Meltdown

Samuel Spendlove, one of the brightest young academics at Oxford, has given it all up to work undercover for William Barton, owner of a massive media empire. His reasons are complicated, but he's finding he gets a thrill out of working for Khan, the legendary market trader, working out of the Paris office of Ropner's Bank, whose dealings have been known to bring nations to their knees. Barton wants information about Khan. He wants revenge over a man who has bested him once. Spendlove assumes he wants to ensure it is only the once...

Spendlove enjoys both sides of this game, until it all unravels and he finds himself simultaneously accused of almost bringing down the global economy and of the murder of Kaz Day, a glamorous colleague on the trading floor. He goes into hiding in the surreal and dangerous world of underground Paris chased by the police, by Khan, the bank and William Barton... And helped by Kaz's bi-curious lover, Lauren. But who framed him and why?

"He could feel the surge of excitement, the thrill of power shooting through his veins. Now he was really trading. He was the lightning conductor for all the rich, concentrated vitality of the market, and he could direct it where he liked. He was harnessing all the might of the bank's assets and he was about to muscle a gigantic global market his way. It was as though he could wrap up every floor, every screen, every trader in the world into one huge football and then volley it out into space… "