The Fear Index is a 2011 novel by British author Robert Harris. It is set in a period of roughly 24 hours from the 6 May 2010—the date of the British general election and the Flash Crash. It follows the interactions of a group of employees at Hoffmann Investment Technologies, a fictional hedge fund operating in Geneva.
Excellent thriller writing. For most of the first third I was gripped with the unfolding drama, and then once the culprit was relatively obvious the rest of the book is interesting as to how it will all end. It certainly kept me turning the pages.
Such an exciting beginning... a mathematician designs a brilliant algorithm for a Hedge Fund. One night he receives a Darwin first edition in the mail that he never ordered, and later that evening, his 60 million dollar mansion is broken into in the middle of the night, he narrowly escapes out the door, sees an ominous pair of large boots, and spies the intruder through his kitchen window sharpening his knives while his wife sleeps upstairs!
Then, meh. Obviously, HAL did it. But this HAL, he just doesn't have the kind of alien charisma I expect out of AIs. And none of the other characters are engaging, though Detective Leclerc is acceptable. There are many plot holes. However, it was not awful by any means, as the plot was well-paced, the story reasonably interesting if predictable, and the first chapter pretty exciting.
