The Successor [Audio CD]

Stephen Frey (Author), Holter Graham (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America; 1ST edition (2007)
• ISBN-10: 0792740432
• ISBN-13: 978-0792740438
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,305,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Frey is a managing director at a private equity firm. He is the bestselling author of fourteen previous novels, including The Fourth Order, The Insider, and The Takeover. He lives in Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hopefully The End Of The Series!, February 8, 2007

By 

Melvin Hunt (Cleveland,, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Successor: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is the fourth book in this series.Our hero is once again Christain

Gillette.He was elected Chairman of Everest by one vote.Since being the chairman he has had phenomenal sucess at making money for the firm.

In this newest book there is once again a plot to do Christain in.Victoria Graham,the chairperson of PennMu and members of the Washington D.C. power trust have hire Melissa Hart to get close to Christian Gillette and keep them informed of his plans.Victoria Graham and her cohorts have also hired Steven Sanchez a contract killer to deal

with Christian Gillette.

Christian Gillette is called upon by President Jesse Wood to act as a laison in Cuba.Wood is the first black American President.Cuba is about to undergo a coup.Wood wants Christian to talk to the leaders of the coup,

a group called Secret Six.Victoria Graham and her coconspirators want to use this event to nail President Wood and Christian for their part.They

want revenge on Christian for stopping the nano technology plot.

This would have been a good book if you would have left out the Cuba

plan.This dropped the book several levels.Our friend Quentin Stiles was also killed in this latest book.I hope that Frey goes back to writing good business books.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Dissenting Opinion, February 12, 2007

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Successor: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is the fourth in a series and although other reviewers have said the predecessors are better, I do not think I will indulge. I did not think this book was very good.

The premise of this book is that a rich capitalist is, for some unfathomable reason, picked by the president to decide if a group of revolutionaries in Cuba are the right ones to accomplish a coup. Getting there is apparently the trick. As absolutely loveable as this icon of capitalism is, it is somewhat - and only somewhat - apparent that there are at least two groups who want to kill him. When and where and why are all left to the last pages. There are women all over the place fawning over him and yet possibly conspiring against him. Very little makes sense for the first 198 pages. The book is written with glances at all the characters a few pages at a time. These glances are as disorganized as the rest of the book. I am not sure why this is described as a "thriller". It was a hard journey to get to Cuba with many asides that did not add to the plot or the characters.

The characters are all cardboard cut-outs. How's this for an original character? The icon's best friend is his black security director who was saved from gangs by his grandmother who enlisted him in the Army. Of course, he was Special Ops and then retired to go into private security. That's about all the depth you get of him. No character had any particular depth, which you would expect from a fourth book in a series.

In the end, the parts do come together. The coup is accomplished in about 2 1/2 pages and Gillette, the star, is only in country for about 8 pages. It did not seem as if Mr. Frey knew how to get from point A, the assignment, to point B, the coup in Cuba. He tried to get all sorts of intrigue with love and spies, but it just didn't work. Just to complete the formulaic nature of this book. At the end, the star leaves, waling into the sunset. Literally.

I would suggest passing over this book. If you want corporate intrigue go with Finder's books and skip this one.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Redux, May 27, 2007

By 

W. P. Strange "Bill's shelf" (Williamstown, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Successor: A Novel (Hardcover)

I liked the first few Frey novels of high finance and the people who deal with money - good and especially the bad, but now I have the feeling that I am re-reading the same book over and over. The writing is adequete, and the characters are interesting, but sorry to say it seems to be the same plot over and over. The author has come to a point where he needs to stretch a little more or risk losing his audience.