Cover Image: Shakedown

Shakedown

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Member Reviews

Great story by Martin Bodenham. Really fabulous story, that kept me turning the pages!! A thrilling plot, and characters.

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What would happen if the federal government were really and truly broke? A few years back there was talk whether selling off real property assets like national parks would bring the federal government to solvency. In this novel, Bodenhsm postulates a future where China is ready to collect on all the bonds and major defense assets are being auctioned off to private equity firms. And perhaps the play is even dirtier than that. It’s a story of International intrigue, blackmail, and secrets. A fairly short, creative read, despite being a little slow paced at the beginning..

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The United States has a huge debt load which has continued growing with no real attempt by the government to control and reduce it. Martin Bodenham describes a near future action by the US president to take hold of and control the debt. His novel, "The Shakedown" is a riveting account of this attempt.
Damon Traynor, an individual who has already had a glittering career on Wall Street has set up, with the aid of partners, a private equity business. His firm is offered a chance to bid upon a government owned defense company. This is part of the president's scheme to control and fix the runaway national debt by selling off government assets. Traynor's firm is successful in the bid and buys one of these companies. It looks like the operation will skyrocket the growth of his private equity business. But Traynor is contacted by an executive of the company he bought. The man has been let go by the firm and wants to talk to Traynor to tell him that the system developed by that company doesn't work. Damon cannot bring himself to sell that company until he ascertains that the system evolved by them is viable.
An investigation into the allegations gets Traynor into a world he never expected to be in. It is a world populated by criminals that utilize assassinations and blackmail as every day tools and appears to include high level government individuals. The descriptions of the inside world of private equity funds is an education in itself and explained in easily understood terms.
A very well done novel involving the investments of billions of dollars the people doing the investments.

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SHAKEDOWN didn't do it for me. This is an advanced copy, yet the poor editing and structure made this very difficult to read. There are too many cast of characters, and the part they play in the plot is not explained adequately. It seemed that there was a lot of jumping around- from one character to the next or from one scenario to another. The transition from one settling to another is abrupt and without a page break or chapter break, leaving the reader confused.
In all honesty, this book is not my type and, therefore, I did not rate it based on my feelings. It starts off well and I could understand the need for the government to sell to the private market. However, the need for collateral damage was confusing. The various characters were confusing.

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