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by NetSeek
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Michael Ridpath 2004
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Publisher's Description... |
Disgruntled
academic Nick Elliot is the greenest trader at a tough firm of City brokers,
Dekker Ward. Led by Ricardo Ross, the most successful trader the
region has ever seen, they dominate the turbulent market in Latin American
bonds. He is the Marketmaker. And as Nick soon notices, you're
either with him, or you've made an enemy for life. But
while Nick is still learning the ropes, strange things start to happen
to Dekker employees. One top trader is fired without warning.
Another dies in a bungled robbery. As tension mounts, Nick can't
disguise his feelings for his attractive colleague, Isabel. Then
she too is kidnapped. And while Nick debates the wisdom of taking matters
into his own hands, the all powerful Marketmaker is ready to make his
move.
When I worked in the City, I always wanted to trade the Emerging Markets,
that is bonds from developing countries such as Mexico, Brazil or Russia.
They wouldn't let me. The markets were too risky. But they
couldn't stop me writing about them, and so when I was searching for
a topic for a third novel, Emerging Markets seemed a natural choice.
They
didn't disappoint me. True, they are fraught with risk, but the
returns are also there for the smart or the lucky. And they are
fun. The culture of over-regulation, twenty minute lunch breaks,
and complete information disclosure which has taken the fun out of most
of the global markets in the 1990s, has yet to be felt. The market
is full of colourful characters, enormous egos, and great stories.
The
research was interesting. I decided to focus on Brazil.
I knew little about it, but had always been fascinated by it.
It is a complex country full of opposites. The people are relaxed,
happy go lucky, friendly. Yet they can also be violent, depraved
and callous. The financial system seems like a joyful shambles,
but the Brazilian investment bankers I met are some of the most driven
and intelligent I have come across. And, yes, I did have to spend
time lying on a beach in Rio watching the women go by to do my research
properly.
Nick,
the hero of the book, is an academic. He was inspired by my friends
outside the City who see all the wealth made by their contemporaries,
and wonder whether they couldn't do as well themselves. Perhaps
they can. But intelligence isn't the problem, ruthlessness, or
aggression, or most euphemistically, "hunger", is. There are four
characters in my book who all have different reasons for wanting to
work in the City. They are all faced with the question, "How far
will they go?" It is their answers to this question which drives
the plot.
The
Marketmaker is published by Penguin in the UK, and, by Signet in the
US under the title The Market Maker. |
