The Directive: A Novel (Mike Ford, 2)

Matthew Quirk studied history and literature at Harvard College. After graduation, he joined The Atlantic and spent five years at the magazine reporting on a variety of subjects including crime, private military contractors, the opium trade, terrorism prosecutions, and international gangs. Quirk's first novel was The 500, which is currently in development as a major motion picture. He lives in Washington, D.C.

*Starred Review* Having barely escaped alive from a corrupt consulting firm (in the blockbuster The 500, 2012), lawyer Mike Ford has established himself as a go-to political fixer in Washington, D.C. But his plan to live a quiet, respectable life is sorely threatened when his older brother, Jack, drags him into a job to steal the Federal Reserve’s directive on monetary policy prior to a major announcement, opening up a two-hour window for some serious insider training. Mike, resourceful and well-schooled in cons and grifts from childhood by his ex-con father, plans to blow up the job from the inside until the lives of his fiancée, Annie Clark (daughter of a megarich hedge-fund operator), and his father are threatened. Then it becomes a deadly race to learn who’s behind it all—keeping in mind his father’s advice to “never bet in another man’s game”—and come out of the mess as best he can. Solidly researched, with elements of a technothriller, this is a nonstop, heart-pounding ride in which moral blacks and whites turn gray in “the efficient alignment of power and interests” that is big-time politics. Quirk has another high-powered hit on his hands. --Michele Leber