Narea, H. T. The Fund. Forge:Tor. May 2011. c.464p. ISBN 978-0-7653-2890-8. $24.99. Fiction
Nebibi Hasehm, mastermind of a Shariah-compliant hedge fund, is determined to change the course of Western history. With over $30 billion at his disposal, he intends to fund Islamic political activity around the world in a quest to destabilize financial markets. His immediate goal, however, is a Muslim reconquest of Spain. Standing in his way is his former lover, Kate Molares, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst. After a Basque terrorist attack in Madrid, she follows a money trail from Caracas and Havana, where the Cubans have developed a serum to increase aggression, to Switzerland and on to Gibralter. There a Sovereignty Summit will attract two royal cousins, Prince Charles of England and Prince Felipe of Spain. A global catastrophe awaits all. VERDICT Flawed by excessive and often pedestrian exposition and the relentless translation of foreign words (even for a simple phrase like "Sì, señor"), this debut financial thriller by the son-in-law of the late Paul Erdman (The Crash of ’79, The Last Days of America) has a doomsday conclusion meant to be cautionary. Perhaps investment bankers are the world’s true terrorists!