Before heading to prison he had manipulated a breakup of his marriage to transfer assets to his wife, the luscious Angie. Upon release he finds Angie comfortable in Louisanna without him.
While he is prohibited from trading Weld Securities, a medium size firm, hires him to determine if there are shenanigans within the firm. A young government bond trader, Brian Sanders, under suspicion by the SEC, has died. An internal investigation revealed no improprieties. While the death was ruled accidental the firm’s management has heard whispers the SEC investigation could be expanded. Stafford is sought out because of his two years of successful skulduggery. A thief to catch a thief.
On his first day Sanders’ sales manager takes him for a lovely lunch at Le Bernardin for “pan-roasted monkfish in red-wine brandy sauce” with a nice Sancerre.
He is provided an office that he notes is smaller than his prison cell and sets to work reviewing trading records. He feels the office walls “squeezing” him.
Surprisingly for a thriller his 5 year old son, the “Kid”, is a significant character. He is autistic with huge issues that have exhausted his mother and grandmother. He is intelligent but has explosive reactions including biting and screaming fits, He jumps off stairs trying to fly. Every day of the week requires different coloured clothes. Wednesdays he wears only beige. Eggs must always be scrambled. He is passionate about cars. Stafford seeks out doctors and therapists and a caregiver for $48 an hour. While he had set up a trust fund for the Kid before jail it will run out of funds before the Kid runs out of the need for professional help. Stafford needs a large income.
Stafford knows the weaknesses of trading systems but was not a bond trader. He intends to apply that knowledge once he gains some understanding of the nuances of bond trading.
Traders are not investors. They are money movers constantly shifting large sums of money looking to achieve a small percentage profit per transaction. There is significant risk but abundant potential reward. I was hooked.
Stafford encounters the classic frustration of the investigator with witnesses, especially those trying to be helpful. They pass on what they consider important. With every litigation client I say tell me the details. Let me decide what is important. Still I get surprises.
Documents are at the heart of the case. Careful analysis is needed of huge numbers of transactions.
Stafford meets Wanda the Wandaful, a beautiful doctoral student, who earns money as the assistant of a clown / magician. She is insightful and an excellent listener. Stafford is entranced.
However, Stafford lacks integrity. After two years in jail he still only does what is right when he thinks doing wrong will be caught. Temptation will always abound on Wall Street.
Sears credibly works the Kid into the investigation in a way I had not seen coming.
Without Sears providing explanations for trading processes I could not have understood how money can constantly flow around Wall Street. The amounts are staggering.
Black Fridays is what a thriller should be. Stafford, Wanda and the Kid are real people. Stafford and Wanda have intelligent conversations. The Kid has some progression in school and relationships. The securities people are equally real. They have families. They struggle with the insane pressure of constantly trading. There is violence but realistic violence far below the level of the average American thriller. Sears ratchets up the tension through the book. I was deeply impressed.
Black Fridays, published in 2012, had been lurking for years in a TBR box when I pulled it out a couple of weeks ago. I wish I had found it sooner. Black Fridays was the first in a series featuring Jason Stafford. I am going to have to find more of the series.
This does indeed sound like a well-written thriller, Bill. I like the fact that Stafford sounds like an authentic human character, and not the sort of 'superhero' that populate too many thrillers. People don't always think of financial trading as excitement; the day-to-day parts of it aren't always that thrilling. But it sounds as though Sears has made it work very well here, a bit like the 'Emma Lathen' team did for banking with the John Putnam Thatcher series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Margot. Stafford is closer to "anti-hero" than "superhero". He has a big personality while remaining a real guy. I thought of the John Putnam Thatcher series while writing my review. I could not think of a way to tie them together. Since reading your comment I think had the Emma Lathen team written thrillers I could see connections between John Putnam Thatcher and Jason Stafford.
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