Reviews

The Fear Index by Robert Harris

clonimhuiri's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

n1ck22's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

buchweiser's review against another edition

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1.0

Der Plot klang eigentlich sehr vielversprechend, doch schon der Anfang verlief holprig. Es folgte Episode auf Episode, gespickt mit Fachbegriffen aus der Finanzwelt. Einen roten Faden konnte ich nur mit viel Phantasie entdecken, das Interesse schwand zusehends. Doch ich habe bis zum bitteren Ende durchgehalten und das bereue ich. Was für ein Schrott, was für eine undurchdachte Auflösung der Story! Es gibt im Laufe der Geschichte viel zu wenig Hintergrundinfos über den "heimlichen Protagonisten", als dass man als Leser am Ende sein Verhalten nachvollziehen könnte. Wieso die Lebensbedrohung, wenn sie doch eigentlich nicht nötig war, wieso der Eingriff in das Leben der Ehefrau?
Die Idee an sich ist nicht schlecht, aber der Autor hat sich zu wenig Gedanken über Zusammenhänge gemacht, hat meiner Meinung nach das falsche Setting gewählt und zu stark versucht, einen Thriller zu schreiben, SciFi wäre wohl die bessere Wahl gewesen...

janaroos's review against another edition

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2.0

Bleh. This wasn't bad--it's well-written, the pace is great and it's tense, if you don't know what's going to happen. Unfortunately i knew pretty early on what was going to happen.

I had hoped this wouldn't be a case of the dangers of evil AI, and we'd get an actual real-life culprit, but the likelihood grew more and more distant with each page. It's not that rogue AI is a bad hook, it's just a deeply, deeply predictable one. And that had me just waiting for the end. Quick read though.

cynicalworm's review against another edition

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2.0

This book is like if Dan Brown watched the wolf of wall street, fell down the stairs, hit his head and lost 50 IQ points, became a little redpilled and then wrote a thriller.

martha_sherratt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

ian230's review against another edition

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1.0

I thought Ghost Writer was excellent, but this was poor from the start and unfortunately extremely obvious. A real shame as given his previous work I was expecting so much more. Would not advise others to read.

ingo_lembcke's review against another edition

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5.0

Bought with a birthday coupon for Thalia from my mother, Antje, thanks!
Gekauft mit einem Geschenkgutschein von Antje zu meinem Geburtstag, danke!

Story is about a hedgefond which operates with computer generated AI trades.
Just as up-to-date near-SF as when it was published. A little knowledge about stock trades and computers does not hurt, but is imho not required to understand the implications and questions which the book asks. Heavy stuff.

Very highly recommended!

david_donhoff's review against another edition

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4.0

This started out *PAINFULLY* slow & drawn out... far too much character definition & scenario building, in my opinion, especially for a thriller.

Once it got into the market trading and culture it became far more interesting (to me, as a trader, anyway.)

The storyline is fun on its surface... but its unfortunate that the author didn't *REALLY* understand the underlying mechanical nature of algorithmic technical hedge trading sufficiently to build out an actually realistic scenario. Nonetheless, without providing a spoiler in this review, the unique angle is fun & somewhat worthy of exploration.

I listened to this via audio book... but I would recommend it in print so the reader can scan over the slow sections.

amberrgreen's review against another edition

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mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0