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The Silent Oligarch

A Novel

Christopher Morgan Jones - Author

Paperback | $16.00 | add to cart | view cart
ISBN 9780143122982 | 336 pages | 29 Jan 2013 | Penguin | 8.26 x 5.23in | 18 - AND UP
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“A happy partner to the work of Deighton, Archer, and le Carré... carried on craftily understated prose that approaches cold poetry… a first-class novel." (Booklist, starred review)

Racing between London and Moscow, Kazakhstan and the Caymans, The Silent Oligarch reveals a sinister unexplored world where the wealthy buy the justice they want—and the silence they need. The first novel by Chris Morgan Jones—after his eleven years of work at the world's largest business intelligence agency—The Silent Oligarch introduces Benjamin Webster, mercenary spy to the rich and powerful. Hired to destroy a Russian oil baron, Webster discovers that his target's weak spot is a diffident English lawyer who hides the money generated from his master's vast criminal empire. Soon Webster's questions cause the lawyer's fragile world to crumble, forcing them both into a desperate race around the world to escape the oligarch's vengeance.
 



"This is a happy partner to the work of Deighton, Archer, and le Carré... Mysterious men, cryptic of speech and beautifully tailored, move through glittery settings-seacoasts, grand hotels, swank neighborhoods-carried on craftily understated prose that approaches cold poetry. Rows of massive buildings "bullied all the leaves off the bare limes and left the trees cowering in the middle of the road." Ben Webster is a snoop employed by a London corporate espionage firm. His boss' client has hired the company to bring down a Kremlin functionary, the toadlike Malin, whose manipulation of Russia's oil industry is making him a trillionaire. Webster attempts to get at the toad through his dithering money launderer, Richard Lock. Reader identification is complete. We'd like to be Webster-tough, smart-but we know we're really more like Lock, not as bright and strong as we wish. Men are betrayed. Drugged. Kidnapped. Tossed off buildings. Downed by snipers. If the good guys win, it's at such a cost they're left wondering if they accomplished anything. They did. They were part of a first-class novel."
-Booklist

"Fans of thrillers, especially those set in present-day Russia, will welcome the supernova that has burst onto the spy and suspense scene . . . VERDICT: With a mysterious, complex plot and terrific local color, this novel resonates to the pounding heartbeats of the boldly drawn main characters. John le Carré, Martin Cruz Smith, and Brent Ghelfi will be inching over in the book display so readers in search of erudite, elegant international intrigue can spot the newcomer."
-Library Journal

"Jones' sketches of all that is good and bad about London, Moscow, Berlin seem dead-on, right down to his marvelous detailing of the decadent lifestyle of the new Russian oligarchy, a group where school children receive Ferraris as birthday presents. His bad guy, Malin, "impermeable" eyes "dark brown and heavy, neither curious nor passive," is thoroughly sinister. The author also is adept at constructing and explaining the complicated post-Soviet Russia ambiance. Told in the third person, his narrative moves forward with an aura of malevolence to a conclusion too close to reality to be anything but believable.
Minimal gun-flourishing, minimal violence, maximum moral quandary."
-Kirkus

"From Chris Morgan Jones, an absolutely terrific novel. It's about international intrigue-but the real deal. The Silent Oligarch is beautifully written, clean and terse, but you won't notice, because you'll be reading just as fast as you can. Very highly recommended, and you'll want more."
-Alan Furst, author of Night Soldiers and Dark Star


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