Friday, November 26, 2010

"Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man." Ronald Regan


This is a novel examines the lifestyle of the wealthy, carefree, society members and a greedy financial advisor who places his own greed before his client's interests. Although the story is fiction, it could be taken from the financial section of today's newspaper.

At age sixty-eight, Matthew Wirth is tired. He's ready to retire from his investment advisory firm. He's been moving in that direction for years and giving up the day to day functions of the job to his partner, Morrie Clay.

A client, Mac McAllister, with eighteen million dollars invested in the firm, wants to move his account to another firm. Though he has been a client for years, his wife, Rene, is pressuring him to make the change.

Morrie storms out of the office when he hears the news. He's put almost $750,000 of Rene's money into a risky hedge fund and borrowed over $600,000 by using $4,000,ooo in assets in her account as collateral. This was done without Rene's authority and Morrie had his secretary sign Rene's name to the papers.

Matt, Morrie and McAllister all have homes by the lake. Another neighbor, Tom Sherman, and his wife, are also having problems. Tom's son, Jamie, by a former marriage, is a known drug dealer and is under investigation.

Things turn ugly with Rene's body is found floating in the water, the morning after Matt Worth's annual July 4th bash.

The sheriff knows how influential these wealthy people are and wants the case closed quickly as an accidental drowning. However, Detective James Raker disagrees with his boss. He convinces the sheriff to give him some time to see if there's more to it.

Then the Sherman's son Jamie is found dead in his boat. The sheriff wants this case closed too but Raker thinks that the cases are related.

The author is presenting a number of areas for his readers to consider. The stock market has made millions for some people but there is still greed and people want to take advantage of it.

Also, how are the retirement plans of a person affected by their employees misdeeds? We question how quickly a dream can be turned into ash and the result on a person's marriage.

Are some of the wives of these wealthy men as conniving as their husbands? Are they the cause of the greed and corruption?

The author, John J. Hohn has put together a contemporary, suspenseful story. Formerly, this would be called a morality play. The characters of the story are engrossing as are their motives and changing loyalties.
Please check the below link and view my amazon review. If you agree, please indicate that the review is helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2O2491B2VCJ8B/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

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