Mortal Bonds

July 8, 2013
In Sears’s strong sequel to 2012’s Black Fridays, white-collar financier-felon Jason Stafford investigates some seriously shady activities on Wall Street on behalf of the family of William Von Becker, an infamous investor who ran a Bernie Madoff–inspired Ponzi scheme, lost billions, and killed himself in prison. The surviving Von Beckers—matriarch Olivia and her four grown children—engage Stafford to see if he can find the missing billions and “salvage something of the family name.” Stafford’s hunt for the money involves former Wall Street colleagues and some of the victims themselves, notably Tulio Castillo, a wealthy Colombian who may be involved in the drug trade. Meanwhile, Stafford continues to face some serious domestic difficulties: a young son with severe autism, a volatile ex-wife, and a girlfriend. The search for all that money in such a high-profile case feels like a longshot, to Stafford and the reader, but Sears’s knowledge of investment banking makes the plot compelling if not always convincing. Deft, witty prose is a plus. Agent: Judith Weber, Sobol Weber Associates.

September 1, 2013
Disgraced Wall Street trader Jason Stafford hunts the proceeds of a scam more successful and grandly scaled than he ever dreamed of. When he killed himself in prison, William Von Becker left an unholy mess behind. The Ponzi scheme he'd run for years had finally blown up, leaving the latest investors holding the bag. The rifts between his widow, Olivia, and her children--foreign-exchange expert Binks, prodigal son Virgil, Asperger's-stricken Wyatt and daughter Morgan--make it hard for them to present a united front about anything. And they're stung by accusations that as much as $3 billion is still unaccounted for. On the theory of setting a thief to catch a thief, Virgil hires Stafford to look for the missing money. Jason's preliminary inquiries among William Von Becker's associates and staffers don't turn up the loot, but they do reveal another important player: Colombian banker Tulio Botero Castillo, who claims that Von Becker's haul included $100 million in negotiable bearer bonds. Castillo's under pressure from some unsavory types with quick trigger fingers to recover the bonds, and he's more than happy to share the pressure with Stafford. Soon, the tax attorney whose murder kicks off the tale is joined by two other victims, whose deaths do not bring Stafford any closer to his goal. Meanwhile, his poisonous ex-wife, Evangeline Oubre, has left Louisiana for a stay in New York. She says it's to make amends under her 12-step program and spend some time with her son, whose autism makes him a handful for either parent; Stafford's lover, Skeli, predicts darkly that she's looking to reunite with Stafford after the spectacular flameout of her second marriage. Any way you look at it, the man has serious problems. As densely plotted as Sears' strong debut (Black Fridays, 2012), with complications that keep mounting in the race to the final curtain. A particularly nice touch is the subordination of the scheming suspects to Stafford's troubled, loving relationship with his son.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2013

Jason Stafford, on probation after imprisonment for fraud, certainly has the necessary skills to be a financial fraud consultant. When William von Becker is convicted of a huge Ponzi scheme and commits suicide, his son hires Stafford to find several billion dollars unaccounted for. The FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission naturally are interested, but so are Honduran drug dealers, Balkan thugs, and several von Becker family members. At the same time, Stafford must juggle care for his autistic six-year-old son and a visit from his alcoholic ex-wife seeking reconciliation. As bodies pile up and peril stalks Stafford from more than one direction, his hard-earned prison smarts, math skills, and Wall Street knowledge prove invaluable. VERDICT The author's two decades of Wall Street experience support Stafford's confident movement in the international world of bearer bonds, Swiss banks, and the superrich who use them. Introduced in the Edgar and Barry Award-nominated Black Fridays, Stafford again alternates between high-stakes risk-taking plus violence and the controlled world of his son, whom he'll do anything to protect. A touching, tense, and terrific thriller. [See Prepub Alert, 4/29/13.]--Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
Former Wall Streeter Sears follows up the Edgar-nominated Black Fridays (2012) with a story of Madoff-like financial corruption, murder, and redemption. Former trader Jason Stafford, who has served time in prison for his own financial misdeeds, is hired by members of the family of William Von Becker, whose presumed suicide while in prison for an elaborate Ponzi scheme has left a vacuum contended for by family members and associates. There is the matter of some three billion dollars left unaccounted for and eagerly sought by federal investigators, international bankers, a hugely wealthy Colombian American, and several freelancers. Sears handles the action knowingly if at times incredibly, and Stafford's own family drama (his autistic son, troublesome ex-wife, and her mother and brother) lend a personal dimension to a complex story. Sears has a good feel for New York, where most of the action is set, for the world of finance (intelligently explained), for dialogue, and for the thriller genre, though he includes too many characters and more than a little needless filler.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)