Free to Trade: A Novel of Suspense

Author: Michael Ridpath
List Price: $23.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 006017630X
Publisher: HarperCollins (January, 1995)
Sales Rank: 839,287
Average Customer Rating: 3 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5
A good mystery
Ridpath did an excellent job of weaving information about financial markets and trading into a mystery that spans the globe from London to Phoenix. He did a great job of portraying the people caught up in the bond and borrowing industry, and the ethical dilemmas they face. I would heartedly recommend the book.

I would put the book on par with Dick Francis and Grisham.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Needs some sharpening
There is a germ of a good book in here. It needs to be whittled down by 50% and the characters need more personality. It has some excitement in the trading scenes, but you have to slog through worthless stuff to get to them. For example, we go through a long, dull chapter describing a visit to the narrator's mum, hear a description of his father, his father's death, etc. and it really is all for naught. I hope his other books are better. Maybe if he read some Hammet or Hemmingway he can pick up some pointers on how to make the prose more efficient.

Rating: 2 out of 5
Plodding style and corney characters - not much fun!
Thrillers set in real worlds are often the best escapism, I find. But not this time. Why? Because Ridpath's leaden writing deprives his setting of any real blood or believability. The result is rather tedious, because you'll find it very hard to care what happens to any of the hollow characters involved. A very over-hyped thriller...

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