Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2012.
Robert Harris' latest book is gripping, compelling and unsettlingly a little too close to the truth. Set entirely over the course of a single day, The Fear Index follows the genius owner of an incredibly successful, computer controlled, hedge fund in his quest to find out who is trying to destroy him, even as the world's financial markets head for collapse.
CWA Judges' comment: “Highly readable account of a scientist who once worked on the Hadron Collider and now runs a hedge fund. Intriguingly ambiguous take on the Frankenstein story.”
Dr Alex Hoffman is a legend. An American physicist once employed on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, he now uses a revolutionary and highly secret system of computer algorithms to trade on the world's financial markets. None of his rivals is sure how he does it, but somehow Hoffman's hedge fund - built around the standard measure of market volatility: the VIX or 'Fear Index' - generates astonishing returns for his investors. Then, late one night, in his house beside Lake Geneva, an intruder disturbs Hoffman and his wife while they are asleep. This terrifying moment is the start of Robert Harris' new novel - a story just as compelling and timely as his most recent contemporary thriller, The Ghost
Robert Harris is the author of eight bestselling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost, Lustrum and The Fear Index. Several of his books have been filmed, most recently The Ghost, which was directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, west Berkshire, with his wife Gill Hornby and a fluctuating number of children.
In 2014 he was inducted into the CWA Hall of Fame.
