Synopses & Reviews
Forget about Bernie Madoff or Gordon Gekko—theres a new villain on Wall Street…
Norb Vonnegut didnt realize how close he skirted to non-fiction when he was writing his spectacular debut Top Producer. Penned before tumultuous revelations and scandals rocked the financial world in late 2008, Vonneguts novel depicts, with an insiders solid knowledge, the tricks that the industrys real top producers pull in their frenzied pursuit of billions. Now Vonnegut sets his electrifying follow-up in the high-rolling world of hedge funds, lending his seasoned perspective to a riveting thriller.
Jimmy Cusack is the tough kid from a blue-collar neighborhood who made good on Wall Street. Well, almost. After a sterling start to his career, things have soured. His hedge fund has collapsed. The bank is foreclosing on his upscale condominium. And his wife is two months pregnant. Thats the good news. When Cusack takes a “must-have” job with Leeser Capital, a Greenwich fund impervious to the capital market woes, his real troubles begin.
Vonneguts unique insiders perspective and his intuitive, darkly humorous writing are once again on full display in this fast-talking suspense thriller. A high-stakes poker game of a book, The Gods of Greenwich is a timely and gripping read that will keep you glued to the edge of your seat until the last card is played.
Review
"If anybody can turn international finance and hedge funds into a riveting thriller, it's Norb Vonnegut. The Gods of Greenwich is a pure delight, racing relentlessly from the bedrooms of Manhattan to the boardrooms of Connecticut to the banks of Iceland. Bravo!" --Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of Edge
"Norb Vonnegut offers you a witty, keenly-observed peek into the sometimes-lethal world of very high-stakes gambling politely known as “investing,” and into the rare types who play the game. The Gods of Greenwich is compelling, suspenseful, high-energy, a terrific read!”- Thomas B. Sawyer, best-selling author of No Place to Run, Head Writer of Murder, She Wrote
"Norb Vonnegut's The Gods of Greenwich might very well be a harbinger of a new thriller sub-genre: the Financial Thriller. Not only does Vonnegut tell a ripping good yarn, but he makes sense out of the confusing world of hedge funds, stocks, CDOs, and derivatives, and manages to entertain at the same time!"--Raymond Benson, author of several James Bond novels and co-author of HomefrontThe Voice of Freedom
"Vonnegut writes richly and wonderfully, every page sparking with inventiveness and wit. This is way, way beyond just being a fast-paced financial thriller. I've not read such a rich portrayal of downfall through hubris since Tom Wolfe's Bonfire Of The Vanities." –Peter James, internationally bestselling author of Dead Like You
"On the money! This wickedly revealing and terrifyingly authentic financial thriller is clever, timely, and filled with enough insider info to send the feds to your door. Scheming, backstabbing and international intrigue--propelled by Vonnegut's trademark wit and page-turning plot. Bottom line? Terrific." --Hank Phillippi Ryan--Anthony, Macavity and Agatha--winning author of Drive Time
Review
“Norb Vonnegut offers a gleeful peek at the world of hedge fund moguls in The Gods of Greenwich, a funny, savvy book that can be as absurd as its title.” -The New York Times "The black comedy of life in the fast lanes of high level finance powers a wonderful new thriller by Norb Vonnegut, The Gods of Greenwich, set in the poshest reaches of Connecticut and Manhattan... the secret of how Cy “hedges” is the Gods of Greenwich plot equivalent of what the callow young lawyer in The Firm found out about his too-good-to-be-true Memphis law office — and Vonnegut ratchets up the suspense and the laughs as we are taken deep into “Hedgistan” (i.e. Greenwich)." --The Connecticut Post "The pieces of this plot mesh as smoothly as a well executed trade." --Bloomberg News
"A riveting thriller… racing relentlessly from the bedrooms of Manhattan to the boardrooms of Connecticut to the banks of Iceland. Bravo!" --Jeffrey Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of Edge
" This is way beyond just being a fast-paced financial thriller. I've not read such a rich portrayal of downfall through hubris since Tom Wolfe's Bonfire Of The Vanities." -Peter James, internationally bestselling author of Dead Like You
" The Gods of Greenwich is compelling, suspenseful, high-energy, a terrific read!”-- Thomas B. Sawyer, best-selling author of No Place to Run and head writer of Murder, She Wrote
"The Gods of Greenwich is a fast-paced and satisfying locomotive of a financial-based thriller, Dominick Dunne meets Barbarians at the Gate. Vonnegut has opened the vaults of Greenwich's elite, and oh what secrets and schemes pour out!" -Andrew Gross, #1 bestselling James Patterson co-author
“Vonnegut follows his debut, Top Producer, with another invigorating dip into the shark pool of Wall Street's hedge fund industry… Vonnegut, a financial professional himself, not only gets the language and tone of Wall Street right but has an instinctive feel for dialogue and action. Especially enjoyable is the rip-roaring finale at the Bronx Zoo.” -Publishers Weekly"[Vonnegut's] gift for portraying certain social sets positions him as a satirical heir apparent to Louis Auchincloss. " --National Post (Canada)
“This novel ponders the age-old ramifications of greed, but Vonnegut gives it a fresh, timely twist.” -USA Today on Top Producer
“The gold standard for financial thrillers.” -Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Top Producer
"A ripping good yarn." - Raymond Benson, author of several James Bond novels and co-author of Homefront—The Voice of Freedom
"Filled with enough insider info to send the feds to your door." - Hank Phillippi Ryan-Anthony, Macavity and Agatha-winning author of Drive Time
Things go from grim to worse for rising hedge-fund star Jimmy Cusack when his company collapses and the fund that recruits him is targeted for destruction by cutthroat bankers in Iceland and a sheikh in Qatar…. The novel moves at… a fast clip, spilling goods on recession-era wheelers and dealers as it goes.” --Kirkus
“The Gods of Greenwich is better than most financial thrillers… a page-turner plot. (Serial murders plus the Great Crash of 2008.)… The cast is an unusually motley and enjoyable crew.” -The New York Journal of Books
“Vonnegut follows up his debut (Top Producer) with a first-rate thriller set in the world of hedge fund managers during the 2008 financial meltdown…. Vonnegut's skill at creating characters at risk will make even less wealthy readers root for Cusack to survive his financial debacle with millions intact. This thriller will appeal to fans of Joseph Finder and might serve as a cautionary tale to anyone who envies the seemingly idyllic life of the superrich. But don't we all like to read about them?” -Library Journal
Review
“A riveting thriller… racing relentlessly from the bedrooms of Manhattan to the boardrooms of Connecticut to the banks of Iceland. Bravo!” —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of Edge
“The pieces of this plot mesh as smoothly as a well executed trade.”—Bloomberg News
“Frighteningly plausible...a recession-era nail-biter.”—HedgeCo.net
“A first-rate thriller.”—Library Journal
“This is way beyond just being a fast-paced financial thriller. I've not read such a rich portrayal of downfall through hubris since Tom Wolfes Bonfire Of The Vanities.”—Peter James, internationally bestselling author of Dead Like You
“The Gods of Greenwich is compelling, suspenseful, high-energy, a terrific read!”—Thomas B. Sawyer, bestselling author of No Place to Run and head writer of Murder, She Wrote
“A fast-paced and satisfying locomotive of a financial-based thriller, Dominick Dunne meets Barbarians at the Gate. Vonnegut has opened the vaults of Greenwichs elite, and oh what secrets and schemes pour out! ”—Andrew Gross, #1 bestselling James Patterson co-author
“Vonnegut follows his debut, Top Producer, with another invigorating dip into the shark pool of Wall Streets hedge fund industry…Vonnegut, a financial professional himself, not only gets the language and tone of Wall Street right but has an instinctive feel for dialogue and action. Especially enjoyable is the rip-roaring finale at the Bronx Zoo.”—Publishers Weekly
Top Producer
“Norb Vonnegut, who has made a career out of wealth management, pulls off a compelling thriller that centers on the murder of hedge-fund schemer Charlie Kelemen: Hes tossed into a public aquarium and munched by sharks…This novel ponders the age-old ramifications of greed, but Vonnegut gives it a fresh, timely twist.” —USA Today
“Vonneguts debut meets the gold standard for financial thrillers as it puts the frenzied, cutthroat world of Wall Streets best stockbrokers (aka the ‘top producers) on brilliant display. Ripples from the bizarre murder of Charlie Kelemen, wealthy hedge fund operator, quickly reach his best friend, Grove ORourke. A top producer at the boutique investment bank Sachs, Kidder and Carnegie, ORourke tries to help Kelemens widow sort out some financial questions. This process leads him deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of deceit. As fallout from Charlies death and dealings start to taint ORourke, the sharks, inside and outside his own firm, smell blood and begin to circle. ORourke wont go down without a fight, and not all the blood in the water will be his. Vonnegut, himself a veteran fund manager, handles the arcane terminology and slang of Wall Street with aplomb, never letting it get in the way of the story.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“An entertaining debut…The story mirrors reality—in ways that may now surprise even its author, who finished the book before the economic meltdown. The two decades Vonnegut spent as a wealth advisor are evident in the venom he brings to descriptions and in his grasp of the cutthroat world of finance.”—SmartMoney magazine (A Smart Book “Best Of” pick)
“Norb Vonnegut makes a sterling debut in Top Producer, a financial thriller extraordinaire that reads like a 2009 version of Tom Wolfe s brilliant Bonfire of the Vanities for a world that has lost its taste for Wall Street excesses….A former wealth manager himself, Vonnegut paints a vivid picture of life lived between million-dollar trades. But he also writes with an aplomb that makes Top Producer a literary reimagining of the film Wall Street where murder, as well as money, never sleeps.” —Providence Journal-Bulletin
“Shockingly accurate.”—Bloomberg on the Economy
“Though its 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.”
—Library Journal
“Norb Vonneguts Top Producer begins where Liars Poker and The Bonfire of the Vanities left off and puts an electrifying spin on the winner-take-all culture of Wall Street. Turn to the first page and plunge into the shark-infested waters of high finance and greed.” —Brent Ghelfi, ITW Award-nominated author of Volks Game and The Venona Cable
“A timely read as Vonnegut opens the kimono exposing the intricate cause and effect of finance and murder. He shares his well-earned insights and literary acumen in a manner that entices the reader to reach out for the next chapter. A must for all investors wishing to avoid the next Bernie Madoff!” —Joe Grano, Former CEO UBS/PaineWebber
“Vonnegut knows what hes talking about.” —Cosmopolitan book editor John Searles, The Today Show
Synopsis
Norb Vonneguts Top Producer met “the gold standard for financial thrillers” as it put the “frenzied, cutthroat world of Wall Street…on brilliant display (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Now the author, a veteran wealth manager, lends an explosive insiders perspective to the high-stakes, winner-takes-all world of hedge funds in
THE GODS OF GREENWICH
Jimmy Cusack is the tough kid from a blue-collar neighborhood who made good on Wall Street. Well, almost. After a sterling start to his career, things have suddenly soured…
“THE PIECES OF THIS PLOT MESH AS SMOOTHLY AS A WELL EXECUTED TRADE.”—Bloomberg News
His hedge fund has collapsed. The bank is foreclosing on his upscale condominium. And Jimmys wife is two months pregnant. Thats the good news. When Cusack is met with an offer he cant refuse, he takes a job with LeeWell Capital. Based in the affluent enclave of Greenwich, Connecticut, LeeWell is a fund thats impervious to the capital market woes—and is guaranteed to bring in billions. But making big money always comes with a cost. And soon Jimmy will have to pay the price…
“[A] TENSE FINANCIAL MURDER MYSTERY.”—Dallas Morning News
About the Author
NORB VONNEGUT writes thrillers about the people of Wall Street—their quirks, their behavior, the things that happen behind closed doors and seldom make it to the business media. He has appeared on Bloomberg News as well as the Judith Regan and Laura Ingraham shows. Top Producer, his debut novel, was a featured pick of Today, SmartMoney and is published in eight languages. Norb spent most of his long career in wealth management with Morgan Stanley. A Harvard graduate, he is a trustee with the American Foundation for the Blind and bicycles whenever possible. Visit norbvonnegut.com or Acrimoney.com to learn more.