the fear index

Alexander Hoffmann is having a very bad day. It starts in the wee hours of the morning, when he startles an intruder in his palatial home in Geneva. The man, who bypassed the security system, is determinedly sharpening the family cutlery and has brought along some bondage gear. He slams Alex over the head with a fire extinguisher and flees. Alex  has to go to the hospital for scans and stitches
Things go downhill from there: the day includes a rift in Alex’s marriage, a frantic scramble in the financial markets and mayhem. Lots and lots of mayhem. Behind it all is a sense that everything has been orchestrated, seemingly by Alex himself. But who is really pushing  the buttons?
After reading this novel, I find myself   weirdly of liking and hating this book. Here is why.
I definitely enjoyed the pace of the book. I couldn’t put it down. Every chapter had a hook, something that would make the reader think twice whether he would want to put the book down, or find out what happens next given the current chapter. I definitely was not bored with this book.
However, there are also parts of The Fear Index that I despise. First of all, Alexander Hoffmann is a tough main character to sympathize with. Seriously, his earnings are in the billions and he lives in a 60 million dollar house in Switzerland, so when his house gets an intruder, part of me feels that I couldn’t care less. He’s the type of person who would rather save his computers than his wife if he gets caught in a burning building. I find myself hard to identify with the main character.
Overall, I think I enjoyed this novel. It made me think. However, I am afraid that most people will simply see this to be a cheap thriller and read it as such. When they’re done reading, they’ll just think “Oh, that was a cool book.” and move on.