Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099416751 ISBN 13: 9780099416753

Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd, 1997

Mark Fairfax is a young, successful trader in the City. His older brother richard is a genius, who has built one of the world's leading virtual reality companies. When richard is found dead in a Scottish fishing village, mark steps into his shoes. He discovers that Richard has developed a system that can bring virtual reality into every home and office. Such a system could be worth billions of dollars to large Japenese or American companies capable of exploiting it; and there are those that fear it would change civilisation as we know it - for the worse. Mark has to learn quickly as he is thrust into a world which he barely understands, where he can trust no one. As he struggles to save to save his brother's fledgling company from bankruptcy and unwelcome predators, he realizes that his own life is in danger. Mark needs all his trader's nerve and quick thinking to survive.

From AudioFile:

Mark Fairfax, British bond trader, has invested in his brother's Scottish virtual reality software company. When Richard is murdered, Mark must discover who killed his brother, who wants to kill the company and why Project Platform is so secret. West's versatile performance brings the British, Scottish and American characters to life without losing one ounce of the tension and suspense in this multistranded plot. Swift transitions of place and time are the trademark of this fast-paced abridgment. West's narration enhances the reality while challenging the listener to separate truth from virtual reality. M.B.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Publishers Weekly:

High tech and high finance make a natural pair, in real life and now in fiction thanks to Ridpath (Free to Trade), whose second novel features desperate characters trading in reality of the virtual kind. Narrator Mark Fairfax, a London bond trader, discovers that his brother Richard has been murdered in Scotland just as Richard's firm, FairSystems, was on the verge of a fundamental breakthrough in virtual reality (VR) technology. As Mark takes charge of FairSystems and tries to fulfill his brother's dreams, it becomes increasingly obvious that the murder has something to do with the breakthrough?and that Richard was not the only victim. Mark has his hands full trying to learn his way around VR while fending off hostile takeovers, cash-flow crises, terrorists and attempts on his life. He also has to deal with being dumped by one lover and finding a new one. Ridpath's pacing is brisk, and his use of largely Scottish settings is a welcome change from the usual American suspense backdrop. His characters are painted in broad strokes but, then, the thrills here lie as much in carefully thought out financial and digital tools as in the humans who wield them. Drawing on classic thriller elements, Ridpath has written a clever, if not very original, story with a trendy spin and a satisfying conclusion that should have readers buying up copies as fast as you can say "Bill Gates." $50,000 ad/promo; UK, translation, first serial, dramatic rights: Writer's House.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.