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Graham Gage #2
Absolute Risk
A terrorist bombing in Asia . . . A dead FBI agent in Marseilles . . . Bank accounts linked to a genius finance professor in Boston . . .Days after failing to arrive for a secret meeting with the Federal Reserve chairman, FBI agent Michael Hennessy's body is found at the base of a cliff. But was it suicide or murder? A call from the chairman sends Gage hunting for the truth.
Can investigator Graham Gage make the connection before his world collapses?
As a desperately ill U.S. president prepares to hand over power to his vice president—a man in the thrall of religious extremists—Gage follows a trail of deceit and terror to a conspiracy that threatens to plummet the world into chaos. But for Gage, there is even more at stake. His wife is trapped between an uprising in Central China and the ruthless Chinese government. And unless Gage exposes the greatest treachery of our age before the clock counts down, Faith will die.
- GenresFiction
448 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
11 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Steven Gore
10 books30 followersSteven Gore is the author of the Graham Gage thrillers and a former private investigator in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been honored for his investigative achievements, has been featured on 60 Minutes, and has lectured to attorney and investigator organizations on subjects ranging from police misconduct to the design of investigative databases.
Series:
* Graham Gage
Series:
* Graham Gage
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 8, 2010
Wow, Gore has a way of packing each sentence with a very tight edge. This is high grade thriller writing. I'm only 20 or 30 pages in, I'll let you know how things play out.
I finished "Absolute Risk" and I'm sorry it was only 427 pages, it went too fast.
In case you folks didn't know this: Steve Gore is HERE on 'goodreads', I did not know that until he sent me a note about my earlier post of his book "Absolute Risk" - which I finished yesterday afternoon.
Gore's detail, and I MEAN in-depth brain twister detail on such a level, and, mixed with his brand of commentary perspective through the characters, that I wonder if the man hasn't walked the halls of the 'ivory towers' of the world himself or had conversations with the 'powers-that-be' personally.If you read and ponder his bio, well, it wouldn't at all be a stretch of the mind to think so....
I mention it because this quality of narration, description and dialogue, as any writer knows,is critical to ANY fiction story particularly a thriller, but here Gore takes it to another level, a way higher, better, one, 'ala' Steve Berry, and even beyond, while still keeping it understandable for us mere mortals.
2 books in the Gage series so far, I need to get my hands on the first one "Final Target", and I will. My only complaint is this: I'm into another book already, DeMille's "The Gate House" and I keep thinking about Gage and his wife in China and the last person they saw there as the story closed. (I'm laughing as I write this, it's not really a complaint but a protest....)
I highly recommend this book, it will leave you entertained, enlightened and wanting more. Publisher's Weekly and Richard North Patterson give him glowing reviews. The book is all that they say and more and for me, at the end of the day, it's simply a good old fashioned "kick-ass" ride!
I finished "Absolute Risk" and I'm sorry it was only 427 pages, it went too fast.
In case you folks didn't know this: Steve Gore is HERE on 'goodreads', I did not know that until he sent me a note about my earlier post of his book "Absolute Risk" - which I finished yesterday afternoon.
Gore's detail, and I MEAN in-depth brain twister detail on such a level, and, mixed with his brand of commentary perspective through the characters, that I wonder if the man hasn't walked the halls of the 'ivory towers' of the world himself or had conversations with the 'powers-that-be' personally.If you read and ponder his bio, well, it wouldn't at all be a stretch of the mind to think so....
I mention it because this quality of narration, description and dialogue, as any writer knows,is critical to ANY fiction story particularly a thriller, but here Gore takes it to another level, a way higher, better, one, 'ala' Steve Berry, and even beyond, while still keeping it understandable for us mere mortals.
2 books in the Gage series so far, I need to get my hands on the first one "Final Target", and I will. My only complaint is this: I'm into another book already, DeMille's "The Gate House" and I keep thinking about Gage and his wife in China and the last person they saw there as the story closed. (I'm laughing as I write this, it's not really a complaint but a protest....)
I highly recommend this book, it will leave you entertained, enlightened and wanting more. Publisher's Weekly and Richard North Patterson give him glowing reviews. The book is all that they say and more and for me, at the end of the day, it's simply a good old fashioned "kick-ass" ride!
December 25, 2013
Private investigator Gregory Gage is asked by asked buy the chairman of the Federal Reserve to investigate the death of a former FBI agent. In China, Gage's wife Faith is leading a group of American students when a massive earthquake hits and a people's revolution begins. Gage discovers information of a major worldwide financial fraud that could wreck the world's economy.
September 18, 2019
An interesting read. Copyrighted in 2010, this book was about a fictional financial scheme with worldwide players. Americans thinking they are beating the system, while the Chinese are setting everyone up for a worldwide financial fall and depression where China comes out the winner. Evangelical Christians are trying to take over the U.S. government and their leader wants a financial disaster to befall the world. Sound familiar?
November 27, 2011
Although it appears to be a economic thriller which promises excitement from the very first sentence, I was disappointed with both the pace and the plot of Absolute Risk. I think there are several reasons for its failure to excite or even engage me as a reader:
1. The Prologue is over-written, confusing, and un-exciting. It overflows with narrative and geographic descriptions that kill the pace and is over-stuffed with ambiguity and complexities that may be meant to titillate, but simply bore and frustrate the reader. Far from being the hook to grab readers, it almost convinced me to stop reading altogether.
2. Although the pace and narrative drive cleared up a bit as the book got underway, a series of factors killed almost all possibilities for suspense or any feeling of actual endangerment for the protagonist or virtually anyone else. Part of this is because the primary plot is not really a thriller at all. Rather than a series of events occurring which ratchet up the danger for a hero acting to meet a deadline, we get a tedious reconstruction of past events of completely indeterminate importance, sprinkled with a few low-level thugs or stunning incompetence. I dog-eared the page that showed the first (and practically only) moment of actual suspense for me as a reader. It was in Chapter 44. That's right, Chapter 44. The major subplot in China is at least an event of some clear importance running in real time, but involves not our hero, but his wife, who is pretty much a passive observer. Worse yet, the two plot lines are only tangetially connected and the danger to our hero's wife is made less credible than it needed to be.
3. The political subplot is peopled entirely by crude caricatures of actual characters and is contrived and artificial at almost every turn, crescendoing in the actual assertion that the Secret Service would arrest the President due to a White House altercation, that is if someone ran down the hall and got them, since they are strangely absent from being anywhere around the President at the time. (Although clearly left-of-center in its political leanings, the book is at least not rabid in its condemnation of conservatives and conservative thinking, though, of course, corporations are responsible for all evil in the world.)
4. The economics shows some sophistication in parts, but the economic threat posed by the somewhat complex schemes recited is so oversold as a threat to the continued existence of civilization that the cartoon-like resolution of the crisis actually made me laugh out loud repeatedly as the book supposedly reached its thrilling climax, except that there was nothing thrilling about the end at all--just more passive standing around while literally nothing happens because the markets are closed and our hero rushes to China to stand around while his wife continues to be well-treated by the Chinese PLA.
This book was plodding along to a weak three star review until the completely silly, non-credible, passive, and unsatisfying final chapters, where it became clear that the threat powering this supposed eco-thriller was all non-substantive hocus-pocus. In the end, I didn't care about the characters, the economic threat, the writing, or the mystery. I just didn't care at all.
I obtained Absolute Risk for free under Amazon's Vine Reviewer program.
1. The Prologue is over-written, confusing, and un-exciting. It overflows with narrative and geographic descriptions that kill the pace and is over-stuffed with ambiguity and complexities that may be meant to titillate, but simply bore and frustrate the reader. Far from being the hook to grab readers, it almost convinced me to stop reading altogether.
2. Although the pace and narrative drive cleared up a bit as the book got underway, a series of factors killed almost all possibilities for suspense or any feeling of actual endangerment for the protagonist or virtually anyone else. Part of this is because the primary plot is not really a thriller at all. Rather than a series of events occurring which ratchet up the danger for a hero acting to meet a deadline, we get a tedious reconstruction of past events of completely indeterminate importance, sprinkled with a few low-level thugs or stunning incompetence. I dog-eared the page that showed the first (and practically only) moment of actual suspense for me as a reader. It was in Chapter 44. That's right, Chapter 44. The major subplot in China is at least an event of some clear importance running in real time, but involves not our hero, but his wife, who is pretty much a passive observer. Worse yet, the two plot lines are only tangetially connected and the danger to our hero's wife is made less credible than it needed to be.
3. The political subplot is peopled entirely by crude caricatures of actual characters and is contrived and artificial at almost every turn, crescendoing in the actual assertion that the Secret Service would arrest the President due to a White House altercation, that is if someone ran down the hall and got them, since they are strangely absent from being anywhere around the President at the time. (Although clearly left-of-center in its political leanings, the book is at least not rabid in its condemnation of conservatives and conservative thinking, though, of course, corporations are responsible for all evil in the world.)
4. The economics shows some sophistication in parts, but the economic threat posed by the somewhat complex schemes recited is so oversold as a threat to the continued existence of civilization that the cartoon-like resolution of the crisis actually made me laugh out loud repeatedly as the book supposedly reached its thrilling climax, except that there was nothing thrilling about the end at all--just more passive standing around while literally nothing happens because the markets are closed and our hero rushes to China to stand around while his wife continues to be well-treated by the Chinese PLA.
This book was plodding along to a weak three star review until the completely silly, non-credible, passive, and unsatisfying final chapters, where it became clear that the threat powering this supposed eco-thriller was all non-substantive hocus-pocus. In the end, I didn't care about the characters, the economic threat, the writing, or the mystery. I just didn't care at all.
I obtained Absolute Risk for free under Amazon's Vine Reviewer program.
October 6, 2012
I picked this one up to read after I finished Money to Burn by James Grippando, but I honestly couldn't get past the stumbling. First of all, as I read the Prologue, I felt like, "Why is he giving us this now? Why isn't this being sprinkled in later, since the guy might be dead, and even if he isn't, how would knowing how he got there add to the suspense?"
As far as I'm concerned, the Prologue detracted from the feeling of suspense, so I set it aside for now, in hopes of reading it later and possibly appreciating it better.
update 04/09/12 - A couple of months later, I still felt the same about the Prologue of this book. However, the beginning seems a little more interesting now, even if the Prologue feels extraneous.
update 10/06/12 - This book took me so long to read not because it was tough to get through or because it was a slog, but because it had so many mind-blowing instances. I like heady novels from time-to-time and this one was kind of heady, but not in a bad way.
I just mean there are many instances where I thought, "wow, this could really have happened..." which demonstrates how well-done this book was. At no time did I feel out of sync with the story or the characters. I had to take a break and let the all-too realness of the book settle in and let my mind just relax. I do not regret reading this book. Not one bit! Steven Gore has definitely elevated himself to a "must read" status for me.
Even though this was the second book with the same main characters, the author did a tremendous job at not making the reader feel as though he/she missed anything in my opinion. The characters felt very well developed for me...at least the ones that really mattered to the characters involved in each scene/setting.
The plot was intricate but not hard to follow. It's definitely a dense read - very unlike the many dialogue driven novels out - so if that's not to your liking, then this might not be the book for you. If you like a good intrigue, a bit of mystery and some suspense, then this is the book for you.
You get to follow Graham Gage as he traipses all over Marseille as he hunts for clues to what happened to Hennessy. You also get to experience some instances in China through the point of view of Faith Gage. The situations get sticky, and there are some interesting twists and unexpected turns which make this book well worth the read. Will definitely be looking to read the third novel! (and the first one too!)
As far as I'm concerned, the Prologue detracted from the feeling of suspense, so I set it aside for now, in hopes of reading it later and possibly appreciating it better.
update 04/09/12 - A couple of months later, I still felt the same about the Prologue of this book. However, the beginning seems a little more interesting now, even if the Prologue feels extraneous.
update 10/06/12 - This book took me so long to read not because it was tough to get through or because it was a slog, but because it had so many mind-blowing instances. I like heady novels from time-to-time and this one was kind of heady, but not in a bad way.
I just mean there are many instances where I thought, "wow, this could really have happened..." which demonstrates how well-done this book was. At no time did I feel out of sync with the story or the characters. I had to take a break and let the all-too realness of the book settle in and let my mind just relax. I do not regret reading this book. Not one bit! Steven Gore has definitely elevated himself to a "must read" status for me.
Even though this was the second book with the same main characters, the author did a tremendous job at not making the reader feel as though he/she missed anything in my opinion. The characters felt very well developed for me...at least the ones that really mattered to the characters involved in each scene/setting.
The plot was intricate but not hard to follow. It's definitely a dense read - very unlike the many dialogue driven novels out - so if that's not to your liking, then this might not be the book for you. If you like a good intrigue, a bit of mystery and some suspense, then this is the book for you.
You get to follow Graham Gage as he traipses all over Marseille as he hunts for clues to what happened to Hennessy. You also get to experience some instances in China through the point of view of Faith Gage. The situations get sticky, and there are some interesting twists and unexpected turns which make this book well worth the read. Will definitely be looking to read the third novel! (and the first one too!)
February 23, 2011
The book, although marketed as a thriller, has a strong apocalyptic tone throughout that the U.S. financial system can be manipulated to collapse causing economic chaos at all levels. Any reader with a basic understanding of how the U.S. government borrows money that is then infused into the financial markets will comprehend the chilling reality of what Steven Gore proposes--China, who owns the bulk of our debt instruments of several trillion dollars, now control our country's financial future as well. The author uses the debt, civil unrest in China, and U.S. hedge funds that are actually Ponzi scams, to craft a well written plot with a fair bit of action--though it is slowed down on occasion for an financial chalk talk session--with the irrepresible Graham Gage, PI extraordinaire, driving the action. I would recommend the book only for those who enjoy an econometric lesson or two along the way. I did find the book a worthwhile read.
April 1, 2013
I'm a big fan of action and crime solving, so when I saw that Absolute Risk was a combination of both, I couldn't help myself! I had to read it!
This book is about an investigator named Gage who is trying to link heinous acts together. But, he must solve it quick before time runs out and his beloved wife, Faith, dies. The action in this book is shown in every page, which keeps me very excited throughout the book. Also, the crime solving portion keeps me on my toes and wondering what new discoveries are going to appear and affect the plot.
This book is about an investigator named Gage who is trying to link heinous acts together. But, he must solve it quick before time runs out and his beloved wife, Faith, dies. The action in this book is shown in every page, which keeps me very excited throughout the book. Also, the crime solving portion keeps me on my toes and wondering what new discoveries are going to appear and affect the plot.
March 29, 2012
the 2nd Graham Gage novel...a race to save his wife and stop economic terrorism against the US...an economic and political thriller that certainly borrows the economic uncertainty of today's budget crises...so-so read!!!
December 27, 2011
A fast paced novel that keeps you wondering throughout.
July 5, 2011
My son, 25, loved this book and insisted I read it. It took me about 20-30 pages to get into it and then I was hooked.
August 8, 2013
Loved it...didn't want to put it down!!!
August 21, 2015
Talk about relevant even a few years post publication Absolute Risk is a fresh read. Can't wait to grab another from the author!
February 7, 2016
An above my head financial story.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews