"Sizzling...engrossing all the way." —Los Angeles Times Book Review
Hit men stalk computer analyst Lina Alwen and financial investigator Sam Hoffman in pursuit of the knowledge the pair may have regarding a late Iraqi dictator's billions. From London to Switzerland, and from Baghdad to the mysterious corners of the just-budding Internet, this spy thriller covers the map to uncover a world of corruption.
May 30, 1994
Cynical intelligence agencies, international financiers and evil Iraqis make global mischief in this clumsy, unconvincing thriller set primarily in contemporary Europe. American Sam Hoffman works as a private financial investigator in London, providing a freelance intelligence service to wealthy businessmen and corporations. When a Filipino cook begs Sam to investigate his employer--Nasir Hammoud, a shady and powerful Iraqi businessman--who, he says, has murdered his wife, Sam discovers a tangled web of financial deception. Setting out to bring Hammoud to justice, Sam enlists the aid of several wealthy Arab friends, cronies of his father (an abusive, alcoholic ex-CIA operative) and Iraqi computer specialist Lina Alwan, the accounting systems' supervisor at Hammoud's London headquarters. The ensuing action lacks believability: trite dialogue is mouthed by cartoon characters whose only motivation consists of advancing the novel's creaky plot. Sam, prized for his expertise, comes off as a dim ingenue, while Lina is unconvincing in her metamorphosis from timid accountant to wily spy. In a denouement that seems almost a non-sequitur, Ignatius ( Agents of Innocence ) brings his Middle-Eastern trilogy to a close on an amateurish note.
July 31, 1995
A financial investigator attempts to uncover the secrets behind a London investment company supposedly linked to the ruler of Iraq in Ignatius's latest thriller.