Human Capital - by Stephen Amidon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Stephen Amidon's Human Capital is a gripping novel of new money, old jealousies, and the secret lives of parents and children in the suburbs. Now a major motion picture!

It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches, Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control.

As the fortunes of the Hagels and the Mannings collide, a terrible accident gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. At once brilliantly observed and masterfully paced, Human Capital by Stephen Amidon "deftly slices open the rich, corrupt heart of suburban America and lets its dark secrets bleed out" (Elle).

Review Quotes

"Gripping . . . Stephen Amidon is the rare writer who can illuminate the secrets of money and love with equal authority." --Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers

"Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller . . . We finish this novel not only with an appreciation of his skill at orchestrating suspense but also with a keen understanding of the emotional consequences of his characters' decisions." --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Amidon nails it . . . Human Capital is terrific." --Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"A splendid novel with the satiric bite of The Bonfire of the Vanities and perhaps the most inexorable plot since House of Sand and Fog." --The Seattle Times

"In Stephen Amidon's brilliant Human Capital a specter is haunting America--not the specter of Socialism that Marx once envisioned, but the 21st Century specter of Failure. Amidon combines the intellectual acuity of a social theorist, the steady powers of observation of a first rate reporter, and the sympathy and grace of a natural writer. From its very beginning, Human Capital seizes us and plunges us into the grand delirium of reading about characters--men, women, boys, girls--whose fates we eagerly, agonizingly follow to the last, lovely page." --Scott Spencer, author of Endless Love

"Stephen Amidon's beautiful and terrifying Human Capital is an ever-tightening knot of money, love, sex, and lies. This roaring read cuts to the heart of how we live now in America, risking all for the almighty dollar. His best book yet." --Colin Harrison, author of The Havana Room

"Human Capital turns over the rock of NASDAQ affluence and lets us see the squirmy things underneath. Stephen Amidon's plot full of secrets reveals his garden-green Stepford suburb as an ethical desert, his characters driven and ultimately damned by their selfishness. An entertaining, scathing, very American fable." --Stewart O'Nan, author of The Speed Queen and The Night Country

About the Author

STEPHEN AMIDON was born in Chicago and grew up on the East Coast. He lived in London for twelve years before returning to the United States in 1999. He now lives in Massachusetts and Torino, Italy. His books have been published in sixteen countries and include works of nonfiction, a collection of short stories, and several novels, including Human Capital, adapted as a film directed by Marc Meyers in 2019, and Security, also adapted as a film and released by Netflix in summer 2021.