The Fourth Order

by Stephen W. Frey

National security, terrorism, and human rights–these explosive issues lie at the heart of Stephen Frey’s riveting new thriller, a high-octane novel of suspense, revenge, and intrigue.

Dynamic chief financial officer Michael Rose is looking to add an exciting and profitable new dimension to energy conglomerate Trafalgar Industries via the major acquisition of CIS, a global information technology company. But it’s far from a done deal, thanks to fierce resistance from CIS, and from certain members of Trafalgar’s own board, to Rose’s takeover proposal. But Rose isn’t about to sacrifice his best shot at the score that could land him in the CEO’s chair. While swiftly scaling the corporate ladder, Rose has played the big business power game expertly enough to know he has the moves to outmaneuver the opposition. But what Rose doesn’t know is the truth about his latest adversaries at CIS–that they are linked to an organization hell-bent on a twisted mission and are lethal to anyone who stands in their way.

The Order, an ultra-secret shadow government agency, was founded by high-level administration officials in reaction to the assassination of President Lincoln. Nearly 150 years later, the group was galvanized anew by the worst act of terror ever perpetrated on American soil–and pushed to dangerous extremes by the specter of fear . . . and the taste of power. The Order had always been sanctioned to manage national security at all costs, by any and all means, without consequences. But behind the sleek veneer of CIS Technologies, the fourth and newest incarnation of The Order not only maintains the ultimate nationwide surveillance and intelligence-gathering system, but conducts officially licensed covert operations rife with torture and murder–all in the name of freedom. The mission cannot and will not be jeopardized, even if innocent lives must be sacrificed. Unfortunately Michael Rose doesn’t yet realize that his hardball tactics have made him the Order’s number one hard target, and his penchant for playing to win has brought him unwittingly into a deadly duel with an enemy more powerful than he can imagine. In a world where the rule is kill or be killed, Rose’s rep for sealing deals might just seal his fate.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Audiobook

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

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

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this story disappointing. Lots of bad things happen to decent people and injustice rules the day for the most part. 2 of 10 stars

[mark burdeshaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible disappointment

The plot has so many glaring holes it is just absurd. The characters are cardboard cutouts. No depth to them at all. Waste of time.

[Monzenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Business and politics mixing. If 2008 is the origin of many a financial book, 9/11 is the origin of many a modern political thriller. The book was thrilling enough though there are moments where I roll my eyes, and the finance wasn't finance enough for me to use that as a five-star crutch. A good story, still.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Constance Lechman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed page turner full of scarey, covert government activity.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thrilling,....Turns,lots, plans and twisting all the way.

[Tim O · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real page-turner !

[Eli · Rating 5 out of 5]

still need to finish this but it’s eerily close to americas reality right now ..

[Salsadancer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A political thriller book that links special ops, corporate take overs, brutal interrogation methods, family dynamics, and love affairs.

[JodiP · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was listening to this book and was finding it mildly entertaining, if completely unbelievable. The whole grey ops scenario was so over the top, especialy with Klein, 2nd in command going rogue because his boss was getting soft. Then Michael Rose, who is supposedly a brilliant exec, is so dumb he takes up with this totally gorgeous 25-year old *the day after his wife is killed in an accident.* He is completely insenstive to the needs of his two children, instead going out every day with this woman and getting drunk. I don't know how he was able to drive after drinking so much, especially after a life of very moderate drinking. The last straw: he is warned by his own co-conspirators about meeting any one new of late. When they ask him if this has happened, he says "no"! He alsoready has a few red flags about Kat by then, by he goes on seeing her. I gave up. Scanning the reviews on Amazon convince me that I won't read more by this guy--heseems to write the same plot repeatedly. Oh, and then the CEO of his company gets killed by the grey ops guys.....or is it Michael's co-conspirators? Don't know, don't care.

[Sharlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few great moments in this book, but they were few and far between. Unrealistic and unlikeable characters with a predictable plot. There were interesting contemporary issues explored, i.e., domestic spying, terrorism, torture etc., but the plot was choppy and sometimes downright boring. And most of all, don't give me a protagonist that I hate from the first page -- he works late, engages in relationship with not-so-sweet young thing the day after his wife is killed in auto accident -- and never seems to think twice about his two children who are left alone grieving their mother's death through the entire book! Made me almost wish HE died in the end! On a positive note--the reader, Holter Graham, is the best! In fact, his reading of the last book I listened to (The Husband by Dean Koontz) was what brought me to this book.

[Donna Halloran · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yuck! I think part of the problem is that the concept behind the book - there is a group, run by the president, that illegally detains and tortures US citizens to protect us from terrorism - was so distasteful to me that I just couldn't enjoy the book. Also, the lead character was beyond repulsive. He was so self-absorbed. I don't know if the author knows men like this, is a man like this, or thinks men are like this, but the main characters blatant disregard for his daughter's happiness was too much for me to handle. Who goes on a first date with a woman between the day your wife is killed and the day she is buried (yes, I said wife, not ex-wife)? AND Who goes on a second date the night of her funeral? Really? Really? Come on... I find it incredibly hard to believe this man exists.

[karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a political thriller book that links special ops, corporate take overs, brutal interrogation methods, family dynamics, and love affairs. The author had been a corporate finance force, so the writing is not flabby on that end. The writing style is something like 5 pages on 1 character or story, then 5 pages on a different but related story and character, and so forth. It builds to a climax (planes, terrorists - you know the drill), but the ending was muffed. It didn't have a good conclusion (too quick, murky) in that many of the sub-stories are left hanging.

I "read" the audio version, which is 9 cd's. The 1st 7 were on a road trip to N MN, and I was too hooked on it to wait for my next trip, so slipped the last 2 disks into my stereo. In that sense it is a page turner!

[Bryan Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is fantastic but...you get into the story, you get caught up in the plot twists, the book starts to come to a climax and then...you can almost hear the phone call from the editor saying "You've got to finish this book!" The book ends with a couple of gratuitous chapters that try to wrap the whole thing up in just a few pages. Terribly disappointing...either the author was too ambitious and had to rush it or he got bored. Great story...rushed finish.

For the record, Stephen Frey is one of my favorite authors...I love his other books.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should have been so much better than it was. It has interesting characters and a dynamite plot concept, but the execution of it just fell flat for me. There were so many gaps and dangling ends and things that just did not add up that I found myself totally frustrated throughout. And after all the build-up, the ending seemed almost cursory. Most of all, though, I was constantly thrown off when the main character was called "Rose" because, with all those characters to keep track of, I kept thinking she was some woman I'd forgotten about rather than our "hero" Michael. Don't think I'll be reading any more by this author anytime soon.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great mystery. Michael Rose, CFO for a large financial services company finds himself in the midst of a battle between forces in the US government seeking to fight terrrorism. Raises important questions about the role of government in invading personal privacy in the interest of national security, Beyond that it is a well written read, where even the bad guys seem somewhat human.

Reread in Jan 2014 - it is good to see someone question the hyper-vigilant security state and fear mongering and tell a good story while doing it. As always I wish the author could find a way to realistically end the story without rampant violence

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A USA agency, (The Fourth Order) inside the CIA and involved in anti-terrorist activities has a licence to kill anybody, even inocent American citizens to protect America, and make the president look good. An election is coming up. A highly placed government official has been sacked by the president and forms a group to expose the activities of the Fourth Order which have got out of hand, killing inocent people, he wants the president embarresed so he doesn't win the election. The main character, the CFO of a big corporation gets caught up in the middle when he tries to aquire an IT company that is used by the Fourth Order.

[ArtemisPearl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up at the thrift store and it may be a decent read, but it turned me off from the beginning. He lost me on page 2 when he's staring at an attractive young woman in the bar and thinks..."Mid to late twenties, he guessed. Old enough to be worldly, young enough to be impressionable." I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit. Decided life is too short to waste time on main characters you immediately don't like. Unless it has the promise of an interesting character or book - not a throw-away mystery. I checked the other reviews to see what the overall rating was and decided not to bother.

[Jill Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge Frey fan, but he fell a bit flat this time. All of the elements for another great thriller were there, but they just weren't tied together successfully. It's almost as if he was writing the book and suddenly realized that he needed to end it, so BOOM -- all story lines came crashing to an end. Also, none of the characters in this book were very likeable.....I just wanted them all to go away. I recommend just skipping this book unless you have nothing else to read -- be has written so many better ones.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Stephen Frey books but this one wasn't great. There were too many characters and the characters weren't fully developed. Michael Rose, the main character, wife dies and there's almost zippo grieving. In fact, the day after his wife dies, he's out on a date with a woman half his age. He experiences teenage boy syndrome in his "relationship" with this woman - it's called hormones. If you're a Frey fan, it's a must read but his other books are much better.

[Mylinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough story, corporate takeover combined with terrorists and corrupt gov't officials. The main character totally unlikable - was more concerned about a work meeting than his wife's sudden death, had a new girlfriend before the wife was buried, snuck off from the funeral leaving his kids behind to take care of business - just a real jerk.
3.5 for the general story, 2 for the unliklable characters, 3 overall.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had great potential, however the author was more concerned with interpersonal drama than actuall events. The underlying atmosphere he created was excellent, however the story had little content that was of interest. Too many characters, nearly impossible to delinate the protagonist from the antagonist. Sadly could have been much, much better.

Started 2,11,2010
Finished 2,15,2010

[Diane V-R · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting plot that will keep you mildly interested for its duration. The "hero" in the book is very unlikable and has you cringing about his choices and reactions. The other characters don't weasel their way into your affections either. As a result I didn't become emotionally invested in anyone and was blase to the outcome. A great pity as this would have pushed the book up to a new level.

[Marc Brooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first Frey novel. Narrative was good, but the story line dragged too much in character setup (how about less random people and more actual interest in the individuals?). The later 1/3 of the book felt like the editor said "okay, time to wrap it up" and Frey panicked. Every story line suddenly converge like a Beijing traffic circle, with similar confusion.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could very well be the worst book I have every read. I only finished it to ensure that I could declare, without hesitancy, that from start to finish it is one of the most horrendous pieces of "literature" ever crafted. Poor and unbelievable characters, predictable twists and turns, and chock full of plot devices birthed in convenience and laziness.

Absolutely stay away from this clunker.

[Mom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Issues in this book: how far does one go to protect the country and the people? How much power can one assume before being corrupted? Powerful questions answered frivolously using a hero I couldn't stand, a rich guy who pursues money and adultery obsessively, and prevails, and the only character who finds redemption kills himself.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great thriller with all the twists and turns. I found it easy to keep the large cast of characters in mind and the only disappointment in the book is I didn't really like any of them! Let' hope our government has not gone this far in keeping 'tabs' on us!

[Johnnie Gee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was not as good as it was 7 years ago. The main character is an idiot and so are a lot of the others around him

Went from 3 to 2 stars. I don't know if I have a more refined taste in books or if I am just more......

[Jane Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lead character is a dud. I kept reading but Michael Rose is unbelievably stupid and naive for a grown man much less for a supposedly hard nosed CFO. His attraction to the blond bimbo was beyond stupid. The only thing that made me finish was the conspiracy.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book from Frey follows a super secretive government group in charge of finding terrorists. Financier Michael Rose is trying to takeover one of the companies that helps them target terrorists and they pull out all stops to try and stop him. A typical reused Frey plotline, ok read.