The Predator Book

Michael Ridpath's The Predator is further proof of the thriller writer's talent as a page-turning stylist of genuine skill and élan. The narrative engages the reader in the extremely pared-down part one, and grips like the proverbial vice in the considerably longer part two. We're back in the double-dealing world of top investment banks; at Bloomfield Weiss, the highly paid employees are rigorously instructed in the vicious art of being killer deal-makers. During a punishing training programme in New York, Ridpath's protagonists Chris and Lenka have learned the lethal skills of their art and established a powerful bond. But during a drunken boat trip, one of the trainees dies, and the rest are left to conceal the truth about what happened. Ten years pass, and Chris finds himself watching Lenka blood's spill onto a snowy Prague Street after a brutal attack. Struggling to keep his own company afloat, he finds that tracking down Lenka's murderer may be the only means of saving his own life. Admittedly, the canny reader will quickly realise that the tragic death in both their pasts is the clue to the mayhem that ensues, but that hardly matters when Ridpath knows just how to rivet our attention: For a fragment of a second, Chris didn't react: he was too surprised to take in what was happening. Then when he realised what the man was holding, he shouted and dived at him. But he was too slow. In one swift movement, the attacker grabbed Lenka by the collar of her coat with his left hand, yanked her backwards, and raised his knife to her throat with his right. Her eyes were wide with fear and shock, steel glinting against the paleness of her neck... Nothing is more satisfying than giving oneself a pat on the back, and those readers lucky enough to have caught onto the machine-tooled thrillers of Michael Ridpath right from the start have every right to be self-congratulatory, and for those who haven't here's a good place to start. --Barry ForshawRead More