{"product_id":"the-first-billion-a-novel","title":"The First Billion: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003eChristopher Reich electrified readers with Numbered Account and The Runner  his first two international thrillers. Now the New York Times bestselling author whose work has been called gripping (Chicago Tribune)  chilling (The Denver Post)  wonderful (The New York Times Book Review)  ratchets up the stakes in an ingeniously plotted story of nerve-jangling intrigue and hot-wired suspense. Using todays cutthroat global economy as a backdrop  The First Billion explodes into a breakneck tale of betrayal  revenge  and redemption...  John Jett Gavallan is a former fighter pilot  now the high-flying CEO of Black Jet Securities  an investment firm that earned its first billion before the techno dream crashed and burned. Poised for an offering crucial to his companys survival  Gavallan is banking on the riskiest gamble of his dazzling career. In exactly six days  he will take Mercury Broadband  Russias leading media company  public on the New York Stock Exchange. But rumors of fraud have suddenly surfaced that could send the deal south. Gavallan makes a preemptive strike by dispatching his number-two man--fellow Desert Storm fighter pilot Grafton Byrnes--to Moscow to penetrate the shadowy Russian multinational. When Byrnes fails to return  Gavallan fears the worst. But the truth is even more diabolical than he can imagine.  Plunging into a desperate search for his best friend  the renegade top gun is suddenly fighting a different kind of war  where there is no safe harbor and no one he can trust. Not Konstantin Kirov  the elusive head of Mercury Broadband who may not be what he seems. Not the bankers and traders Gavallan does business with every day. Not the exotic beauty who has told him all her deepest secrets--except one. Suddenly Jett finds himself trapped in a conspiracy that could shatter the delicate balance between nations--and plunge the global economy into chaos. Hunted by the F.B.I. and a band of elite killers  Jett races from Palm Beach to Zurich to Moscow in a desperate search for answers. But for this brave ex-commando haunted by visions of war  the truth comes at a terrible price. With Mercury rising and the hours ticking down  he is moving closer to a place where murder and revenge are the currency of choice...and where the first billion is the ultimate insider secret--and the deadliest obsession of all.  With breakneck plotting  stunning realism  and a sense of danger that keeps the heart racing  The First Billion is a knockout of a novel that will linger long after the final shocking twist is revealed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44949592309813,"sku":"ByrdShop_0440234697","price":26.48,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780440234692.jpg?v=1770082418","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-first-billion-a-novel","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}