Synopses & Reviews
A sophisticated page-turner about a wealthy New York family embroiled in a financial scandal with cataclysmic consequences.
Now that he's married to Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to New York society and all of its luxuries: a Park Avenue apartment, weekends in the Hamptons, bespoke suits. When Paul loses his job, Carter offers him the chance to head the legal team at his hedge fund. Thrilled with his good fortune in the midst of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression, Paul accepts the position.
But Paul's luck is about to shift: a tragic event catapults the Darling family into the media spotlight, a regulatory investigation, and a red-hot scandal with enormous implications for everyone involved. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties lie-will he save himself while betraying his wife and in-laws or protect the family business at all costs?
Cristina Alger's glittering debut novel interweaves the narratives of the Darling family, two eager SEC attorneys, and a team of journalists all racing to uncover-or cover up-the truth. With echoes of a fictional Too Big to Fail and the novels of Dominick Dunne, The Darlings offers an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society-a world seldom seen by outsiders-and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions.
Review
“Alger has written one of the first novels about the 2008 financial crisis, saying she wanted to get into the ‘hearts and minds of the people who had a front-row seat on the world-changing crisis. She succeeds. What happens to the Darling family in the course of a weekend is what carries this tale along, but its Algers description of quintessential New Yorkers, and how they survive, that adds the extra layer. . . . Alger has what it takes, in the best sense of the phrase.”
--USA Today
Review
“Alger, who has worked at Goldman Sachs as well as at a white-shoe law firm, knows her way around 21st-century wealth and power, and she tells a suspenseful, twisty story.”
--The Wall Street Journal
Review
“Penned by a former banker, this is a dishy yet thoughtful portrait of greed gone too far…A page-turner.”
Good Housekeeping
Review
“Two parts
Too Big to Fail, one part
The Devil Wears Prada, Alger’s debut is taut and compelling….Alger expertly evokes both sympathy and contempt for her characters and writes with a polished ease, telling the story of our time (or a particular glittery, corrupt corner of our time) with a mix of ruthlessness and sensitivity.”
Publishers Weekly
Review
“Probably the most compulsively readable fiction to come out of the Wall Steet financial scandal so far…Alger knows the ins and outs of both Wall Street and an upscale NYC lifestyle, nailing all the details, from the plush, hushed atmosphere of high-end law firms to the right tennis togs for a “casual” weekend in the Hamptons. Delicious reading.”—
Booklist
Review
“Alger introduces us to flawed but sympathetically drawn characters and depicts socialite parties, luscious dinners, exquisite clothes, and holidays in the Hamptons . . . A financial thriller somewhere between the novels of Dominick Dunne (though not as flippant) and Tom Wolfes The Bonfire of the Vanities (though not as serious).”
--Library Journal
Review
“Forget
Gossip Girl: If you really want a peek into the scandalous lives of New York City's elite upper class, Alger's debut novel—set during the financial downturn of 2008—gets you pretty close. The hedge funds, designer clothes, and lush Hamptons homes are all on display. But Alger also deftly juggles a complicated and myriad cast of characters who orbit around an It Family, the Darlings, who are at the center of a Madoff-like Ponzi scheme.
The Darlings moves so fast that it feels more like a thriller than a social drama.” —
Entertainment Weekly
Review
“Penned by a former banker, this is a dishy yet thoughtful portrait of greed gone too far…A page-turner.”—
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Review
“Two parts
Too Big to Fail, one part
The Devil Wears Prada, Alger’s debut is taut and compelling.”—
Publishers Weekly
Review
“…A financial thriller somewhere between the novels of Dominick Dunne…and Tom Wolfe’s
The Bonfire of the Vanities.”—
Library Journal
Review
“Cristina Alger is so good, you just know shes an inside trader—as intimately familiar with the inner workings of Wall Street investment banks as she is with haute Manhattan social life. Shes also a gifted storyteller. The Darlings is an utterly compelling novel, as knowing about family as it is about money and social status, and may be the best literary product of the financial crisis to date.”
--Jay McInerney, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Life
Review
"For those who have only gazed up at the palatial residences of Manhattan, this is a glimpse from the penthouse down, where ‘millions isnt shorthand for ‘unimaginable wealth but a rather modest bank balance. In her engaging and assured debut, Cristina Alger weaves a complex thriller from this world, as a Wall Street scandal threatens to devastate a family far more accustomed to charity galas than to chats with the feds.”
--Tom Rachman, New York Times bestselling author of The Imperfectionists
Review
“Alger, who has worked at Goldman Sachs as well as at a white-shoe law firm, knows her way around 21st-century wealth and power, and she tells a suspenseful, twisty story.”
—Wall Street Journal
“What happens to the Darling family in the course of a weekend is what carries this tale along, but its Algers description of quintessential New Yorkers, and how they survive, that adds the extra layer. . . . Alger has what it takes, in the best sense of the phrase.”
—USA Today
“Forget Gossip Girl: If you really want a peek into the scandalous lives of New York City's elite upper class, Alger's debut novel—set during the financial downturn of 2008—gets you pretty close. . . . The Darlings moves so fast that it feels more like a thriller than a social drama.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Penned by a former banker, this is a dishy yet thoughtful portrait of greed gone too far . . . A page-turner.”
—Good Housekeeping
“Two parts Too Big to Fail, one part The Devil Wears Prada, Algers debut is taut and compelling.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Probably the most compulsively readable fiction to come out of the Wall Street financial scandal so far. . . . Alger knows the ins and outs of both Wall Street and an upscale NYC lifestyle, nailing all the details . . . Delicious reading.”
—Booklist
“…A financial thriller with a tone that fits somewhere between the novels of Dominick Dunne . . . and Tom Wolfes The Bonfire of the Vanities.”
—Library Journal
“Cristina Alger is so good, you just know shes an inside trader—as intimately familiar with the inner workings of Wall Street investment banks as she is with haute Manhattan social life. Shes also a gifted storyteller. The Darlings is an utterly compelling novel, as knowing about family as it is about money and social status, and may be the best literary product of the financial crisis to date.”
—Jay McInerney, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Life
“For those who have only gazed up at the palatial residences of Manhattan, this is a glimpse from the penthouse down.”
—Tom Rachman, New York Times bestselling author of The Imperfectionists
“Cristina Algers debut novel offers a fresh and modern glimpse into New Yorks high society. I was hooked from page one.”
—Lauren Weisberger, New York Times bestselling author of Last Night at the Chateau Marmont
“A rare, glittering glimpse into Manhattans banks, bedrooms, and private clubs, a material and psychological world rendered with extraordinary detail. A smart, gripping tale . . . complex and mesmerizing.”
—Sarah Houghteling, author of Pictures at an Exhibition
“Cristina Alger has written a racing, vivid, multi-vocal chronicle of the new gilded age, with equal shades of Jay McInerney and Bernie Madoff. Start reading it and in three hundred pages or so you'll feel like a consummate New York insider, too.”
—Charles Finch, author of A Burial at Sea
Synopsis
A Bonfire of the Vanities for our times, by an author who "knows her way around 21st-century wealth and power" (The Wall Street Journal) Since he married Merrill Darling, daughter of billionaire financier Carter Darling, attorney Paul Ross has grown accustomed to all the luxuries of Park Avenue. But a tragic event is about to catapult the Darling family into the middle of a massive financial investigation and a red-hot scandal. Suddenly, Paul must decide where his loyalties really lie.
Debut novelist Cristina Alger is a former analyst at Goldman Sachs, an attorney, and the daughter of a Wall Street financier. Drawing on her unique insider's perspective, Alger gives us an irresistible glimpse into the highest echelons of New York society—and a fast-paced thriller of epic proportions that powerfully echoes Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children and reads like a fictional Too Big to Fail.
About the Author
Cristina Alger graduated from Harvard College and from New York University Law School. She has worked as an analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co., and as an attorney at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr. She lives in New York City, where she was born. Alger is at work on her second novel, coming soon from Pamela Dorman Books/Viking.