension builds as both Lack and Webster are tormented by their seeming helplessness in the face of the unfolding events, and the suspense never lets up despite minimal violence. The jarring conclusion will surprise all but the most insightful of readers.

This is a book written for readers, not for Hollywood. It’s told in the third person, with chapters alternating between Lack’s and Webster’s perspectives. With scenes set largely in such colorful places — the Kremlin, the Riviera, and luxurious hotels in Berlin and London — a talented screenwriter might manage to fit this twisted tale into the confines of a filmscript, but the interior dialogue that forms the heart of this novel would very likely be lost.

(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)