The Directive by Matthew Quirk

The Directive is a sequel to Matthew Quirk’s first novel, The 500 which was previously reviewed on MRB.  Protagonist Mike Ford returns for another thrilling adventure where as an ex-con man he is sucked back into his former life of deception and double cross for one last score that will save his family.

Ford has done an exemplary job of turning his life around.  Raised and trained by shifty con artists, his father and his older brother, Mike breaks away as a teenager and works his way through college and Harvard Law School.  He becomes a high powered Washington lobbyist and meets his fiancée, Annie Clarke.  Annie encourages Mike to reconnect with his brother, Jack.  Mike finds Jack in a conspiracy to steal the Federal Reserve Board’s directive before it is announced to the public.  This information is worth billions to the savvy trader.  But Jack is in over his head and Mike feels compelled to rescue him.  Mike too is pulled into the con and is forced to use his skills from his criminal past.  Mike’s only hope is to go along with the heist and look to con the powerful conspirators.  But these people are professional con artists themselves and anticipate Mike’s attempt to sabotage the con.  Now Mike is in over his head placing the lives of Annie and Jack as well as his own in danger.

Quirk tells a reasonably good story in The Directive.  The Mike Ford character is well developed and the plot plausible.  He inserts enough twists and turns to keep you interested and curious about the next development.  But I just couldn’t connect with the characters.  Mike and Annie’s relationship seems mechanical and lacks passion.  As for Mike and Jack, I feel like they will always be con artists and never find the straight and narrow... that’s probably the only way to continue the series.  So for me The Directive is a good airplane book but not a blockbuster.