Wednesday, February 11, 2009

When Harry Lost Sal

Trust me, for the next five years or so the hot topic in thrillers will be people trying their damnedest to break out of banks, rather than into them. Meanwhile, set in the world of dubious high finance, Dubliner Ava McCarthy’s debut, THE INSIDER (due in April), couldn’t be more timely. Quoth the blurb elves:
A cutting-edge international debut thriller set in the world of hackers, techno-thieves and inside traders, for fans of John Grisham. Henrietta ‘Harry’ Martinez lost her investment banker father, Sal, at a young age. He taught her everything he knew -- about taking risks and calculating odds. But Sal made a bad gamble when he went into business with ‘The Prophet’, an anonymous trader who claims Harry owes him, now her father’s jailed for fraud. It’s twelve million euros. Or her life. With no money and little time, Harry must track down Sal’s crooked partners and escape the people on her trail -- journalists, police and hired killers. But Harry has her own skills, honed by her father, skills her enemies haven’t anticipated. Now, from the London Stock Exchange to the casinos of the Bahamas, the chase is on. The stakes are high. And the bets are off!
  The Big Question: Has Ava McCarthy and / or HarperCollins engineered the worldwide economic crash in order to give THE INSIDER a platform? Answers on used fifties to The Grand Vizier’s Blind Orphan Foundation, c/o Moolah Mansions, Grand Bahama.
  Meantime, the vid below is of Ava offering the inside skinny. Roll it there, Collette …

3 comments:

  1. Dec

    The hardback version is out already. Saw it in my local bookshop today.

    Fiona

    ReplyDelete
  2. Apologies, Fiona ... but then, no one ever tells me anything around here. Harrumph, etc.

    Cheers, Dec

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Declan!
    Ava McCarthy here - just happened across this mention of myself so thought I'd butt in!! Yes, Fiona is right, The Insider came out in Ireland last Thursday - 2 months earlier than the UK, don't ask me why... I went to listen to yourself, Alex Barclay and Niamh O'Conner in the United Arts Club a few months back and almost came up to introduce myself but then bottled out... Hope you get to read The Insider sometime and let me know what you think!
    Best wishes
    Ava McCarthy

    ReplyDelete

Declan Burke has published a number of novels, the most recent of which is ABSOLUTE ZERO COOL. As a journalist and critic, he writes and broadcasts on books and film for a variety of media outlets, including the Irish Times, RTE, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Independent. He has an unfortunate habit of speaking about himself in the third person. All views expressed here are his own and are very likely to be contrary.