When Wall Street's worst-performing financiers start dying in suspicious ways, financial "consultant" Silas Cade--who happens to be a black ops vet--is hired by an investment banker to investigate. Are angry investors who lost their life savings targeting money managers? Clara Dawson, a fledgling financial blogger looking for a big scoop, wangles her way into Cade's investigation and soon gets caught up in the violence. Cade's role expands to protect her, as he discovers that greed has no boundaries, not even murder.
"Clawback" is a term used in the financial industry to describe cases in which a firm reclaims payouts that it's already made or investors agree to return dividends they've already received, to cover subsequent losses; to illustrate the concept, Cade exacts a particularly forceful clawback on one of his client's investors early in the proceedings. ("Mike Cooper" is a pseudonym for a former financial executive, who also has a prior track record as a thriller writer under a different name). Even with Cooper's detailed explanations, some of the intricacies involved in investment strategies may go over readers' heads, but the action is tight enough to make up for any confusion. And there's humor in the scenario of nervous bankers packing heat to defend themselves, which doesn't bode well when they all get together for a fancy event.
Cade is a likable character with a wry worldview, though he's a little slow in figuring out some of Clara's motives and those of the people doing the--and making a--killing. Perhaps, though, this makes him more accessible. The ending suggests he might have something in common with Jack Reacher and, like that character, Cade may not be such a loner when readers follow him to his next adventure. --Elyse Dinh-McCrilllis, freelance writer/editor, blogging at Pop Culture Nerd