The Fear Index could scarcely be more of the moment

In The Fear Index , the latest thriller by Robert Harris, now heading for the Christmas bestseller lists, a brainbox hedge fund manager with little in the way of interpersonal skills discovers that his computer-driven trading system has flown out of control and threatens to send the world’s stock markets into a tailspin. Anyone familiar with Mary Shelley’s Dr Frankenstein will recognise the genre of the oddball genius consumed by his own creation – populist fiction at its best.

I would recommend The Fear Index, the new novel by Robert Harris that delves into the world of modern finance. The writing is as elegant as ever

Robert Harris is renowned for his historical novels, although his eighth offering, The Fear Index, could hardly be more contemporary and relevant . . . Harris writes with a deceptively languid elegance, so that the novel straddles not only the crime and sci-fi genres but also that of literary fiction. A satisfying read on a number of levels, it is strongest as a character study of a man who discovers, pace Hemingway, the true meaning of the phrase “grace under pressure”.

Robert Harris’s eighth novel is a timely blockbuster of a thriller that takes the global financial meltdown as its backdrop, with nods to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein . . . An assuredly intelligent and deftly-paced novel, the fear of the protagonist is increasingly palpable as he’s buffeted by genuinely unexpected spine-chilling twists. Perhaps the greatest thriller writer around, Harris has delivered his best work yet. A modern classic.

VIXAL-4 succeeds partly by keeping a close eye on the news and clearly so does Harris: the plot ingeniously combines a number of recent phenomena (financial, political, online, artistic) covered by journalism . . . Grippingly dramatising the workings of the economy (I understood for the first time how hedge funds work), The Fear Index is in another sense, an economic novel, not merely in its condensed time-scheme but its sparing wordage.

Robert Harris’s thriller covers a single day in Dr Hoffman’s life – May 6, 2010 (the date of the last British general election) – when it all goes wrong, or rather, which is more frightening, when it all goes dramatically, unstoppably right . . . The Fear Index is a frightening book, of course, as, with its title, it intends. Harris has an excellent sense of pace, and understands as much about fear in literature as Hoffman does in markets.

There are moments when this book feels so up to date it could have been written next week . . . Not only is Harris a brilliant yarn spinner he also makes the mysteries of what hedge funds do and what short-selling means entirely understandable and spookily exciting.

Part techno-thriller, part psychological drama, The Fear Index is as gripping a tale as anything Robert Harris, described as Britain’s most bankable author, has written. Quite different from anything he has done before, it crackles with energy and invention, and the author’s obviously extensive research into the arcane world of state-of-the-art computing technology, algorithms, trading and hedge funds is dished up lightly and intelligibly.

Robert Harris’s new thriller is both gripping and chilling . . . For someone with little knowledge of how the markets work, The Fear Index is illuminating but terrifying as our reliance on flickering numbers is revealed. Even hardened financial traders will find the idea of guineas kept under the mattress an attractive prospect by the end, but no-one should miss this terrifying book.