Ridpath, Michael

On the Edge

Fatal Error

The Predator

Trading Reality

The Marketmaker

Free to Trade: A Novel of Suspense

When the death of an attractive colleague and the details of a suspicious investment arouse the curiosity of a young bond trader at a small London financial house, he becomes caught in a web of international chicanery that could cost him more than his career.

"It is the author's insight into the complexities of the business that gives his novel so much life. And he can write.... Yes, he has a winner here." --The New York Times Book Review

Final Venture

Michael Ridpath knows how to follow the money, something he did quite successfully in his previous financial thriller, The Market Maker. In Final Venture, his protagonist is Simon Ayot, a likable young British associate at Revere, a venture capital company whose senior managing partner, Frank Cook, is also Simon's father-in-law. Simon has just pulled off a major coup for the firm, so when Frank abruptly denies a life-or-death round of further investment in NetCo, Simon's most promising high-tech client, he's completely surprised. Could it be that Frank believes the rumors floating around that Simon's been having more than business meetings with a woman in the firm? Vowing to dispel the rumors and change Frank's mind about dumping NetCo, Simon goes to the Marshes, Frank's country house, only to find him murdered. The police don't believe Simon's alibi, and soon even Lisa, his wife, is suspicious.

Meanwhile, the firm is still reeling from Frank's death. Its biggest investment in BioOne, a biomedical research firm, is in trouble, and Simon's attempts to get to the bottom of it reveal a corrupt link between Revere, BioOne, and the pharmaceutical company where Lisa is employed, which suddenly becomes a takeover target. Ridpath does a good job of explaining the arcane details of venture capital financing, but makes little of his setting (Boston) and even less of character motivation. In the absence of enough evidence to arrest Simon, it's difficult to believe that Lisa would suddenly turn on her brand-new husband, and her lack of insight concerning her own father's private life seems strange in light of their supposed closeness. The writing is sometimes clumsy, but readers interested in the intricacies of high finance in the venture capital market will find this a good primer on the subject. --Jane Adams

After young venture capitalist Simon Ayot finds his father-in-law lying dead from a gunshot wound, and all the damning evidence points to Simon. With the police determined to prove his guilt, and even his grief-stricken wife beginning to suspect him, he races to clear his name and save his marriage-all too aware that the next murder may very well be his own....

Praise for bestselling author Michael Ridpath:

"Move over, John Grisham. A new star has entered the world of popular action fiction." -Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan

"Michael Ridpath plots his story tightly and smoothly and roams all his worlds, virtual and otherwise, with authority."-New York Times

"[Ridpath] makes you feel... the thrill of playing a hunch and getting it right."-Los Angeles Times

"Entertaining....Succeeds at becoming more than a thriller without breaking the mounting tensions of the story." -Newsday

Free To >>> Trade: An Unprecedented Financial Thriller Of Internationsl Proportions, By Michael Ridpath, The Book On Abridged Two Audio Cassettes, Performed By Simon Jones

"FREE TO >>> TRADE: AN UNPRECEDENTED FINANCIAL THRILLER OF INTERNATIONAL PROPORTIONS BY MICHAEL RIDPATH, THE BOOK ON ABRIDGED TWO AUDIO CASSETTES, PERFORMED BY SIMON JONES: Paul Murray is a junior bond trader at the prestigious De Jong & Co. in London. Apprenticed to a cold but brilliant senior trader, Paul's career is on an international fast-track and he's enjoying every bit of it. That is until a female colleague turns up face down in the Thames, and Paul sorts through her files. When he discovers that the dead woman had found something fishy about one of the firm's investments, Paul begins to think a murder may have taken place. As he probes deeper, he finds several questionable individuals, all with reason for wanting..." [from case]

The Marketmaker

British brokerage firm Dekker Ward created and currently dominate the turbulent market in Latin American bonds. Their economic stranglehold is enforced by aggressive trading and smart decisions by Ricardo Ross, their most successful trader, better known as the Marketmaker. For disgruntled academic Nick Elliott, a job with Dekker's is his ticket to finally being able to carry his mortgage, and he is content to ride his luck as the new boy--until strange things start happening to Dekker employees. One top trader is fired, another dies in a bungled robbery. Nick falls for his colleague Isabel, and soon after she is kidnapped. Just what sort of business is he really involved in? And has he left it too late to run away?