At the Sharpe End — Hugh Ashton

When his business card is found in the pocket of a man who has died under the wheels of a train at Shinjuku station in Tokyo, Kenneth Sharpe's life takes a turn for the worse. A freelance technology consultant usually has no business with burglary, kidnapping or murder, not to mention the overthrow of governments, but these all rapidly become disturbingly familiar parts of his life. The stakes start high, and rise higher, as Sharpe and his friends take on the might of the financial world against the backdrop of the 2008 Wall Street collapse, and the ruin of the global financial markets. Hugh Ashton has lived in Japan for 25 years, working in the technology and financial services sectors. At the Sharpe End is his second published novel, following the acclaimed alternative history Beneath Gray Skies.