The Icarus Prediction

Jarrod Stryker is the golden boy of a small financial investment firm that managed to avoid the Wall Street collapse in 2008.Smart, good looking, and seeming to have the luck of the gods, Jarrod bets it all when his mentor and boss places their company in an untenable situation that could mean the loss of $500 million dollars, the company, and their freedom. Jarrod seems poised to beat the odds and rake in a fortune until world events take over, threatening to put the financial world and global politics in jeopardy. He’s forced to reach deep into his past as a CIA operative if he has any chance of preventing a global catastrophe.

The best thrillers are the ones that make the reader think it could happen and that is exactly what RD Gupta manages to do in The Icarus Prediction. Gupta incorporates many elements of current world conflict to give credence to the idea of a terrorist attempting an attack of this type and the resulting catastrophe. The author takes time to develop the story and the cast of characters, building the suspense and throwing in a bit of humor in the process. Some points of the story were easy to figure out but many others left me guessing. I could see how the dominoes were being placed, but was never sure in what direction they would fall when they were finally tipped over.

A lot of the setup for the main story involves Wall Street and stock trading. I have some familiarity with basic trading practices, but I was a little lost when it came to trading on oil options and I wish the author had taken more time in the book to spell out how it works. It’s a key point of the story line and a major reason why Jarrod goes off to try to defeat the terrorists, so it’s worth noting. I managed to get the gist of what was going on and it didn’t take anything away from the overall plot of the book.

The Icarus Prediction is the first book in a series and the author does a good job of leaving enough questions unanswered to pique the reader’s interest in the next book without leaving a huge cliff hanger. A great read for lovers of thrillers and spy mysteries.