Book Synopsis

A CRIMEREADS BEST BOOK OF 2025!

"A pulse-pounding plot propels a narrative steeped in the language and culture of tech bros....An exciting and timely debut of an original voice." --People, Best Books of the Month

A hotshot hedge fund employee must risk everything to save his job--and his life--in this timely and darkly funny thriller about race, power, and the corrupting influence of the almighty dollar.

Ali "Al" Jafar is a rising star at notorious hedge fund Prism Capital, but fortunes change fast on Wall Street. When his biggest investment goes up in smoke, Al loses $300 million--and his fragile sense of self-worth--in a single afternoon. He's certain he'll be fired, but Prism's obscenely rich and politically connected founder isn't that merciful. Instead, he gives Al an impossible ultimatum: recover the lost money in three months or become the fall guy for the government's insider-trading investigation into the firm.

Desperate and depressed, Al turns to high finance's dark side, where he battles back-stabbing coworkers and cutthroat competitors and digs himself into an even deeper hole. As the clock winds down, and the pressure mounts, Al's mental health deteriorates. To survive, he'll have to outfox one of the world's most powerful men and decide if he values the dearest asset of all: himself.

Review Quotes

"A pulse-pounding plot propels a narrative steeped in the language and culture of tech bros.... An exciting and timely debut of an original voice."
--People, Best Books of the Month

"Hilarious and scathing. . . . the book's targets -- greed, elitism, and bigotry to name a few -- are immaculately chosen and ripped apart with hysterical aplomb. Gowani skewers casino capitalism, racism, and the egregiousness of hedge fund managers and CEOs who view other human beings only as property to be leveraged to amass yet more assets. With snappy dialogue, plot twists galore, and a self-aware main character with a work ethic that just won't quit, Gowani delivers a caper for the ages."
--Chicago Magazine

"A simply riveting suspense thriller set in the treacherous world of High Finance. . . . Original, deftly crafted, and a compelling read from cover to cover, Leverage is especially and unreservedly recommended for community library collections."
--Midwest Book Review

"In this masterpiece of late-stage capitalism and its discontents, Amran Gowani uses the crime genre to eviscerate the world of finance and the psychopaths at their center. In Leverage, a successful trader is backed into a corner by his menacing boss after a shocking loss, and forced to embrace deeply unethical practices to make up for his perceived error. All is not as it seems, but even as additional challenges mount, Gowani's scrappy hero might just be clever enough to carve out a win. This book was so ridiculously good."
--CrimeReads (Most Anticipated of Summer 2025)

"[A] blistering and riveting debut . . . . Funny and full of narrative shocks reminiscent of works by Percival Everett and Sergio de la Pava, [Leverage] is gloriously outlandish and compulsively readable."
--Booklist (starred review)

"I love a good Wall Street thriller, but I especially love one with this kind of depth and nuance - a keen and brilliant sense of the absurdity of it all. Amran is a sharp and funny, often surprisingly moving writer."
--Catherine Baab, author of Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History's Least Likely Self-Help Guru

"Leverage is a high-octane, high-finance thriller set in the mid-2010s when stocks were flying high yet there was a sense the whole ship might be sinking and Wall Street's rats were gorging instead of fleeing. Gowani writes in hard-boiled-tinged and always hilarious prose, and his narrator Al is one you can't help but root for."
--Lincoln Michel, author of Metallic Realms

"Fast and funny, appalling and appalled, Leverage absolutely nails the rats-eating-each-other vibe of the post-Great Recession, pre-Trump era. Al Jafar--who knows hedge funds like Ishmael knows whales, like Dante knows Hell--is among the most entertaining voices in recent fiction."
--Martin Seay, author of The Mirror Thief

"Leverage is a wild ride that is, at various turns, funny, dark, and heart-wrenching. This thriller will make you burn through the pages and revel in twist after twist. By the end, you'll leave satisfied, entertained, and in possession of a far greater understanding of both the Wu-Tang Clan's discography and what can happen when capitalistic greed is stretched to its furthest extremes."
--Andrew Boryga, author of Victim

"A profanely funny and devilishly entertaining novel about the American worship of capital at the expense of all else. Leverage has both the merry prankster vibes and the nerve-wracking pacing of r/wallstreetbets. I loved it."
--Leigh Stein, author of Self Care

"No one else is doing what Amran is. He's smarter than funny people, funnier than smart people, and has more heart and edge than both."
--Dennard Dayle, author of How to Dodge a Cannonball

"Told in a dazzling, wildly assured narrative voice, Leverage is a by turns tense and hilarious thriller set against the backdrop of a financial crisis which doubles as a sly dissection of the exploitation and structural inequity buttressing that very system. Amran Gowani's debut--part social satire, part tale of self-discovery, and part love letter to hip-hop culture--announces the arrival of a writer to be reckoned with."
--Elizabeth McCullough Keenan and Greg Wands, internationally bestselling authors of Trust Issues

"With Leverage, Amran Gowani blows off the facade of high finance, revealing a world that is even more depraved than most think, where 'profits over people' is the rule of the day. Armed with years of Wall Street experience, the skill to weave a compulsively readable tale, and prose that'll make you go 'WHOA!', Gowani reminds us that the most valuable commodity on Earth isn't oil or gold, but the unshakable spirit to do better and be better which dwells within us all. A bell-ringing debut with high ROI."
--Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck

About the Author

Amran Gowani is a former Wall Street analyst who lives in Chicago with his wife and two children. He's a prolific content creator and writes a cult favorite email newsletter. Leverage is his first novel. Learn more at AmranGowani.com.