The Big Bucks by Albert Corey is a story of three friends set in the late 1980s when Silicon Valley was starting to become a tech hub and opportunities to join a startup company and make a small fortune abounded.

Janet is working in Apple and not enjoying the experience at all; Matt is trying to get some networking experience so he can move from Minnesota to Silicon Valley in the hope of making a windfall and Dan is in California but looking for a startup with potential.

They all arrive at the same company and their challenges with management, awkward colleagues, building contractors are just some of the storylines explored.

I really enjoyed reading The Big Bucks; the belief that everyone was making truckload of money and having the time of their lives is truly debunked. Although I was around for a good bit of the technology used, I am guessing that not a lot of readers would remember ethernet over coax cable but it was fun to revisit that era through this book.

Corey tells the story well, the characters are cleverly created to cause a degree of conflict and I was left wondering about what would happen next - not so much a cliffhanger, more like what happened to Miriam?