Trust Fund

by Stephen Frey

Ballantine, January, 2001.
Hardcover, 341 pages.
ISBN: 0345428293

Trust Fund by Stephen Frey

Bo Hancock, a financial wizard, is also the black sheep of his billionaire family. Hancock heads Warfield Capital, a multi-billion dollar investment firm which is the basis of the family's wealth. Unfortunately for Bo, his father favors his brothers Teddy and Paul, especially now that Paul is campaigning for the U.S. presidency. It looks likely that Paul will win, but the family isn't taking any chances of having Bo foul things up. They want Bo and his drinking problem out of the way. So Bo's control-freak father, with the support of his brothers, sends Bo off to nowheresville Montana. The family replaces him at Warfield and concentrates on the presidential race. However, everything is not as it seems at Warfield; Paul has some wrongdoing in his past that could damage his presidential bid, and there are plenty of enemies that would love to see the Hancocks and Warfield Capital fail. A year later, after the sudden death of his father, Bo fights his way back into the helm at Warfield only to find a slew of financial problems he has to solve. Not to mention the fact that someone is trying to kill him and ruin the reputation and financial stake of his self-absorbed family.

Stephen Frey is familiar to many readers as a writer of fast-paced, exciting financial thrillers, including The Takeover, The Inner Sanctum and The Vulture Fund. The plot of Trust Fund is not quite on par with Frey's last novel, The Insider, which was much more original and more focused. One highlight in Trust Fund is Bo Hancock, an interesting character who has to overcome a drinking problem and the ridicule of his brothers to solve his family's problems, save his marriage and avoid financial ruin. Despite a somewhat mediocre plot, fans of Stephen Frey's and financial thrillers will still enjoy this one.

Trust Fund is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the March, 2001 of The Internet Writing Journal.