The Reason: It's About More Than Just the Money

by Quentin Brent

The Reason was honored as a Finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards' First Novel Category for 2016 Illicit profits were part of Zane Donovan's work at a financial firm. Suddenly the stakes change when his family is violently abducted. Following a trail that was never meant to be uncovered, he realizes that the Great Recession of 2008 granted the government control that America's founding fathers never meant for it to have. By printing money with Quantitative Easing, the Federal Reserve is doing something no criminal has ever accomplished--and the catastrophic economic implications are worth killing over. Zane's race to save his family leads him to a corrupt Federal Reserve Chairman with a sinister past, a beautiful computer espionage expert, and even a God-fearing, gun-toting grandma. As Zane confronts his tormentors, his training in mixed martial arts allows him to finally understand that mom was wrong--sometimes violence does have a purpose. In this first book of a series, Zane must decide between exposing the truth or preserving the financial strength of the world. However, only Zane knows the real truth and why it can't be revealed. The Federal Reserve isn't just about money. While it also involves domination and control, it all comes back to one thing. The Reason.

Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

480 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2015

About the author

Quentin Brent graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1983 with a degree in economics. He has had fifteen years in the banking industry, with the last five as his bank’s president. He is currently part owner and CFO of a $600 million company.
Quentin has trained and fought in various disciplines of martial arts for several years, including bare knuckle fighting, Muay Thai, and non-sanctioned tournaments and fights. The fight scenes in The Reason are based upon fights he experienced. He can be reached at quentin@quentinbrent.com.

Reviews

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

With heroes who are questionable, desperate and tainted, who fooling who? Strings are being pulled in all directions, who are the puppets and who are the puppet masters in this dark thriller where the goal is power, control and the grand prize is the almighty dollar? Is the Federal Reserve behind this evil plot for elicit gains or are they using one man’s knowledge and the threat of losing his family to dig deep, very deep into a money-making scheme that is feeding off the innocent like a vampire hot on the trail for blood? Three individuals, a financial genius, a former black ops soldier with a penchant for martial arts violence and an expert computer hacker do a deadly balancing act as the hacker plays both sides of the fence for the hunted and the hunter. You like grit? You like true suspense and a thriller that questions that clandestine government operations we know go on behind closed doors? It’s all here, in a twisted and diabolical plot from Quentin Brent’s The Reason.

Mr. Brent feeds just enough twisted information to keep the reader guessing and desperate for more as he weaves an intriguing plot with slightly dirty characters into one non-stop thrill ride! Raw, dark and at times a little eerie, if suspense over the quest for the almighty power of the dollar is your genre…this is a must read.

I received this copy from Quentin Brent in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Beaver's Pond Press
Publication Date: October 20, 2015
Genre: Mystery | Thriller
Print Length: 481 pages
Available from: Amazon |  Barnes & Noble
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com

[Dane Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! Didn't want to put it down. From the first page to the last, very well written.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reason: It's About More Than Just the Money
Quentin Brent
2015: Beaver Pond Press

What a Ride!!! "The Reason" by Quentin Brent is a thrill a minute, roller coaster of a novel that you won't be able to put down!!

Zane Donovan and his family live a rich luxurious lifestyle, supported by his job in the financial industry. The problem is - Zane has been involved in some dirty games, and although he is getting filthy rich, his conscience is beginning to bug him. Now, his conscience and moral values may very well endanger his life, as well as everyone he loves.

The twists, the turns, the surprises will grab you! I LOVED this book!! Life got put on hold once I picked up "The Reason" - because I couldn't put it down!!!

I received this book for free to review. I am a member of NetGalley, Goodreads, and Librarything, as well as maintain a book blog at www.dbettenson.wordpress.com.

[Donna Maguire · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...

I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by Smith Publicity about the possibility of getting a review copy of Quentin Brent's new book and also taking part in his blog tour. After a few technical issues, I can finally post my blog tour!

I am so happy that the publisher asked me to review the book, I loved the style, the way the chapters were laid out reminded me of James Patterson's novels, keeping them short and punchy to make it a real page turner. It was a chilling thriller and I loved it. Its a really good story and I was engaged from the first chapter. This is the first book by Brent and I will certainly be looking out for his work in the future, an excellent debut.

[Virginia Winfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful roller coaster ride. Just when you think you know what is really going on you find out differently. At times you like all the main characters and then you aren't sure what they are really like. This flows well. I look forward to reading more stories by Quentin Brent. I received this book from Smith Publicity for a fair and honest opinion.

[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chilling story that had me racing through the pages.Highly recommend this edge of your seat thriller,

[Sue Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason by Quentin Brent.
Illicit profits were all part of Zane Donaldson’s work as at a financial firm, but suddenly the stakes change when his family is violently abducted. Following a trail that was never meant to be uncovered, Zane realizes that with Quantitative Easing, the Federal Reserve is doing something no criminal has ever accomplished—and the catastrophic economic implications are worth killing over.
Together with a computer hacker and a seemingly helpful special ops warrior, Zane must decide between exposing the truth and preserving the financial strength of the world. However, only Zane knows the real truth and why it can’t be revealed. The Federal Reserve isn’t just about money. While it also involves domination and control, it all comes back to one thing.
The Reason.
Really good read with good characters. I liked the story and the characters. Full of twists and plots. 4*. Netgalley and Smith publicity.

[Liquid Frost · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are several interesting characters, action, violence, kidnapping, death, guilt, hidden motives, and more - yet it took me a couple months to get through reading the book. The writing style is perfectly fine and editing is pretty decent. My interest ebbed and flowed and I wasn't sure if I'd finish the book or not.

There is too much secrecy and hints of past evil in too many of the characters, which continually receive mention, but that is the stick that leads to the carrot near, and at, the end of the read. For me it was off-putting. That and two, too-religious characters spouting off their beliefs scared me off as I didn't know a great deal about this book or author. It feels like a thumper book at times. I got passed that and it isn't a church-lit story overall.

Once I forced myself to read another chunk, the story opened up quite a bit and I ended up reading the last half over a two week period. This too is telling if you know me. I eventually became invested in the story and wanted to see where it lead. For me, there are two false endings. I was going to be perfectly fine with an ending without all the answers, but the book carries on and ultimately does provide its secrets. What should be an epilogue ended up being the last 30 or so pages.

For the violence, this is a solid 4 Star. For the lack of hook, thumpers, and too-long conclusion, I'm knocking this down to about a 3 Star read. It is fairly convoluted and took a long way to get to the final reveal.

That said, it was entertaining. I was provided an advance copy for review

[Kasey Cocoa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely well classified as a thriller. Although a touch muddled at the very start and a less than stellar finish at the very end, it still manages to hang on to that fourth star. I rarely mention covers but this one really fits the feel of the book. Every character had their own angle and dark threads. They were well crafted and fleshed out and kept true to who they were throughout the book. The plot threads were nicely weaved with none left unfinished or hanging out. I like that things weren't brought together and tied up in a nice neat bow in a perfect pattern. There's potential here for a solid thriller author. I'd keep an eye out for future releases. I received an ARC through Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion, which may or may not mirror your own.

[Jenn Belden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've started and stopped this book, and sadly I gave up. It takes a lot for me to quit a book completely, but this one just didn't hook me in - too many evil characters, too little explanation WHY they were evil. Lots of telling, not enough showing. Lots of carrots thrown out but but they were tiny and withered for me to chase.

The storyline was just too convoluted and took too long to really unfold to hold my interest. And it pains me to leave any negative reviews because just because this wasn't my cup of tea, it may be yours - books are a uniquely personal thing. Maybe if I held out a little longer...but no.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Clay Wescott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A financial thriller set around Minneapolis where an M&A company buys bankrupt firms by first securing large life insurance policies on the owner, and then arranging for beneficiaries to sell the policy to them, which the firm collects on when the owner dies. This was the first of a series: the second novel: The Truth, has many of the same characters and contrivances, including fake deaths.

A former bank president, then CFO and part-owner of a $300m company, then financial thriller author Quentin Brent (née Darryl Peterson) regrettably died from an early morning bike accident in August 2020: https://www.winknews.com/2020/08/09/n...

The late author's site is: https://www.quentinbrent.com/

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced

The book was very fast paced, which I enjoyed. There were a lot of twists and turns which kept me guessing. Overall it was a good read.

[John Johnstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zane works selling insurance for an asset stripping organisation, but his wife and family are abducted. His search for his family, with help of his friend Tec, starts to uncover some disturbing facts about who controls the company he is working for. The plot is classically complex, as government is involved but hidden from view but combines well with the author’s easy reading writing style, making the story easier to digest. As events progress Zane must make life or death decisions on exposing the truth or preserving the status quo in the financial world. The story examines the thorny subject of morality, should I or should I not, what comes first, money, family or? All this whilst presenting a regular government conspiracy theory. It all makes for a very interesting, thrilling and very original storyline. By the way did I mention that almost all of Zanes friends are into martial arts.