The Takeover

by Stephen W. Frey

This is a thriller set in the world of high finance about a mergers and acquisitions specialist who finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving a huge leveraged buyout that has the potential to topple a presidential administration.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Business

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

For the last 15 years I’ve been lucky enough to be a novelist. Until recently the books were set in the worlds of Wall Street and Washington. In addition to writing, I’ve also had a career in finance with specialties including merger & acquisition advisory and private equity at firms like J.P. Morgan in New York City and Winston Partners just outside D.C. in northern Virginia.

So, it seemed natural to write about those two worlds and, fortunately, the publishing industry agreed. My first book was published in 1995, The Takeover; about a secret group of men who were trying to destroy the U.S. monetary system by engineering a massive corporate takeover. I have followed The Takeover with 13 more novels all set in high-level finance and national politics.

Recently, I decided to alter the theme. The novels will still have a financial focus, but Wall Street won’t be the backdrop. We’ll get out into the world more. And there will be a man versus nature element for the hero in every novel. Hell’s Gate, available August 2009, is set in Montana and involves forest fires and why many of them start.

I live in southwest Florida with my wife, Diana, and we have since 2004 after moving down here from northern Virginia. Given the new direction of my books, it seems like a hurricane ought to make an appearance in a novel sometime soon.

Reviews

[Patrice Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I read by this author. It was a little over the top but I really enjoyed it. I look forward to reading other books by this author. At first I was thinking why is this "rising star" such an idiot. There were so many red flags from the beginning of this hostile takeover. The other thing that gets me pretty confused is why a guy so powerful risks so much to ruin a junior partner. WTF!!!???! That makes no sense.

[Joel Ungar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The plot is a little far fetched but believable and the characters held my interest.

I'd call this a Grisham on Wall Street and not Ludlum. In Ludlum the arch villian turns out to be someone who was the 4th in a card game on page 132 and that wasn't the case here.

I read this while on vacation and would read other books by the author for the same purpose.

[Joshua Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining book, but Frey has a tendency to make every character a little too slick. Virtually everyone who is "good" has the capacity to hustle at something, for instance ... pool, liar's poker, whatever. It seems a tell of Frey's to determine who the good guys and the bad guys are. Something that sets them apart by revealing their scrappy toughness. Convoluted? Yes. But fun nonetheless.

[Mike Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

His first novel. Bestseller in US. Financial thriller. Start is slow (only the promise of the blurb kept me going). Too many names, introduced one after the other. I forget which is which. Some padding in places (eg. 12 pages devoted to explaining fishing). But, half way through book it hots up and becomes a page turner, and there's a good ending.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Wall Street thriller, set in the later 1990's, kept me reading through to the end. With plot twists worthy of 'Castle', and a protagonist who at first impressed me as the most naïve financial genius I had ever read about, I would definitely recommend this read. Enjoyed it very much.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up because I thought the author’s reputation as the “John Grisham of Wall Street” would be cool. The book started off strong but was trying way too hard to be The Firm. I don’t know if that was an intentional inspiration but it wasn’t nearly as gripping as that book and it never felt like we got to understand the protagonist past him being “genius finance guy”. I liked the Wall Street setting and themes a lot but I don’t think it executed being a book in that sub-genre past the referenced to a hostile takeover and M&A - it would’ve been cool if it leaned more into the finance world stuff. Overall not a terrible read but not something I’d recommend to a friend - I am curious enough to give this author another try and see if I just picked a weaker entry in his catalogue.

[Monzenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two, maybe three, reference points for me for The Takeover. One of course is the first Frey book I have read: Trust Fund. In that I can say I enjoyed The Takeover as much as Trust Fund. The focus and details given about another aspect of the financial world, this time on mergers and acquisitions, was lovely. The thrills were thrilling. Yet again a cabal was present, and was nice.

Partially gave me pause was the "obviousness" of one of the villains, and also the bit of sexism that was by the end of one of the chapters. Had to pause to consider whether I liked the book, or if I really liked the book.

Well, the ending convinced me I really liked the book. And here's where the comparisons to Grisham are apt, especially The Runaway Jury and a little bit of The Firm. While it's a bit exaggerated that the main character would be able to square off against an expert assassin, the part about planning the cabal takedown was not. From start to end I was convinced that the main character had both the wits and charm to pull off double-crosses, find necessary information, and execute his plan. And sure, the ending was a bit trite and explaining how the main damsel ended up was a bit rushed, but overall it remained plausible.

Add up the thrills and the main topic with the sensible main character, and I'm good to give this one five stars.

[Ranjanks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very entertaining. I could not put it down and stayed awake late night to finish it. But two major pain points. One what kind of magic bug a financial guy can put in that is not solved by multiple computer geniuses. Second in the end it kinds of pulls FBI out of nowhere. What charges will seven be arrested on? How come they were so powerful in most of the book but they could not figure out FBI was investigating them. How can an untrained guy find out whether he is being tailed or not? I felt after setting up such a tense novel it was kind of just magicked in the end.

[Robin O'Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read for me. The typical summer novels do not have enough action in them for my reading taste so I read a lot of espionage . Sometimes though once you read one espionage, you have read them all. This was a different kind of action book and probably couldn’t be written in today’s day and age since it was written prior to the internet. Amazing what we can go now that we couldn’t do twenty years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

[James Michels · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant corporate thriller involving a business smart/street smart hero named Andrew Falcon who goes up against a small secret society of blue bloods aiming to take down the President. Corporate thrillers are so refreshing in my opinion, and somewhat educational, and this is one of the best. A lot of political commentary in this book as well as on the economic privileges of the top 1%. It may be based on opinion, but it’s a very interesting perspective.

[Aleixander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro con una temática nueva para mi y que me resulta muy interesante
El mundo de las financias es un lugar turbio y hostil donde tienes que cuidarte las espaldas en todo momento
Este libro demuestra esto completamente y te hace cuestionar el trasfondo que envuelve a los negocios y a la política

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

At this point it's an old book, but still timely. A legal thriller with murder suspense twists and turns. A long book, which usually i disklike, but not this one. The pages turned fast. Highly recommended.

[Chuck Clowdis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good...just not great

I guess my expectations were just too high.
Plus,the closure was most disappointing.
Still a clever,albeit a convoluted plot line to maker dualistic.
Yet I patiently persevered....a uniquely positive outcome.

[Levi Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down. Stephen Frey is known for financial thrillers and even if you are not interested in finance, it is still a book that’s hard to put down. This book was written in the 90s, so it’s kind of laughable what people did before cell phones and computers and internet.

[Courtney Mauzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good 2 day beach read at SBI. I found it in library here. Wall Street/political intrigue which I trust is a bit far fetched. Nevertheless, Andrew Falcon saves day for us all.

[Don Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very good. The financial story was very good. Then it deteriorated into a kill sleaze story.

[Evie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best! Keeps you on the edge until the very end. Do not start reading this book on a weekday.

[Marlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. Very believable. Frey does it again!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page turner!

[Belén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for hooking me up and reading it almost in one go. Then again, three stars for all the leaps of faith I had to take with the characters to believe their actions.

[Ricardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

História banal sobre uma aquisição hostil em que são manipuladas várias pessoas para tentarem falir vários milionários e prejudicar o presidente.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about money hungry investment bankers and corruption. Numerous characters (referenced by first and last name interchangeably) made it a challenge to keep everyone straight.

[Sharyn Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

[LDean · Rating 4 out of 5]

S, L

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I inhaled this, a mixture of the wolf of wall street and james bond. Not my usual genre however i throughly enjoyed it. Very over the top but a great read.

[paula Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una genialidad. Ame la forma en la que fue contada la historia y la inteligencia del protagonista.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a complex thriller with a host of characters, all entwined in a finacial thriller. I strongly recommend that you read this with as little ditraction as possible. I made the mistake of starting the book during a mid week holiday where reading was low priority. I lost track of who was who and who did what. Not the book's fault just me not paying 100% attention. Once I got back to my normal distraction-free routine, I picked up the thread and the second half of the book is as good as I have ever read. OK, so the financial jargon and complex deals was a bit over my head, but it didn't affect the huge enjoyment of reading a first class thriller with plenty of twists, turns and sub-plots with a superb ending.

[Laurie P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Just ugh.

Everything about the "hero," Andrew Falcon (*snort*) is cliche. He's a tall, ruggedly handsome, babe magnet who assesses every woman he encounters as a potential sex partner. And he has a secret past! He's somehow able to simultaneously impress and outwit top financiers, military men and professional assassins. The female characters are all presented through the lens of how attractive they are to Falcon. By "attractive" I mean f*ckable, because he doesn't care how untrustworthy or demanding they are as long as they look good. I know this was written 25 years ago, but still.

Because I don't want to give anything away (*another snort*), I won't even get into all the unbelievable stuff that happens. On the other hand, I did finish it so there's that, I guess?

[Justin Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am glad I went back and read some of the earlier work of Frey's that had eluded me up to this point. In the Takeover we are introduced to the way things will be for Frey's longer running character Christian Gillette in subsequent books. Here the main character Andrew Falcon is basically targeted by a rich, powerful group for revenge. Figuring out how to beat them at ever step of the process is what makes this book fun.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows the format of several of Frey’s other thrillers. A top secret cabal threatening to wreak both fiscal and political havoc on the US Andrew Falcon a young trader being set up as a patsy in an act of revenge has to tie all the pieces of this conspiracy together to keep himself out of jail and stop the financial markets from cratering. Ok read I don’t like it as much a Frey’s more recent novels.