Campaign for the American Reader: Pg. 69: "Fear & Greed"

Lawrence Light is the Senior Editor in charge of money and investing for Forbes magazine, a post he assumed in late 1999, and the author of an acclaimed thriller series.

Larry put his latest novel, Fear & Greed, to the "page 69 test" and reported back:

Fear & Greed is the second in my Karen Glick mystery series published by Dorchester. The first is Too Rich To Live. Karen is a smart, sassy financial reporter who covers Wall Street for Profit, a big business magazine.

In Fear & Greed, powerful forces are scrambling to get their hands on the Goldring laptop, which predicts the stock market. And they will kill for it. Goldring was created by beautiful stockbroker Linda Reiner and her sisters. It has made them fabulously rich.

Page 69 is tolerably representative of the book. It begins a new scene. Goldring has been stolen and one of the Reiner sisters lies dead. Albert, a psychologically addled computer geek, sits with the magical laptop in his seedy apartment. The unobtainable Linda obsesses him, and he believes she will have him if he, too, becomes rich, via Goldring.

This is a dangerous delusion. Some very ruthless people are watching poor Albert and his prize laptop.

Page 69:

The phone rang yet again. Albert should have shut off the ringer. He reluctantly picked up.

His sister, overwrought as usual. "Why haven't you returned my calls? What's the matter with you?"

"Quit bothering me."

"I lend you $10,000 and you tell me to quit bothering you?"

"You'll have the money back in a week. With interest. I'm going to be a very rich man."

"You worry me," she said. "You haven't been keeping your appointments with Dr. Whetstone. Are you taking your medication?"

"None of your business."

"Albert, FBI agents came by and asked questions about you," Mimi said. "What kind of trouble are you in now?"

"I have to go." He sat entranced by the laptop before him.

"Did you hear that Linda Reiner's sister was shot and killed? They were interested in that." Mimi got shrill. "Did you have something to do with that, Albert? Tell me now."

He hadn't been listening and perked up only when she mentioned Linda. "Who was killed? What's this about Linda?"

"Did you do it?" Mimi blared with enough force to crumble the wax build-up in his ears.

He slammed down the phone. What had she been going on about?

The night gleamed through Albert's window, all that smug light from others' apartments. A mosaic of yellow-white windows from the nearby buildings spoke of happy men and women with love in their lives. Dominating the wall next to his sole window was a massive silkscreen he had made of Linda, lifted from the magazine story. That cost a lot of money, but was worth it. He devoted hours to looking at the picture worshipfully.

Many thanks to Larry for the input.

Among the praise for Fear & Greed:

"Witty, fast-paced and exciting."
--Christopher Reich, author of The Patriots Club

"Another winner. I couldn't stop turning the pages."
--Stephen Frey, author of The Power Broker

"Zooms along like a jet-fueled rollercoaster."
-- Joseph Finder, author of Killer Instinct

Fear & Greed has been chosen as one of the Best Crime Fiction novels of 2006 by January Magazine.

From Anthony Rainone's review:

There are enough surprises in Fear & Greed to keep readers from thinking they know all of what's ahead. The ending holds several shockers, one of which comes out of left field, and is overall plausible and ultimately deeply satisfying. Lawrence Light shows considerable talent in developing his characters and plot, and has a good command of pacing, with an eye for human fallibility and humorous situations. If this author chooses to focus on the illegal foibles of Wall Street, he will never encounter a dearth of material. That will be to every reader's benefit, for Light is a talent to keep your eye on.