This book was brilliantly plotted and riveting the way Frey built the tension and connected the intricate pieces of the world of high finance. He took us inside the mind of a venture capitalist, Christian Gilette and showed us how the man thought and how he did what he did--without boring me.Unfortunately Christian was the only character with any character. The women in the novel were very two dimensional and extremely unlikable, especially the woman with the biggest speaking part. She was nasty whiny, shallow, and mostly behaved like a petulant child. And the worst sin is that she was not entertaining. There was no chemistry between Christian and either of the two women he was meant to have chemistry with--I only know there was supposed to be chemistry because I was told repeatedly by every character in the story--another no-no. But that plot--fabulous! I needed to keep reading this book to see how everything fit together and I rooted for Christian all the way. In spite of the annoying female characters. And I will definitely read the next book by Stephen Frey.
A fast-paced, fun novel that ended up being quite predictable. As head of Everest Capital, a major private equities firm in New York, Christian Gillette found business moving at an extremely fast pace. Thanks to two of his protégées, David Wright and Allison Wallace, Christian Gillette feels at the top of his game as head of Everest Capital. However, when a supposed undercover government agency recruits Gillette and his company to act as a "cutout," a project that exists for purposes of spying, Gillette, along with his protégées-- neither of whom is who he or she pretended to be--walk into a web of financial and political intrigue and suspense. Very enjoyable.
What do You think about The Protégé (2006)?
Fast-paced like a thriller? Yes, but there can be too much of a good thing, like so fast the author neglects to tie up all the plot strands credibly. Or, not doing basic research (examples: President Truman lived in the Blair House in the 1950s is only half true--see http://www.blairhouse.org/s_r_truman.... -- or the Iranian character who identifies himself as "arabic" -- Iranians are NOT Arabs) Sloppy, and like so many poorly written thrillers, depends on heaping implausibility on top of implausibility.
—Kendall
