Rating: 
Summary: Ehhhh
Review: The best part about this book happens in the last few pages. I guess that is how a book should be,
but the text leading up to the ending should be better than this novel was. I have enjoyed most of
Stephen Frey's books, but this one was a let down. I was ready to give this a 2 star rating, until
the last few pages. It should not have been a surprise to me, but it was, probably because I lost a
lot of interest in the book and was not paying close enough attention. It Frey's previous books
the financial part was an important part of the story, but in this one the main character could have
worked as a janitor at a high school and the story could have basically been the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: 'The Day Trader'is Stephen Frey's latest foray into the financial thriller. Not his best but still quite enjoyable.When Augustus McKnight gets lucky on one of his stocks and makes a significant profit he thinks it'll make things all better for him and his wife. Wrong. Before he gets a chance to say anything she tells him she's leaving him and wants a divorce-it seems there is a greener pasture with her boss. The next day she is found murdered. He will be the beneficiary of a one million dollar life insurance policy taken out six months earlier. So he quits his regular job and decides to become a full time day trader. Needless to say there is a detective on his case as well as an insurance investigator. Now for some reason this seems very surprising to the, obviously very naïve, Augustus. With some neat twists and turns, Frey has written an entertaining novel. The biggest flaw in this book (fairly significant) is the protagonist. Through most of the novel I could not have cared less about Augustus. As mentioned by other reviews, and to put it plainly, he was just too dumb to care about.
I kept waiting for him to get smart but the book ended before I got there.
Though the novel tells you a little about trading, it mostly deals with the murder mystery.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it!
Review: Any book that will make me stay up late to read it will get at least 3 stars from me. Very entertaining, and perfectly fine for passing time (which is the reason I will usually read a book anyway). I was very intrigued with the storyline, it's interesting and fast-paced, and the 'leave-us-hanging-page-turner' quality rates high as far as I'm concerned. The first-person singular, present tense (that 1 reviewer criticized) I didn't mind at all -- many I've read fall into this category. What I didn't like about this book -- and the reason it doesn't get a higher rating -- was its inconsistency. Some of the other reviewers have touched on this. The protagonist is insightful enough and pays close attention for many things, yet seems to be completely clueless about other things (like his marriage and his best friend). But even worse, there were a few completely bizarre scenes that didn't fit at all. Here we have a seemingly very nice gentle guy, yet for no apparent reason he nearly kills a friend's psychic. This happens out of nowhere -- in the middle of some completely unrelated scene -- he apparently decides he'll find out what's really going on with everything and 2 sentences later he's choking the life out of this poor woman just to know whether she really could see the future a few days earlier or whether she was making it all up! What was up with that? Why???? There are other examples of unbelievable bizarre behavior -- stuff that totally doesn't belong and should have been taken out of the first draft. But aside from those things, I found it a very entertaining read.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the paper printed on
Review: Clearly, when I buy a book for an airplane read, I don't expect much. Just enough to keep me occupied and make the time pass. "The Day Trader" does not even pass this test. The main character switches back and forth from village idiot to financial genius, discovers a violent side in himself that does hardly match 11 years of staying on the same job. Inconsistencies and non-sensicals are abound. Has anyone tried in 2000 to "gain experience in the stock market" with a 1000$ on the balance sheet? Yet, this is what Mr. Frey makes Augustus say to his truly fictional boss. I believe, corporate America has found better ways of making money than blackmailing employees. Augustus makes two trades (one on inside information) yet the book is called "The Day Trader". It appears to me that Frey tried to throw everything in one pot and hoped it would turn out right: the frenzy of the stock market in and around the year 2000, a murder, an unfaithful wife, a greedy lawyer, child abuse and sex. Well, what came out is something that appears to be a cheap attempt to cash in on previous better works of Mr. Frey. While I understand that we are talking about fiction a story should be at least imaginable. Main characters should be developed or back tracked, side characters should complement the plot or offer an alternative solution of the mystery so the reader is kept guessing.
While the book is sad, it is even more frustrating to read the raving reviews of the "professional" book reviewers that decorate the book. They are as deceiving and fraudulent as the stock tips the financial powerhouses gave not too long ago. A conflict of interest is apparent. Who keeps the book reviewers honest? Does anybody know?
Rating:
Summary: a novel of contradictions
Review: Day Trader should not see the light of day.
Augustus McKnight resigns from his sales job to become a day trader. The turmoil in his marriage, and the fact that he'll be inheriting an insurance windfall, makes him the prime suspect when his wife mysteriously dies.
While making money and enemies, Gus must find a way to prove his innocence.
Stephen Frey does a nice job in explaining some financial terms. He infuses life into those dreary columns we glance at in our newspapers. This does little to curb the ennui that sets in from the first page.
It's seems Augustus McKnight had a split personality. How else can one explain that while Gus on one hand couldn't tell his wife was a stripper who had been sleeping with best friend, and her boss, he was nevertheless able to hint at Roger's, Mary's facade. Beats the unfertile imagination, I suppose.
Again how can the detective hint at an enraged sibling as a suspect without following it up.
The Day Trader raises more eyebrows than heartbeats, being unable to rise above its pathetic plot. Consider this insider tip: NOT WORTH BUYING (OR READING).
Rating:
Summary: Well, I enjoyed it...
Review: Day Trader was a good quick read, tho does sound a little "dated" in the 2003 avoid-the-market-at-all-costs economy in 2003. I did find the need for financial explanations a little simplistic, and the ending unbelievable, but the ride along the was was a good one.
Rating:
Summary: The Day Trader - Does Not Deliver
Review: Day Trading may someday define the late 1990's. The boom, the bust, the empowerment of the individual. Unfortunately, Frey squanders his opportunity to help us make sense of it. If the title, THE DAY TRADER, attracts you (like it did me), do not be misled. The scope of the book is very small-minded. I was hoping to better understand the fullness of this huge phenomenon (through the power of fiction). So I expected good fictional characterizations and a more even-handed plot than Frey provided. His characters never really convince you and there's a plot that seems just too darn cooked up. I wanted a good fictionalized view of this phenomenon and I sure didn't find it here.
Rating: 
Summary: Personal Review
Review: Day Trading was certainly one the most dynamic infatuations of possibly America's greatest decade. So when Frey chose to call his latest, The Day Trader, I was hoping he might capture the deeper meanings of such an interesting phenomenon. Unfortunately, I think Frey squandered a terrific opportunity. Instead of characterizing this naturally dramatic period fairly, he opted for plot devices and broad character portrayals. After it's over, you don't feel any clarity or much of anything, it's a few hundred pages of typical mystery that any subject normally provides. When fiction works well, it provides insight, gusto, and obvious enjoyment. I just didn't get it here.
Rating:
Summary: The plot is intriguing....the main charcter is disturbing
Review: For me, the discovery of Frey's book was purely accidental. I had neither heard of him nor any of his other books before. It was actually the title which popped out at me when I was looking for a quick and easy escape from my own day to day world. My reading of the book left me with the sense that the plot, as described on the jacket, lived up to its promise and also accomplished what I was looking for. To Frey's credit as well, I'll add that anyone with enough of a background in both the financial and legal world would probably agree with my conclusion that he skillfully presents a set of realistic circumstances resulting in a suspenseful, believable, intriguing scenario from beginning to end. My problem was with his main character, Augustus. He's a nice enough guy for sure, but there's a problem. How can a guy, who in the beginning of the book was such an Ordinary Joe, if even that, in his job, his marriage, his entire life, miraculously transform himself within a matter of weeks into such a shrewd manipulator of not only circumstances but also all those around him who were successfully playing him for a patsy for so many years? As Frey explains, the real world of day trading is one which mercilessly chews up the naïve and inexperienced. Unfortunately, Frey's Augustus struck me as the type of character who would likewise be chewed up in the high stakes crime world the author places him in. Enjoyable enough so I'll revisit Frey for a second helping, but as for The Day Trader, my high score for plot was diminished by a lower score for a creditable main character.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: Frey's books just get better and better. The surprise ending made it worth staying up late to finish it. I'm not much of a reader, but Frey's writing makes it easy. Much like Steinbeck's novels, he keeps the pace, and doesn't make the reader strain to keep the momentum. I really enjoy the financial points of all of the books. This one has a little less financial content, and more of the "who done it" theme. I'll look forward to getting Silent Partner, and catch up on the books I've missed in the mean time.
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