Viking Raid: A Robert Fairchild Novel

This is a marvelous novel, which is by surprise is written by man from the shipping financial sector.Obviously this is the reason that he can write such an outstanding novel. The book is enlighten and educating for the short history of many remarkable, maverick men which started empty-handed and uneducated in the shipping business and became rich. One such man is missing, or Kell Inge Rökke which was street wise educated in Oslo and suffered by dyslexia, but inspire of that became one of Norway’s richest men.The name Great Dane is very suitable for the innovative Danish company and I had the pleasure when I served as an officer with the Old Danish Flag carrier, The Danish East Asia Company, to watch the diversification of The Great Dane to cargo liner service and outsmart The Flag Carrier.At first it sounds not likely that The Great Dane sold his building contract of 15 NLG carriers, but taken in account that they are now in tandem with the Chinese, taking over the container service from Asia to the western world, by building containerships at the size of VLCC and make shipments faster and cheaper for the benefits of SEA.The Darraðar poem composed in Old Icelandic, to describe the aftermath of the battle of Contraf in 1014 is not well chosen, as the Vikings lost the battle, it indicates that Coco is not well versed in The Icelandic Saga, but the poem is from Volume XI. Njálssaga.

Good story of shipping finance and international operations. A very enjoyable and easy read.

Pretty good book if you are curious about the industry. Somewhat less interesting than the Shipping man. The first part is a good story but a bit poorly written, the last part is well written but reminds of of the "and then I woke up" trope from elementary school essays. The best developed character is the Alexandra Merriwether, the others are bit binary. It's as much a textbook in quips and vocab, including "tyke", "if the wire clears have no fears", "vive voce"

The second book in the Robert Fairchild series, Viking Raid is a humorous but very insightful "expose" of the world of The Shipping Man.If you ever aspired to be a Shipping Man yourself, this book will give you all of the thrills of owning a Ship, without the actual heartaches.It also is a keen revelation of what the world of the Shipping Man looks like from the perspective of Coco, a Shipping Man in the Novel---or as viewed from the perspective of a REAL Shipping Man like John Fredriksen or his Shipping Man In Training, Tor Olav Troim.This is a must read for anyone who loves the sea, wanted to a be Shipping Man, or just invests in stocks of the world of the Shipping Man ... that make a lot of money.

Rather good book, semi-plausible script and characters (for those in the know of how things are happening in this particular sector). The previous book of the same author was better, so perhaps the next one for the profligate daughter or daughters of the most prominent shipowner in the world (any connection to Mr. John Fredriksen's family might be coincidental) might be better also.

I enjoyed the book, the shipping industry has been presented as per market reality but the characters have become predictable and too stereotyped. I enjoyed the "The shipping man" book far better.

Amazing Book, read the Shipping Man as well. It is fun, educational, and exciting to read. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in going into the shipping industry, or interested in the world that brings us our goods everyday, and the people who finance it!

Very well written and an interesting view on today's market. Of course, need to read the shipping man first. The description of the places was so accurate that it took me back to those places in London, Oslo, New York etc while reading it.

good readUnputdownable

A simple tale, but an enjoyable one with insights in to the characters that dominate the shipping industry. I’ll definitely be buying book 3 in the series.

Like the first book in this series named The Shipping Man the story here is described with a "Based on a true story" style. I have just lived through this very ordeal and can attest to the realism of the characters and the industry. It is thrilling.

Loved it.This book is written to give you an education in shipping and shipping finance. I found that it was informative, educational and entertaining, and I enjoyed that each chapter started with a little history lesson about the shipping industry. Such as a profiles about the shipping tycoons like Aristotle Onassis or Daniel Ludwig. McCleery throws as much at you as he can without losing the reader, in fact by the end of the book you are fascinated by the colorful history of shipping, how important it is to our economy, and how its market can change as quick as the wind.The story was entertaining, and has a fun surprising twist that can make you laugh.....

Matthew McCleery's Buch 'The Shipping Man' fand ich spanned, informativ und unterhaltsam.Das Nachfolgebuch 'Viking Raid' ist eine grosse Enttäuschung. Es scheint, dass dem Autor schlicht neue Ideen fehlten.Der Autor erwähnt ständig, wie speziell die Shipowner sind und wie speziell der Spot-Markt für VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) sei.Der Anfang ist mühsam zu lesen, zu lange Zeit passiert nichts interessantes. Ich las weiter, weil ich hoffte, dass es irgendwann doch noch ähnlich gut wird, wie das erste Robert Fairchild Buch. Ich hoffte vergebens.