The Silent Oligarch: A NovelChristopher Morgan Jones
Penguin Press, January 2012
ISBN: 978-1594203190
A London intelligence agent pursues a money launderer to expose the dealings of a shadowy Russian oligarch.
Chris Morgan Jones crafts a superior tale of international deceit and deception in the financial thriller The Silent Oligarch. His previous experience in an international business intelligence agency appears to serve as a basis for the novel’s plot. The Silent Oligarch follows the story of investigator Ben Webster's attempt to expose the huge money-laundering operations of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malin. Malin is immensely powerful, dangerous, and a worthy opponent for Webster, a journalist turned investigator still haunted by the death of his friend Inessa.
Aristotle Tourna, a Greek magnate, is convinced he was cheated in an acquisition of a company from Malin. He files a law suit and hires a London based business intelligence firm to gather information in an attempt to destroy Konstantin Malin. Benjamin Webster, with previous experience as a journalist covering the gas and oil industry in Russia, is chosen by his company as the lead investigator. Webster is delighted to take on the challenge, particularly when he starts to wonder if Malin might just be the elusive man behind the murder he has been trying to solve for so long.
Richard Lock is the front man for the Russian Minister of Natural Resources, Konstantin Malin and is responsible for setting up a complicated array of shell companies to launder money for Malin. Lock is the man Webster needs to turn in order to bring down Malin. Webster believes the key to everything will be to find Richard Lock and get him to cooperate. He quickly finds that this involves more than simple business corruption when people who agree to talk to him wind up dead. He begins to wonder whether or not it’s worth the risk to dig any deeper.
The Silent Oligarch is an amazing debut novel and the author’s knowledge of this world definitely shows in the intricate plot details. Jones writes like an insider, not only in the complex details of shell companies but also into the mindset of those who control them and those who are being controlled. The story is full of mystery, intrigue, suspense and plenty of twists and turns. The story moves along smoothly with sufficient action to keep the reader interested right up to the end. This is a very good first novel by Chris Morgan Jones.
CHRISTOPHER MORGAN JONES worked at the world’s largest business intelligence agency, Kroll International. He has advised Middle Eastern governments, Russian oligarchs, New York banks, London hedge funds, and African mining companies. The Silent Oligarch is his first novel.
ISBN: 978-1594203190; ISBN10: 1594203199; Imprint: Penguin Press; On Sale: 1/19/2012; Format: Hardcover; Pages: 336; $25.95
