Myth

by David A. Mallach

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Pub Date Jul 02 2013 | Archive Date Mar 19 2014

Penhurst Books | Bookmasters, Inc

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

Description

Johnny Long is back and better than ever as he takes on the most challenging crisis to hit the financial-services industry in decades. In Myth, we have a harrowing tale involving a retired couple in dire distress. Their income has been decimated, the result of depending on fixed income over years of declining interest rates. Their options are few and their future bleak. How will they survive? They turn to Lucien Marat for help. Armed with a passion to help others, Lucien Marat takes on Wall Street in a trial that he hopes can save millions of retirees from certain ruin. What unfolds is a shocking account about "business as usual" on Wall Street, as well as a probing look at consumer accountability. Along the way, we learn that there is a cause for hope, that there is another way!

Advance Praise

"In his latest novel drawing on his years of financial industry experience, Mallach (Walking with the Analysts, 2008) turns a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority hearing into a tension-filled analysis of the shortcomings of fixed-income investment strategies. Blue-collar workers Henry and Norma Thompson file a complaint against their financial adviser, Valerie Brown, after her investments on their behalf lead to the loss of a significant portion of their retirement savings. Feisty but schlubby lawyer Lucien Marat represents the Thompsons at the FINRA hearing, but his real mission is to bring about systemic change in the financial industry, one lawsuit at a time. Mallach keeps the intricacies of investment strategy at a level the average reader can understand, using his characters, rather than infodumps, to explain concepts through fast-paced dialogue. What at first seems to be a clear-cut case of professional negligence turns out to be more complicated as the opposing lawyers reveal one twist after another, and Mallach keeps readers guessing until the hearing’s conclusion. The book ends by following up on several of the characters two years after the hearing, particularly the ever-more-litigious Marat and the chastened Brown; the Thompsons, however, do not appear again—an odd choice given their importance to the book’s central conflict. Mallach succeeds in keeping the story moving, despite the relatively dry subject matter, thanks to multidimensional characters who can’t make it to the end of the page without arguing with each other. The highly descriptive style of writing, though occasionally overstuffed with colorful turns of phrase—“irritating enough to make the Dalai Lama curse like a character in Goodfellas”; “people like you can sell birthday cakes and party hats to a Jehovah’s Witness”—continues to keep the pages turning and the conflict crackling.Proof that even the mechanics of low-risk investment strategies can be the basis of a thoughtful, dynamic novel." - Kirkus Reviews