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Stella Sartori and Jack Rogers, both Australians, work for a New York bank. Their boss, Frank Spiteri, sends Stella and her team to Peoria to report on the takeover of Collins Military Systems by the Kradel company. Spiteri’s friend Daniel Cross, now head of Kradel and formerly head of CMS, complains that Stella has stolen an important file. Spiteri promotes Jack from the market floor to the mergers and acquisitions section, and sends him after Stella and the file. Cross’s aggressive behaviour convinces Stella of the accuracy of her intuitive belief that the file is very sensitive indeed. Jack keeps an open mind about her motivation and does not accept Cross’s claim that she wants to profit from the theft. At the core of Stella’s concern is a poem ‘The Virgin’s Secret’, written in the 1960s, which seems to hold the key to Cross’s past.
- Book 1 Title: The Contract
- Book 1 Biblio: Michael Joseph, $32.95 pb, 475 pp
- Book 1 Cover Small (400 x 600):
As Jack pursues her, his growing sympathy endangers his membership of the ‘Wall Street Boys Club’. The case attracts the attention of FBI Agent Shannon Winters, who finds that Agency files relating to a CMS detonator contract in the 1960s have been censored. The body count rises and the conspiracy theories increase in gravity as Stella and Jack search for the evidence that will clear them. Their refusal to co-operate fully with the authorities is perhaps understandable, but their actions are deadly for anyone with knowledge of the contract or the file and dangerous for their own families.
After a long opening, Brett Hoffmann creates moments of real tension. Neither Stella and Jack nor Cross can be sure of the outcome should the poem’s riddle be solved. Hoffmann contrives an interesting resolution with plenty of surprise turns. The prose in this début novel is mostly assured. Nothing disconcerts the intrepid crusaders. Readers who can suspend their scepticism about the bravado displayed by Stella and Jack should enjoy this adventure.
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