Word on the Street
by Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 2/26/2007
Though they're not quite the financial industry's answer to The Devil Wears Prada, these novels by current and former money men depict various dark sides of working on Wall Street.
| Bank by David Bledin (Little, Brown/Back Bay, May) | Das Kapital: A Novel of Love and Money Markets by Viken Berberian (S&S, June) | Mergers and Acquisitions by Dana Vachon (Riverhead, Apr.) | Wall and Meanby Tom Bernard (Norton, May) | |
| The author: | Former investment banker; now an economic consultant in D.C. | Works at a financial consulting company in Paris and London | Former analyst at JP Morgan and blogger known as "D-Nasty" | Traded bonds for 15+ years during the 1990s Wall Street boom |
| Plot: | A 20-something investment banker fools around with his buddies at work and ultimately comes of age. | A 20-something trader and a terrorist join forces; turns out they're involved with the same woman. | A 20-something investment banker learns his million-dollar job and wealthy girlfriend aren't what they seemed. | Young bond trader racks up gambling debt; runs from Brooklyn Mafia hit men. |
| For: | Newbies to the Street | Intellectual financial types with European leanings | Bankers who've left the business, happy they got out when they did | Readers 35 and up who want to relive the excitement of the '93 bond-market explosion |
| Favored narrative technique: | Nicknames (e.g., protagonist's boss is the Sycophant; edgy co-worker is Postal Guy) | Know-it-all footnotes (e.g., Chase Manhattan bank is "now JP Morgan Chase") | Lurid descriptions of excess: of women, apartment views, plasma TV screens | Rapid, slangy dialogue (e.g., "Ya got another joint?") |
