A desperate race against time that pits modern wealth against buried betrayals, The Jackal’s Share carries readers from London to Lake Como, from the rotten alleys of Marrakesh to the shining spires of Dubai. This is the story of corporate investigator Benjamin Webster, returning from his explosive debut in The Silent Oligarch. Now his client is a powerful billionaire whose demands soon thrust Webster from the dreamlike existence of the elite rich into a grimmer world of blackmail, offshore money, arms dealing, and terrorism.
When a prestigious London art dealer is found murdered in Tehran—and the Iranian government accuses him of smuggling rare artifacts—the last person anyone suspects is Darius Qazai. A fabulously successful financier, London luminary, and friend of the deceased, Qazai has directed his life and wealth toward philanthropy, cultural promotion, and peaceful protest against Iran’s regime. His fortune is colossal, his character immaculate.
But perhaps not clean enough. Something has scuttled Qazai’s recent business deal, some rumor from his past that frightened his American buyers. To prove his innocence Qazai hires a respectable corporate intelligence firm—led by Benjamin Webster—to investigate himself. Webster soon discovers that Qazai’s pristine past is actually a densenet of interlocking half-truths: is he a good man oran art smuggler? Is his fortune built on merit or onarms dealing? Is he, after all, his own man?
But when Qazai’s grandson is kidnapped a hideous new chain of events unfurls, forcing Webster into a frantic race across the Mediterranean to undo the damage done by his questioning. As he closes in on the truth of Qazai’s fortune—and those who wish to destroy it—Webster discovers he may pay for that knowledge with the lives of his own family.
A high-octane mix of ancient fears, forgotten crimes, and monumental greed, The Jackal’s Share reveals the untold world of criminal corporate finance in a Middle East as raw and as strange as ever depicted.