High Finance - by Ken Miller (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Discover the novel called a "brilliant read, funny and poignant, with an insider's knowledge of Wall Street" that plunges readers into the financial sector's ruthless heart, where fortune, ambition, and betrayal collide in the rise and devastating fall of a financial titan. (New York Times bestselling author Elliott Ackerman)

Told from the perspectives of those in and around the pathways of money and power, High Finance is a debut novel that takes us inside one of the most volatile periods in Wall Street's history through the lens of Jed Czincosca, who came to Wall Street from Chicago in 1977 to get rich and rise to the pinnacle of American success.

He did what it takes to make it to the top, letting nothing hold him back. While orchestrating multibillion-dollar deals and becoming spectacularly wealthy, Jed binges on pot and alcohol, trades on inside information, cheats on his wife, and becomes one of Wall Street's key players. At the dawn of the new century, with a monomaniacal obsession Jed borrows to buy as many shares of Lehman Brothers as he can get his hands on, only to be wiped out on that fateful September day when Lehman was fed to the wolves. Forced from his four-bedroom duplex on Park Avenue to a cheap rental in the working-class town of Patchogue, is redemption and resurrection for Jed even possible?

Through a kaleidoscope of voices--his wife, his British secretary, his Marxist brother, the Lehman "informant," an internal auditor dedicated to Jed's destruction, and others--we come to intimately understand Jed and how the unpredictable external forces to which we are all susceptible shape and define us.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers was a pivotal moment in the 2008 crash of the financial markets that led to job losses, a housing market crisis, and a global recession whose effects are still being felt to this day. In telling the story of one man at the center of this moment, Ken Miller offers us a new perspective on Wall Street in the twenty-first century.

Review Quotes

"High Finance is a satire and, as a satire should be, at once amusing and serious."--East Hampton Star

"High Finance is an accurate, trenchant and hilarious work. I recommend it to all who love good writing and are interested in a practitioner's humor-filled take on Wall Street's inner sanctum."--Robert B. Millard, Chairman Emeritus the MIT Corporation

"This engaging novel about a flawed financier is written by a gifted storyteller who knows the ins and outs of high finance from his days as a senior Wall Street executive and one of the financial sector's biggest producers."--David Rockefeller, Jr., Director of Rockefeller Capital Management

"High Finance brings a new authoritative voice to fiction from the cutthroat world of elite investment banking. As a reader I experienced many moments of mirth and even found myself laughing out loud at this new, inventive novel in stories."--Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican

"Ken Miller's High Finance is a brilliant read, funny and poignant, with an insider's knowledge of Wall Street. I couldn't put it down."--Elliot Ackerman, The New York Times bestselling author of 2034

About the Author

Ken Miller is President & CEO of Ken Miller Capital, LLC ("KMC"), a closely held merchant banking firm which invests in early-stage companies. He is the former Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Miller has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Viacom, Inc., Intelsat Corporation, Kinder Care Learning Centers, CNA Surety, and Loews Corporation. He serves on the board of the National Committee on US-China Relations and PEN America and is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr. Miller received his B.A. with honors from the University of Michigan (1964), and, in addition to a M.A. from Yale University (1965 - Chinese Studies), received his J.D. from Harvard University (1969). His articles on China, venture capital, economic development, international relations, and the merger market have appeared in publications like for The Harvard Journal of Legislation, The Business Lawyer, The Far Eastern Economic Review, The New Republic, The Deal, The Nation, and Fortune, Foreign Affairs, and Time. High Finance is his first novel.