The Navigator

Most financial thrillers limit the business side of the equation to a dead Wall Street CEO or two, but Pocalyko’s debut novel showcases a deal that reaches deep into the past for plot and motivation as well as to today’s headlines for a thought-provoking, riveting read. At Compton Sizemore, a Manhattan investment bank, Warren Hunter is putting together “the biggest deal in the history of world finance”—$1,370,000,000,000—for a company known as ViroSat, whose advanced technology will make the Internet obsolete. With that kind of money, some people are bound to show up dead, and they do. Meanwhile, Warren’s older brother, Rick, a new partner with an asset management firm in Washington, D.C., needs Warren’s help after he’s arrested by the FBI. Other key players include a few aging spies and a nice old lady and former client of Rick’s, Hannah Weiss Geller, the surviving member of a Jewish family that had large financial holdings in Germany before WWII. The intricacies of the deal-making can be a little intimidating, but it’s fascinating to watch the blocks click into place in the lead-up to the solid payoff. Agent: Kathleen Murphy, Murphy Media Partners. (June)