Don't you wish they'd throw the book at the clowns who caused the global financial collapse and the battering of your 401k?
Wouldn't it be great to see trials of those greedy criminals podcast live on the Internet, with everyone who lost money invited to vote on their guilt or innocence?
I decided I wanted to see that happen three years ago when I started writing Triple Cross, my latest thriller from St. Martin's Press.
I used to be a financial investigative reporter, and what I saw happening on Wall Street in 2006 looked wrong to me. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called the financial shenanigans "irrational exuberance." I thought a lot of it constituted outright fraud.
I live in Montana, near the tarnished emblem of that irrational exuberance: a private ski resort for the super-rich called the Yellowstone Club. Not surprisingly, the club went bankrupt recently. But that's another story.
In 2006, the club was going strong. The owners were talking about building a $150 million spec house with its own ski lift. Talk about hot air.
The point is that it all got me writing, and out came this story:
It's New Year's Eve. The world's seven wealthiest men are guests of the Jefferson Club when anti-Globalist guerillas attack and take them hostage. The Third Position Army puts the men on trial on the Internet, with the world invited to vote as jury. As you might expect, the stock markets go haywire.
When I concocted the hostages' crimes years ago, I worried I'd gone too far in one case, that no one would believe someone could run a $16 billion scam and not get caught. But then Bernie Madoff proved me wrong with his $50 billion swindle.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll get to see the bums that fleeced us put on trial, much less live on the Internet.
For that, you'll have to check out Triple Cross, and read about the father and three teenagers who are the only ones who can save the hostages and prevent a stock market crash like the one last October.
Interested in seeing what news coverage of an attack on the Jefferson Club might look like? Click here.
Want to check out the website used in the trials? Click here.
And my website: www.marktsullivan.com.