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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good story, but a little 'borrowed'..., July 6, 2000
Let me start off by saying that Stephen Frey is a very good writer, and THE INSIDER is a very suspensful and entertaining read. Unfortunately I have read some of Frey's other works prior to THE INSIDER (THE TAKEOVER, THE INNER SANCTUM, or THE VULTURE FUND for example.) The problem is that while Frey's books are very enjoyable to read, they do tend to follow the same format. That is, the hero is a recently hired investment wiz in a high rolling investment business and is tricked into either participating or covering up a scheme of some sort. One reviewer said that Frey's characters are all very attractive people that have similar personalities. That comment was well founded. Now don't get me wrong, I loved THE INSIDER, Jay West was quite a character. But Frey uses the same character mold in his other books (THE TAKEOVER), and after reading some of his other books the theme gets played out. I gave it 4 stars because if it is the first Frey book you have read, then it is very good. However, if you have, like me, read his other material, then you will quickly find THE INSIDER to be a little anti-climatic.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quick read with a resourceful main character, August 9, 2000
Stephen Frey is a talented writer who provides his readers with main characters who have the uncanny ability to get themselves into trouble without even trying. In his latest outing, THE INSIDER, that poor unfortunate person is Jay West, an unlikely candidate for a seat on an arbitrage desk at a boutique investment house on Wall Street. Jay is everything that he shouldn't be in investment banking. He is not an IVY grad and lacks a prestigious MBA. He holds an English degree from Lehigh University and comes from a working class family in the steel region of eastern Pennsylvania. Despite his apparent shortcomings, he is selected, recruited and hired for a position with McCarthy and Lloyd and his future looks bright. Immediately immersed in the day-to-day activities of the arbitrage desk, Jay proves to be so insightful that he shortly realizes all is not as it should be. Once he catches on, he still tries to succeed because after all, he has a powerful incentive. At the end of one year, he stands to reap a cool million dollars as his bonus. But that reality is never meant to be and Jay is set up to take a serious fall. Before the book is 2/3 of the way through, Jay is being pursued by the US Government and some really nasty characters from an extremist Irish liberation organization. Another reviewer here at Amazon has stated that Frey borrows his newer characters from books he has previously written. I won't diagree completely. Some of them are starting to sound very much alike. But there is still enough of a difference to keep the reader wanting to know how Jay West will get out of his precarious position. That's what makes Frey's books such entertaining page turners. He doesn't use a lot of detail where it isn't necessary and he keeps the plot moving in a forward direction. This is not Tolstoy or Faulkner. What this book is is a quick, entertaining read with a likeable character who the reader comes to care for. A beach book or a book for when you're snowed in is what comes to mind. I've read his other books, also sold here at Amazon and liked them enough to seek this one out. Give it a try, I think you'll like it.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad for fast food, but beware of the IBS, July 25, 2000
By A Customer
Like so many modern authors of pop literature, Stephen Frey tries to be everything to everyone. He wants to be Robert Ludlum (terrorism), John Grisham (corporate espionage) and Raymond Chandler (noir heros and heroines) and fails on all counts. He's the got the set-up down pat, but after the first 100 pages, when plot development is needed, the book falls apart, clinging to a series of ridiculously convenient and contrived scenarios. There are some potentially interesting characters here like Oliver Mason and Sally Lane, but we never learn enough about what's going on inside of them to care what happens. This is in part due to Frey's frenetic point of view jumping, placing us inside the heads of every character but never delving below what we can find on the surface. This style of voice (3rd person omnicient)can work, but here it just comes off as sloppy. All this might be forgivable, but then Frey grinds the story to a halt in the last third of the book by explaining every bit of back story (we've already gleaned 90% at this point) through one of his main characters while he's walking through the park! How many people review events chronologically and in this much detail? Proof yet again that yarn spinning and writing are very different crafts indeed.
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