- Shopping Bag ( 0 items )
Available on NOOK devices and apps
Need a NOOK? Explore Now
Need a NOOK? Explore Now
But this book isn’t about stocks and bonds—it’s about people. About Grove O’Rourke, top producer at the investment firm of Sachs, Kidder, and Carnegie, and about his best friend, Charlie Kelemen, whose spectacular murder is carried out in front of hundreds of horrified party-goers at the opening of the novel. It’s about Charlie’s widow, who comes to Grove for help after her husband’s death, even though she’s hiding a dark secret. And it’s about how money—vast sums of money—can cover up even the most glaring imper fections in relationships, and fool everyone.
Well, almost everyone. With the ease of someone who has lived in the world of top producers, NorbVonnegut has crafted a sharp, dark thriller that will make you think—and then double-check your investments.
In his debut, Wall Street executive Vonnegut (and yes, a distant relation to Kurt) presents Grove O'Rourke, a 32-year-old hotshot at a New York investment firm, where he manages $2 billion for his wealthy clients. When Grove witnesses the gruesome murder of his best friend and mentor, Charlie Kelemen, and learns that Charlie's wife, Sam, knows nothing about her husband's dealings and is penniless, he sets out to track down the killers and his friend's missing funds. Grove soon finds that Charlie had many secrets, some of them personally devastating. For those who have followed the demise of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, the crux of the plot will seem either old stuff or news ripped from the headlines. And, unless readers are up on zero-cost dollars, downside protection, delta hedging, prepaid forwards, and derivatives, their eyes will likely glaze over at some of the financial maneuvers. VERDICT Though it's hard these days to feel sympathy for investment bankers and stockbrokers, Vonnegut makes his irreverent protagonist someone we can root for as he pursues crooks who use the redemptive language of hedge funds to hide financial malfeasance. A promising debut (the author has a two-book deal). [See Prepub Mystery, LJ5/1/09.]—Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson
The murder of wealthy hedge fund operator Charlie Kelemen has sent shock waves up and down Wall St. Especially stunned is his thirty two years old best friend Grove O'Rourke, who manages two billion dollar in accounts at Sachs, Kidder and Carnegie Investment Bank. Grove saw the homicide along with a few hundred people.
Feeling survivor guilt and wanting to pay homage to his best friend, Grove learns that Charlie's widow Sam apparently is broke, which makes no sense since Keleman was worth a fortune. He tries to help her while avoiding the financial death by association that frequently takes down Top Producers like him. However, his efforts begin to look futile as his peers and superiors at the bank go after him with ferocity as do the outside competitors. Still Charlie refuses to walk away from the fight for survival at Sachs, Kidder and Carnegie or from learning what happened to O'Rourke's money.
This is a well written financial thriller that digs deep into some of the voodoo fund flow of Wall St that seems relevant with all that has happened over the past few years. Overall the story line is fast-paced although the plot can slow down with the profundity of fund management as non practitioners will have to be totally focused. Still the tale is fun mostly because Grove is a likable hero swimming in toxic waters. TOP PRODUCER is an enjoyable insider thriller.
Harriet Klausner
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Ellrich3
Posted December 12, 2011
Ever wonder what really goes on in the pit at the stock exchange? Ever wonder what goes on behind the closed doors of the offices of the ones who aren't in the pit and really run things moneywise? Ever wonder how the country got to where we are tonday? Read this book. Is it really fiction? If anything it should be read as part of a required education for all Americans, so maybe when this downturn happens again we may know what to look for and stay out of the mess.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I enjoyed this story. I do feel that the book is better appreciated by those who dapple in the stock market.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.blanchki
Posted June 13, 2011
Awesome summertime read, fast-paced....don't start it unless you have time to finish! I couldn't put it down and was up way past my bedtime, well worth the loss of sleep! Can't wait to see what he comes up with next!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 12, 2009
I Also Recommend:
If you like Wall Street thrillers, this is a god story, and timely too. I am in business so, I enjoyed it more so
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This book has a gripping opening and hook, but it gets lost in its own complexity mid-way through. The author really goes to some length to add extraneous detail to every scene. It's almost obnoxious.
I didn't mind reading the book because the subject matter - hedge funds, Wall Street, corruption - seems so compelling. Whether the author is a Vonnegut or not, the book could have been written within 250 pp.
There's more exposition about stock regulation than page-turning action. The suspense gets solidly redundant as the book tries to build up the plot. Investor #1 wants her money back, investor #2 wants her money back, etc.
I might have enjoyed the book more had there been more character development. The story essentially revolves around the main character without much attention to anyone else. The book could have used a little more action as well to make it a 4 star book.
Reading the book, I almost got the sense that author Norb Vonnegut wanted to create a character he could live through vicariously. This made the character and the storyline one-dimensional and predictable
SwellesleyGrad
Posted October 19, 2009
Top Producer is a mystery/thriller set against the high streets of finance and the back alleys of corruption. That itself should be enough to scare you!
If considering a "hedge fund" in the past, this reader's thought patterns would go towards money put away for purposes of purchasing and installing new landscaping. Understandably, I never quite followed how people made such a killing (no pun intended) on hedge funds. Yet I found the explanations of "Wall St. speak" in this book easy to follow, even for a financial feather brain such as myself. In fact I think I even learned a thing or two about the investment business while completely caught up in the story of Grover O'Rourke.
In a world where even goldfish are sharks, Grover (a financial adviser at Sachs, Kidder and Carnegie) and his team are the angel fish of the aquarium. Who would think that a financial adviser had a heart, much less a sense of morality? (My first adviser churned my account while I lived overseas, my last one is currently facing 12 - 25 years on SEC charges.)
Proving the old adage that "no good deed goes unpunished", the renegade hero wades in over his head to help the widow of a friend murdered in a freakishly public display - and the waters are not safe for swimming. Nonetheless, Grover O'Rourke battles the current - managing by willpower, luck and considerable effort to keep his head above water.
The humor, vivid imagery and story line made for reading into the wee hours of the morning. I rooted for the unlikely hero and his small, undervalued school of accomplices. I feared the sharks circling the tank. I never saw what was coming, the red herrings were too tasty.
I'll be looking forward to more works from Norb Vonnegut.
Norb Vonnegut has given us a financial thriller, except for most of us we have to gloss over the financial part. I don't understand that Wall Street jargon, but the good thing is that you don't have to. What we have here is a good story about a scam, with lots of timely allusions to more recent and famous scams. You'll like the main characters- at least the good ones- and the pacing of the story will keep you into it until you finish. Then you will probably thank your lucky stars that you don't have enough money to get scammed bigtime- unless you do of course, in which case you had best not read the book!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 11, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 2, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 28, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted May 17, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 9, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 19, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 21, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted August 22, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted January 22, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
In a world that moves as fast as finance does, top producers have to think three steps ahead and make snap decisions. Theirs is a blurred version of reality, one that conceals moves as much as it rewards the bold ones. All too easily, scams can be disguised as success; plotting can be mistaken for killer instincts. And as Grove O’Rourke finds out, “Nothing obscures vulnerability like success. Nothing that is, except for friendships.”
But this book isn’t about stocks and bonds—it’s about people. About Grove O’Rourke, top producer at the investment firm of Sachs, Kidder, and Carnegie, and about his best friend, Charlie Kelemen, whose spectacular murder is...