Book Review: The Street

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Street     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Lee Gruenfeld
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Financial
Doubleday, Apr 2001, $23.95, 399 pp.

Working at Schumann-Dallas in Wall St., James Vincent Hanley hates his job. He resents turning idiots with a .com mind and nothing else into billionaires while he earns $300,000 a year for the service. At the end of his patience with THE STREET, and having learned the ins and outs of the Internet economy, James decides it is time for him to launch his own company. He starts up Artemis-5, but cloaks it in mystery. No one knows anything about the company. Still TV gurus pick up the rumors and glorify Artemis-5 as a sure winner that has monster funding from super heavyweights and an incredible break through technology that will turn the industry upside down.

This leads to the SEC becoming interested and wondering what the heck is going on. SEC Assistant Director of Enforcement Jubal Thurgen believes that Hanley has pulled off the greatest swindle in THE STREET's history. He investigates the new overnight giant, but Hanley expects him. As they play cat and mouse, the game turns personal.

THE STREET is an exciting satirical look at recent Wall St. and related industry practices in which poor profit records and limited value mean a company sells for hundreds of dollars a share if it is a .com firm. The story line is exciting with two fabulous fighters behaving like Kimble and Gerard meeting in the financial district and a support cast that adds to the irony of a strong tale. Unlike his novel, which is filled with substance worth the value of the price, Lee Gruenfeld writes a thriller that unequivocally believes that value means little on Wall St. while rumors without substance denote everything.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.