The Fear Index is a breezy, fun read. Clearly the author has done his research on the financial markets and the world of hedge funds. Even the basic idea behind the protagonist’s hedge fund is feasible. Sentiment analysis is a hot topic in machine learning, and I think there are already commercial products available that will analyse the sentiment for a given stream of data.
The story focuses on a day in the life of Alex Hoffman – Super Quant. It starts with a break-in in the dead of the night and, like all good thrillers ends with a big bang. Hoffman’s business partner, his wife and the befuddled policeman Leclerc are little more than the scaffolding to the rest of the plot. While the story moves along at a fair clip, and it is hard to put down, I did not find the characters that interesting. I suppose it is difficult to empathize with socially awkward billionaires having a bad hair day.
Where the book disappointed me was the plot. The HAL 9000 \ AI elements of the story are weak and similar stories have been covered a lot better, for example, by Charles Stross in Rule 54 or Accelerando. If you are looking for a fun thriller, I heartily recommend The Fear Index. If you are a fan of science fiction, you might want to steer clear.