Meltdown, a fast-moving
suspense novel based in Paris and set in the world of high finance,
is the first of a trilogy featuring academic-cum-sleuth, Samuel
Spendlove.
Meltdown is a story of
quest, love and moral retrospection. Sent by a powerful media baron
to unearth the truth about the suspected market manipulation of the
shares in a publishing company, Samuel Spendlove stumbles upon a
far bigger, infinitely more dangerous plot to bring down the
world's financial markets. Forced to go on the run in fear of his
life, the only way he can prove his innocence, save himself and the
financial future of the world is to out-trade Khan, the legendary
king of traders. The apprentice must out-magic the sorcerer, and
all he has is a laptop and the help of a beautiful Parisian Marxist
lawyer …
The second in the Spendlove series, Version
Thirteen, sees Samuel in Moscow for very personal reasons.
But events spiral out of control, and he is forced to confront some
of the darkest forces behind the emerging capitalist economy of
modern Russia.
Earlier books include the business bestseller A Fool and
His Money (Orion, 1996).
A Fool and His Money is a collection of
satirical essays on the nature of the markets and the behaviour of
those who work in them, as the sub-title indicates: "High Life, Low
Living - Understanding Financial Markets and Those Who Work in
Them".
Styled on the lampooning, oppositional satire of PJ O'
Rourke, in particular the US author's Parliament of Whores, A Fool
and His Money attracted some excellent notices.
Meltdown - Reviews and
reaction
"Exciting, intriguing, well-crafted: the business!" -
Duncan Bannatyne of BBC Dragons' Den
"A brilliant and accurate insight into the cut-throat world
of financial high-flyers. I couldn't put it down." -
Max Clifford, publicist
"Books that attempt to convey the atmosphere of a City
trading floor and succeed are extremely rare. On the fiction
shelves, I can't think of any … Baker's may be the first. His
account of the enormous, calculated play that gives the book its
name is compelling and more importantly, utterly convincing."
- Evening Standard
"A pacy plot, convincing detail and exotic locations pack
this financial thriller." - Daily Mirror
"All the ingredients are there - fervid scenes on the
dealing floor, a murder, a plot to destabilise the world financial
system..." - The Times
"A slick, fast-paced financial thriller. Samuel Spendlove is
a brilliant but bored academic lured into the world of high finance
by a controlling media mogul in the mood for revenge. However, all
is not as it seems and he has stumbled into something a lot larger
and more dangerous (but a lot more exciting than academia!). The
characters are colourful the plot increasingly byzantine but all in
all a highly distracting read. We believe its part of a 3 book
series so we look forward to the next two!" -
lovereading.co.uk
"Baker's prose is remarkably cogent, propelling the
narrative onwards with his convincing grasp of technicalities and
often racy sentiments." -
Godisinthetvzine.co.uk
"Martin Baker's racy first novel has a topical theme…
undoubtedly an exciting read." - Mail on
Sunday
"For those of us who are labouring under the impression that
money is dull, Martin Baker will cheerfully rip the shade of
deception from our eyes and show how truly exciting the money
markets can be. The narrative is certainly absorbing and I found it
far more exciting than some other books falling into the genre of
thriller.
"The characterisation is, to my mind, very well done.
Samuel's suffering as a betrayed husband, his willingness to take
on a new employment and his excellent ability in the world of
finance, given his trick memory, is completely credible. The women,
too, are painted beautifully and one could imagine meeting them -
should the reader mix in such circles - in the real world. Perhaps
the publishers, with their limitless ambitions and view of the
business world as a game, might seem a little exaggerated, but then
what, in high finance, does seem plausible to those of us with
limited knowledge of the world of money?
"Baker is the author of non-fiction as well as fiction. He
has, however, promised two more books in a series featuring Samuel
Spendlove. I trust the reading public doesn't have to wait too long
for a sequel to this financial thriller." -
Reviewingtheevidence.com
"With so many thrillers clamouring for our attention,
something special is needed to rise above the crowd - and on the
evidence of Meltdown, Martin Baker has just what it takes...
splendid, fast-moving stuff, in which the stakes move from personal
vendettas to nothing less than a threat to the global economy - all
pulled off with real skill." - The Good Book Guide
"A helter-skelter story that moves at the pace of a cheetah
on speed… writing with an assurance and conviction that leaves no
room for doubt. Baker spices Meltdown up with as much sex as I can
remember in any crime novel that doesn't feature the Marquis de
Sade. And it's not plain vanilla sex either. There's something here
for every armchair fetishist, and highly entertaining it is
too.
"Meltdown is not going to win Baker the Booker Prize, but I
suspect it will win him something infinitely more valuable: a large
army of thrill-seeking readers for whom this is the perfect
commuting/beach read. It is entertaining, undemanding and
relentless, and it's not difficult to see why Macmillan believes it
has another star on its hands.
"So my advice: sit back, switch off and enjoy the
ride(s)." - Material Witness
"It's better than anything Dan Brown has come up with, yet
it has similarly delectable ingredients to The Da Vinci Code - an
international chase, a traumatised but smart woman who saves our
academic turned hero." - City AM
"Baker lifts his thriller from a routine
innocent-man-trying-to-clear-his-name drama by setting his action
among the banking world high-rollers and rogue traders as the world
faces its most dramatic financial crash ever. And his nail-biting
escape, on a motorbike, from a villain firing a crossbow in the
busy streets of Montparnasse is particularly memorable. Unlike most
thriller gunfights, there is collateral damage. The book is very
readable, with plenty of pace, sex and colourful characters."
- Barking & Dagenham Recorder
"Martin Baker's first thriller is an eye-opener about the
world of financial high-flyers who will do anything to manipulate
the markets." - Irish Independent
"Great debut!" - Goldsboro Books
"Baker has a good sense of how to construct his sentences,
which must come from his journalist background, added to which is a
good dry wit that brings an edge to the words. Not everything
works, there are a few twists too many perhaps, a lot to take in as
the novel reaches its climax. But with enough dashes of sex,
politics and murder thrown in to keep it lively, Meltdown is a
first rate thriller." - shotsmag.co.uk
"Every time the global markets for stocks, commodities or
currencies flutter and dip, giving investors the jitters,
Martin Baker's debut novel,
Meltdown, gains more relevance.
"Just as Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code
needled organized religion, Meltdown questions the dealings of
financial gurus. Not only does Baker's research rival Brown's, but
he writes better. Deftly, he conveys the details and excitement of
big markets and their workings.
"All the way to Meltdown's last line, worries persist about
who did right or wrong, who should be trusted or not and if
capitalism builds prosperity or exploits millions (of people) for
billions (of dollars). Market trading, fictional or real, raises
such doubts.
"With murder, mystery, excitement and better-than-average
sex scenes, Meltdown has the ingredients to become an enthralling
motion picture. But no movie will surpass Baker's book." -
Cairns Magazine
"Meltdown's denouement is outstanding, the highlight…
Meltdown is certain to sell very well." - Tangled Web
UK
"Meltdown hit the shelves just as the events it depicted
came true: a rogue trader on the run, global markets in upheaval,
ordinary people's lives changed by financial forces beyond their
comprehension." - Melbourne Age
"Compelling… with healthy amounts of sex and murder thrown
in for good measure." - getfrank.co.nz
"Baker has put his exposure to the financial world to good
use in his novel." - New Zealand Press
Association
"A cracking good yarn. If Bakers produces more of this
quality then he is going to be a most welcome addition to the band
of fine UK crime fiction writers. With the recent major
scandal in Paris involving a rogue trader the timing of Meltdown
couldn't have been better. A riveting read, full of intrigue, sex,
wheeling and dealing and financial skulduggery. I hope it doesn't
take the author another ten years before we get another." -
Beattie's Book Blog
"Worryingly readable." - The
Observer
"A racy novel." - The Sun
"An excellent novel. A fast-paced tale of intrigue and
conspiracy at the top echelons of international finance, it could
not have been better timed.
"As the world teeters on the brink of meltdown, financiers
and business people in general become the targets of universal
anger for causing such chaos - in Europe, traders are attacked in
the street, and in America there are shootings and lootings at the
Wall Street HQs of the country's leading financial
institutions.
"It makes for a great read, especially in the current
atmosphere of financial fragility. From being "masters of the
universe" when the markets were soaring upwards, bankers, brokers
and traders suddenly appear as a bunch of reckless, incompetent
gamblers, frivolously squandering away our livelihoods on nothing
more than a series of casual hunches.
"And not just business people - the authorities were
suddenly portrayed as participants in this gigantic fraud. In
Baker's book, the French Government takes part in a massive
exercise to 'fix' the financial markets involving a web of
international conspiracy from Sydney to New York.
"There is a telling line in Meltdown that sums up what has
happened to the financial system, its participants and the people
who write and broadcast about it: "Funny how commentators
discovered a conscience when things went belly-up." That is what
has taken place in the past month of mayhem in the global financial
system - we have all discovered a conscience." -
Emirates Business 24/7
"Meltdown is pacy and prescient." - Sunday
Express
A Fool and His Money - Reviews
"A cult is born… Fool is a distinctive and opinionated romp
through the whys and wherefores of the markets."-
Evening Standard
"Damon Runyon meets Adam Smith on the dealing floor. "-
The Independent
"A thoroughly entertaining romp through the world's
bourses." - Asiaweek
"A witty and pointed new book… Baker is wise to the follies
of the market and the ignorance of even the most skilled players."
- The International Herald Tribune
"Always sceptical and often cynical, by turns erudite or
just plain rude, this is a witty and amoral analysis of polite
society's last taboo: money." - Daily
Telegraph
"A highly personal explanation of how the money-go-round
works… He sees the market as a disparate group of highly paid
people with common economic purpose, but the collective
intelligence of a baby trout… a good handbook for any trout which
wants to become a shark." - Euromoney
"No reputation is beyond criticism." New
Statesman
"A Fool and His Money is at once a hilarious and serious
insight into late Twentieth Century financial egos."
Offshore Alert
