THE INSIDER

The Insider Reece Hirsch

Sometimes your well ordered life would unravel when there are forces other than your own that control your destiny. What happens when your associate calls you on your work phone and you fail to respond? What happens when this person repeatedly calls and the next thing you know or see is this person pummeling down the outside of your office building. Thinking Ben Fisher committed suicide is what the killer would have you believe but taking over his major case as the lead corporate attorney dealing with a major merger between Jupiter Software and Pearl Systems will take down one young attorney named Will Connelly and send him on roller coaster ride that might never end.

Hoping to become a partner in the firm he works for he never expects his colleague to fall to his death from the roof right in front of his window. Having to take over, as the lead attorney was the first step to his well calculated and thought out downfall created by someone he would never expect. The major merger between the two technology companies would do more than just give them the intelligence needed to get ahead in technology world it would go as far as raising the prices of the stocks, giving information to the Russian mafia and then all plotted and methodically calculated to destroy Will’s life and career. Never seeing it come at him and the police thinking he was the prime suspect for Ben’s death, realizing it was murder, he is now the prime subject of an investigation by the SEC for insider trading. Foiled by his own hopes for success and yet blindsided when going to a bar and meeting up with a young girl named Katya who sets the plan in motion that was so well orchestrated by her and her cohorts that by the time Will realizes the deception it’s too late and he’s in too far. The merger is Will’s job to executive but when he learns more about it and realizes that the national security of our country is about to be compromised and that he is now a pawn of the Russian Mafia thanks to meeting this girl and now her two cohorts Nikolai and Yuri, Will is now in a no win situation. Can he prevent the leaks from going any further and what will it cost him if it gets in the wrong hands? Claire Richmond worked in due diligence and for some reason the partners fired her for doing poor work. Will told Claire the entire story form start to finish beginning with Ben’s death, through his various encounters with Katya, Yuri and Nikolai. He told her of his suspicion that one of the partners namely Grogan was involved with the Russians and got her fired because she was the one who found the link between Jupiter and the NSA. Added in the author and Will share that the two Russian thugs said they needed his help to get the encryption keys to the Clipper Chip devices that would allow them to hack into our financial systems, the Bart train system and even create a terrorist attack on using sarin gas. Using a friend at Jupiter who knows high-tech security and is guarding these keys, Claire did some fancy flirting and manages to get the key in a subtle way. Handing Will a silver memory stick and talking about what they know about the plan for the BART trains. The man at the helm is Aahif Agha a dangerous man whose associates would probably bring liquid sarin solution onto the train in water bottles or other containers. In each train the terrorists would puncture the bottle containing the sarin and leave it under the seat, just before getting off the train. When the doors shut the sarin would be leaking and emitting a toxic gas and you can imagine the carnage and deaths.
Things change when the authorities bring Will in to talk about what they think they know that he did and the charges are just piling up but will they stick? The DOJ, The SEC, the police, organized crime and the Russian Mob are all after Will. The two thugs will stop at nothing to hurt and torture him and Claire but will he be able to defend himself in the end? Finding a lawyer was paramount even though Sam one of the partners offered him help right after he was fired. Jon Coulter an old friend takes the case but what happens during the interrogations and the final outcome you just won’t believe. If ever anyone decides to become an insider trader author Reese Hirsch’s research, intelligence and vivid description of how it’s done and the end result for Will and others will convince you never to let it happen to you or even to try. The research is extensive and the plot is information driven and fast paced as the lawyers talk, the different agencies question Will and the final outcome is a fight to the finish.

 This is a legal thriller filled with murder and even more our own view of what happens when a huge corporation and its managing partners decide to take on the Russian mob and hopefully get rich in the long run. The merger seems straightforward at first until Will gets caught up in a fight against his own company the mob that he most likely will not win. Realizing that everyone in his company has their own agenda and that the murder and insider trading investigations have merged and the different agencies are after him to press charges they hope will stick, he soon realizes that he is the scapegoat and listening to Marjorie and Dennis question him and pretending to befriend him hoping he will tell what they already know about the mob connection and the Russians it takes every ounce of will power for him to deny any knowledge and keep silent.

At times Will is impetuous and forced into situations that most would think he should not be in a like getting into a car with the Russians or going to the club and confronting Boka one of the men in charge of the Russian operation and then facing off with the one person in his company he knows is behind his troubles. Confrontations that lead to unexpected outcomes and the truth behind the conspiracy is revealed as Will lays it out to someone close to him but the final showdown has yet to come. Ben’s murder, the threat to himself and even his mother, Nikolai and Yuri petty criminals and Boka the head along with someone close to him. What did the Russians invest in and did it involve Jupiter and Pearl? What about Aashif Agha and his role and who was taking money from Boka to go along with the plan? People die but no one involved would care and using the sarin gas to plan an attack on the BART trains did not really make this person pause for thought or think this was wrong.  When Will realized his fate might be sealed and the end result was that shots were fired as he left the one person he thought he could trust and the ending is so explosive you won’t see it coming. As will faces off with a killer in a battle that takes him deep into deadly waters and the final outcome and whether he is charge is something you will have to read for yourself. Tension rises, lives are at stake and Will Connelly’s will to survive will shock readers. A strong character but at times quite reckless and a plot that will give you chills until you find out the dramatic and surprising conclusion. When reading this novel you the reader must decide if you too want to become the next INSIDER!

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine