The Navigator
This debut thriller opens with an American soldier, called the Navigator, translating at the liberation of the infamous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He spends the rest of his life trying to “bury it deep,” not the best strategy for someone who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. The Navigator has two sons who grow up witnessing their father dealing with “health issues” and undergoing their parents’ divorce. The boys end up in the financial world, one belly up and the other the supersuccessful architect of the first multinational, trillion-dollar tech deal. When that much money is on the line, anything is liable to happen, and it does, from Washington political intrigue to corporate espionage to murder. Characters aren’t especially well developed, but the real star of the story is ViroSat, the technological behemoth start-up at the center of everything. Lots of financial babble and tech talk slow the pace a bit, but the various story lines are interesting enough, especially as they start to intersect late in the book. A good bet for fans of Christopher Reich and Joseph Finder. --Stacy Alesi