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68th out of 1,088 books
—
1,593 voters
Trojan Horse
by
David Lender (Goodreads Author)
Daniel Youngblood is a world-weary oil and gas investment banker who's ready to hit the beach, when he's hired by a Saudi Prince for an OPEC deal where he can net himself $25 million as a swan song. At the same time, he meets and falls in love with Lydia, an exotic European fashion photographer, who he later discovers is really a CIA-trained spy with a shocking history wit...more
Paperback, 370 pages
Published
February 23rd 2011
by Brindle Publishing
(first published January 15th 2011)
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In the early hours of a July morning two decades ago, a group of heavily-armed men infiltrates a Saudi palace, intent on assassinating a member of the royal family with the assistance of Sasha, one of the target prince’s concubines — in fact, his “favorite.”
This is the opening of Trojan Horse by David Lender (@DavidTLender), which blends genres to include elements of thriller, espionage, revenge and even some romance while exploring a modern-day terrorist plot to cripple the global oil industry...more
This is the opening of Trojan Horse by David Lender (@DavidTLender), which blends genres to include elements of thriller, espionage, revenge and even some romance while exploring a modern-day terrorist plot to cripple the global oil industry...more
A much different read than Bull Street. This is a Ludlum-type, international espionage thriller that has the male protagonist, Daniel, located on Wall Street, but the book isn't about Wall Street and doesn't have any real financial orientation. This is a computer terrorist sabotage story. Daniel meets an exotic woman who he falls in love with, then learns she's come to him as a spy to try to stop the terrorist plot, and that he's unwittingly stuck in the middle of it. The most interesting part o...more
Trojan Horse
By David Lender
Copyright 2011 by David T. Lender ASIN B004JF4J54
Trojan Horse by David Lender is a deeply involved story of terrorism, industrial espionage and intrigue taking place across the Saudi Arabia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. It involves a rich cast of characters who are very well developed and who remain in your memory long after you read the last page. It contains multiple plot twists and is so believable it is scary.
In Trojan Horse David Lender offers a...more
By David Lender
Copyright 2011 by David T. Lender ASIN B004JF4J54
Trojan Horse by David Lender is a deeply involved story of terrorism, industrial espionage and intrigue taking place across the Saudi Arabia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. It involves a rich cast of characters who are very well developed and who remain in your memory long after you read the last page. It contains multiple plot twists and is so believable it is scary.
In Trojan Horse David Lender offers a...more
Good novel for those of us who want something quite believable, fast paced, sex, bad guys, Muslim/Islamic stuff, investment banking, guns and shooting, and a lot of computer things.
The woman star at age 20 becomes a CIA-planted Trojan horse inside a high level Saudi home to take care of a radicalized son of a high-up minister. Later, when she is about 40 and still on the run from folks who want her dead she falls in love with an I banker whom she is supposed to be monitoring for the Saudis. The...more
The woman star at age 20 becomes a CIA-planted Trojan horse inside a high level Saudi home to take care of a radicalized son of a high-up minister. Later, when she is about 40 and still on the run from folks who want her dead she falls in love with an I banker whom she is supposed to be monitoring for the Saudis. The...more
An Opinion piece in a recent (June 15,2011) Wall Street Journal by Richard Clarke calls attention to precisely the kind of cyberassault central to the plot of this novel. Clarke was a national security official in the George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. His piece is titled, "China's Cyberassault on America." If you don't believe the form of computer espionage and sabotage contemplated in Trojan Horse is possible, read Clarke's piece. That will make reading this novel al...more
I was really disappointed with this book. I work in IT in the Oil and Gas industry, so I wanted to like it. While the premise was quite good, the author lost me with his preditable plot and lack of convincing details. I felt like he spent too much time on the back story of Sasha (the whole middle part of the book) and not enough time developing the thriller aspect of the story. He also did not do a good job of character development. I never really cared about any of the characters -- the good gu...more
Masterful thriller by an author I hadn't seen before. Deeply involved story of computer terrorism on the oil business by Muslim fanatics. It also has a scintillating back story on the female lead that flashes back into her past as a concubine and then a spy, ultimately an assassin. The current day story almost takes a back seat to this part of the book, although it ends with a flourish as a normal thriller. A great read. Looking forward to his other stuff. I see he has two more.
This book is definitely not as strong as the first outing in the Sasha Del Mira series. It moves along at a snail's pace, we revisit (sometimes word for word) the same people and places we saw in the first book and the short story. I was emotionally invested in each of the characters I met in the first book, even the villains. Here, though, I literally could not care less if someone walked into the room with an uzi and blasted everyone away. Yawn.
I always enjoy finding a new author and this one looks like a keeper. Trojan Horse is a good, old-fashioned pot-boiler (not in the pejorative sense) that a Ludlum or Patterson (in his early years) would have written. The settings are global, as is the intrigue, the characters are larger-than-life and the suspense built to an exciting finale. I see he's got another out and another on the way and will try them out.
Great thriller with heart, based on a classic story line: the common man caught in uncommon circumstances. Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", "The Wrong Man", and "The Man Who Knew too Much" come to mind. Any of you who enjoy Grisham's, Baldacci's or Cussler's story lines but often can't stand their pulp fiction writing or cardboard characters (like me) will find Trojan Horse both refreshing and great fun.
This was actually a really interesting story that I wish I could rate at 3.5 stars. The whole concept of the trojan horse - both as a person and as an internet "bomb" - was really fascinating, as was the storyline of the Saudi Arabian royal concubine. Weaknesses, however, came in the inconsistent pacing of the story, and the underdeveloped relationship between Daniel and Lydia. Still, very worth reading.
Trojan Horse has some of everything; espionage, romance, intrigue. The plot is well laid out and the story lumbers through the present and the past at a pretty good clip. Some times sentence structure was a bit strange and I would have to re-read the isolated passage to understand it and I felt the book was just a little too long. Bottom line - this is a good story with good character development; a good read.
Really enjoyed it. It read like a conventional thriller in the beginning. The long flashbacks on Sasha's life were the really unusual part. They read more like a "real" book instead of a thriller and were extremely well done. I had to read the last 50 pages or so in one sitting because at that point I couldn't stop.
Not my usual type of book, but it has a passionate story of a young woman who is wronged early in life and fights a gutsy struggle to find happiness and love in her life. Both with a man to reciprocate that love and with a father figure to provide her the constancy she never had.
Wow... Concubines, the CIA, OPEC, and extreme Islamic terrorists- what else could you ask for? A switch from my usual chick lit/ historical fiction genre... But a good change. This was pretty fascinating to glimpse in the life of Saudi Arabia's royal family. A pretty good read.
While the overall story was great and interesting, I found myself trying to keep up with it since it hopped back and forth from present to past.....Daniel Youngblood though kept me wanting more....especially his relationship with Sasha and where it was leading....there was intrigue, violence, spying, danger, love.....I would say a little bit of everything....alot of suspense ..... all in all not a bad book for 99 cents on my Kindle.....
David Lender certainy knows the facts behind banking and Wall Street wheeling and dealing. His expereince and research shows. The book is well writen with engaging characters and an excellent plot line. It's enough of a spy thriller to keep you reading. Good one!
A great read that has amazing detail on Saudi politics and the culture. That includes the Muslim faith and their polygamy (and concubines). The story is creative and the characters easy to bond with. It also has a scary element that it could happen. Top-notch.
I wanted to like this because of the 5 Star reviews... If only I'd gone to the lesser reviews, I might have saved the $3.99 Kindle price. I quit at 56%, simply lost in the changing perspectives & poor editing. For now, I'm going back to my booksale reads!
An immediate page turner from page one! The author masterfully weaves a tale of espionage and mystery. The ending is a bit hyper-extraordinary -- but it's fun! A great read, now I must go look for more from this author!!
An intelligent and carefully crafted thriller. The parts I enjoyed most were the character background and development of Sasha. The writing there was reminiscent at times of a fine literary novel, not a commercial thriller. It also showed a sensitivity to genuine emotion in the handling of her feelings and gutsy response to the slings and arrows of her life. She is a character I would like to see more of. She also embodied the theme I saw at the core of the book: belief in love, or at least the...more
Good fast paced story that was a little thin and predictable in places, worthy of 3.5 stars. I listened as audiobook during car commute. It was entertaining to listen. I might not have finished the print version
Very long and drawn out story. While it was nice to read Sasha's background I don't think it needed a whole section of the book. Not a guessing game with this book. You pretty much know what's going to happen.
Great book. International scope and issues to match (global terrorism on the oil industry by muslim fanatics). Terrific characters and plot twists. Interesting jumps around in time for back story. Loved it.
if the book had been edited with a chain saw it may have turned into an intriguing novel. instead it dragged on as the author attempted to fit every plot twist and literary turn ever conceived into the book
I could not put this novel down. I enjoy spy/intrigue type reads and this fit the bill. It involves Wall Street, Mid East Sheiks, the CIA, South of France, money and oil.
I highly recomend this.
I highly recomend this.
I enjoyed the Sasha character, and hope we see more of her. This was a well executed financial thriller, with just enough of all the elements I enjoy to move it into the five star category.
Loved it. Spies, cutthroat Wall Streeters, terrorists, concubines, Saudi princes, double-crosses, sex, cyberwar, suspense, thrills, great plot twists and action. How can you go wrong?
This was a surprise to me because I'd never heard of this author. Based on the book I think we all will be hearing a lot more about him. I won't lay out the story but it's very cleverly done. It was ambitious and risky to take on oil, politics, love & sex, espionage and flashbacks to 20 years ago and back today in one novel. He did it, however, and extremely well. This emerges as more than your average pot-boiler international spy thriller. It has a fully-formed love story in it and a fully-...more
For $0.99 it was great. Overall it seemed like it could have used another read-through by a copy-editor, but it was entertaining and fast-paced - an easy, enjoyable read.
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David Lender is the bestselling author of thrillers based on his over 25-year career as a Wall Street investment banker. He draws on an insider’s knowledge from his career in mergers and acquisitions with Merrill Lynch, Rothschild and Bank of America for the international settings, obsessively driven personalities and real-world financial intrigues of his novels. His plots reveal the egos and ruth...more
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Jul 01, 2012 04:57pm