Beck and Call by Eric Alagan

Edwin Tyler, fired unfairly during the recession, launches a chain of coffee shops with venture capitalist funds. However, his childhood nemesis, Roy, now a powerful businessman with connections to the underworld, engineers a hostile takeover driving Tyler to seek further funding from murky sources in Bangkok and Chennai. He soon stumbles upon syndicates laundering money through Singapore and he discovers why and how sovereign funds make investments. As Tyler grapples with organized crime and his childhood nemesis, he slowly works out the relationship between his coffee shops, money laundering and government-linked companies. A philandering CEO, an unscrupulous journalist, a foodie private eye and an underworld boss all combine to make this thriller an entertaining read that offers an unusual insight into the Asian corporate world.