A crop of "what went wrong?" hand-wringers fill the shelves of bookshops these days as eonomic analysts and apologists attempt to pinpoint the moment of first madness.
Robert Harris tries something similar, only The Fear Index is a superior, high-concept "this is what could happen" techno-thriller in which algorithmic traders lose control of their computers and send world markets into turmoil.
Dr Alex Hoffman is the legendary boffin from Cern who has developed an artificial intelligence that can track the greatest driver of market movements - fear - and invest accordingly.
The brisk novel spans just 24 hours in the life of the reclusive Geneva-based billionaire as he wakes to an intruder and begins a day when paranoia and the police are in constant pursuit.
With canny nods to the "Darwin is a better economist than Smith" debate and a gripping Michael Crichton doomsday scenario, Harris teases time and again with the central question: who, or - more likely - what, is out to destroy Hoffman and destabilise the world financial markets.
– From November 2011
