Author: PT Dawkins

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9781605947235

After David Heart's father's estate is squandered by bad advice, his mother faces eviction and his grandfather needs life-saving surgery. A seemingly-helpful family friend finds David a seat at a bucket-shop off-Wall Street firm with the promise that money flows like wine. Naive and quickly recognized as an easy mark, David is plunged into the eat-what-you-kill world of a trading desk, where the analysts, salesmen and traders sit like pigs at a two-sided trough. Bullied by the cruel, abusive head trader known only as Blackie, David is relieved when Sandy Allen, a strikingly provocative street-smart saleswoman, comes to his aid. But, what David doesn't realize is that hidden agendas are everywhere, and no one can be trusted. Now the target of extortion, David must make an impossible choice: facilitate an insider-trading felony in exchange for the money his family desperately needs, or face the cruelty of his mentor-turned-predator who has framed David and promises that he alone will be found guilty and suffer the consequences of the crime he refused to commit. David's experiences reveal the underbelly of a place where everyone is looking out for themselves and money is the only measure of success. A trusting fish in a pool of sharks, David is left vulnerable by what he doesn't know, and must struggle to survive in the face of overwhelming odds to provide for his family. A 28-year veteran of the investment world, PT Dawkins writes from experience about the insatiable desire for money that leads to unethical, illegal and unscrupulous behavior. He majored in English at Dartmouth College, earned a MBA from The University of Western Ontario and completed extensive studies in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto.