Top Producer: A Novel of Dark Money, Greed, and Friendship [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

If you've ever thought about selling securities for a living, this book should make up your mind; that is, if you accept Mr. Vonnegut's vision of the business. I would have enjoyed "Top Producer" just for that nightmarish vision, but there's a lot more.

Here's the set-up: Grove O'Rourke is a top salesman at a big brokerage house. When his best friend dies in a strange incident, he agrees to help the widow, also a long-time friend, and the former roommate of Grove's dead wife, to wind up the decedent's business. Stuff happens.

I can't say a lot more without spoiling the fun, but the story races by, filled with back-stabbing colleagues, evil in-house lawyers, and ordinary thugs, none of whom want Grove to complete his mission. The author's expertise in the business is apparent in every vivid and miserable detail of Grove's daily life and, of course, in the unraveling mystery at the heart of things.

I read "Top Producer" cover to cover and enjoyed every minute. My one real criticism is that some of the characters don't make a lot of sense, and the resolution would be more satisfying if a little more thought had been put into them. (I apologize for the vagueness, but again, I don't want to give the story away!)

Before you start reading TOP PRODUCER, clear your calendar. You're not going to want to put it down until you finish the last page. This book has everything going for it to become a huge bestseller and, eventually, a hit movie.

The novel is centered on Wall Street at the present moment in time. How much of this story was inspired by recent current events and how much, independently, was the product of a fertile and informed imagination is impossible to discern from the tale.

Yet how the plot came to be hatched is irrelevant in the reading. This is a brilliant work.

Author Norb Vonnegut displays an insider's knowledge of the trading world, making it come alive for an outsider. At times, the narrative almost approaches a primer on investing.

The mystery opens with one of the most imaginative (and repulsive)murders in the history of fiction. At a quick pace, it moves on to stock manipulation and Securities fraud, complete with partners-in-crime, double-crosses and triple-crosses. A couple of characters are implausible but not impossible ... and even the greatest writers sometimes rely on coincidence to advance their stories, as Vonnegut does here.

He has crafted an intricate and compelling plot that achieves the ultimate thriller status, keeping one absorbed way into the wee hours of the morning. And, best of all -- and rarely true in popular fiction -- Vonnegut displays immense command of language. Taken together, TOP PRODUCER is a winner in every sense.

Don't miss this one!

Top Producer presents an interesting twist on a whodunit murder mystery. Grove O'Rourke is a young investment broker and one of the top producers at a famous investment firm in New York. When his wealthy, free-spending best friend is killed at a lavish birthday party in an extremely bizarre way right in front of him and 500 other guests, he wants to know why. When his friend's widow pleads poverty and asks him for help in untangling their finances, the search for answers becomes urgent. The friend ran a one-man investment company and covered his tracks well. Grove starts digging, first for the widow's sake and later on behalf of other investor/friends who want to know where their money is. Adding to his anguish about his friends's murder, he also feels guilty because he suggested the location where the murder took place. He is also still suffering from the sudden death of his own beloved wife and child 18 months earlier.

I found the book very intriguing on a lot of levels, examining friendships, which are not always what we think they are, the mysteries of investment finance and how someone's reputation and livelihood can be destroyed almost instantly. I actually found the information on intricate finance/investment and brokers' strategy, which is the backdrop to the story, more interesting than the murder, which I solved long before the end (I knew who, but not why). Throughout the story, Mr. Vonnegut provided brief explanations on arcane stuff like hedge funds, selling short and margin calls, in layman's terms so even someone like me, who knows very little about investment finance, could understand. Although I had some minor quibbles with the book, they were not sufficient to detract from the overall story. This was a solid read; I look forward to his next book.