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Dave Hart #2
Trust Me, I'm a Banker: A Novel
In the tradition of American Psycho comes this hilariously cynical and often brutal novel skewering the world of investment banking, set in the heart of London high finance
Meet Dave Hart, just your typical investment banker. It’s not long until Bonus Day, the most important day of the year, and anything less than a million pounds would be an insult. After all, Dave has to buy a new car, a new Rolex for his wife and a second home in the country. Unfortunately, a million really isn’t what it used to be, and no one else seems to value Dave as much as he knows he’s worth. Luckily, competence and charm have never been accurate barometers for success in high finance, and Dave just might be able to weasel and blunder his way to the top.
Razor-sharp and extremely funny, Trust Me, I’m A Banker is the tale of one man’s quest for outrageous compensation and alpha status in a world where pitiless ambition, insecurity and moral ambiguity are second nature and glitter is far more important than gold.
Meet Dave Hart, just your typical investment banker. It’s not long until Bonus Day, the most important day of the year, and anything less than a million pounds would be an insult. After all, Dave has to buy a new car, a new Rolex for his wife and a second home in the country. Unfortunately, a million really isn’t what it used to be, and no one else seems to value Dave as much as he knows he’s worth. Luckily, competence and charm have never been accurate barometers for success in high finance, and Dave just might be able to weasel and blunder his way to the top.
Razor-sharp and extremely funny, Trust Me, I’m A Banker is the tale of one man’s quest for outrageous compensation and alpha status in a world where pitiless ambition, insecurity and moral ambiguity are second nature and glitter is far more important than gold.
- GenresFiction
336 pages, Hardcover
First published February 15, 2007
3 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 12, 2012
"Wall Street" meets in "American Psycho" in this clever American debut! "Trust Me, I'm a Banker" is horrifying and hilarious at the same time, and the ending is the cherry on top - I want more!
August 6, 2017
This book describes itself as satire, yet many of the puns or references were lost on me. In fact they often times came off as just offensive in my opinion. To me this book was generally unlikeable, I wanted to stop reading it 100 pages in. I pressed on and essentially skimmed the last 100 pages as I was so disinterested and so done with reading this book. Would never recommend this to a friend, but that's just me. Other people do seemed to have enjoyed it.
December 1, 2022
Hmmm I think this is good for a niche of ppl like a finance bro I guess? Idk the author did a great job trying to portray what he wanted like the whole finance bro life but it just wasn't the type of content I prefer to read. Not bad though but I wish I'd used that time to read a diff book since it just wasn't really my type of book. The author has a really good writing style though so if this is your preferred type of content then it's really good and I'd recommend just wasn't my preference
June 17, 2024
2.5. It was a quick read when I needed a quick read, so that was nice. I wish there was more satire. It was just a horrible, greedy man, not even trying for redemption being horrible and greedy for 300 pages.
July 8, 2012
"Trust Me, I'm a Banker," a novel by David Charters, to be published July 17, ISBN 978-0-312-60437, St. Martin's Press.
What draws me first to a book is the cover, then the title and then the summary written on the back cover or inside flap. What keeps me is the first 5 pages - which should be like a pot of my mom's vegetable soup. You know, she would mix everything in there, even the rutabagas - which I can't stand, but all the other stuff and the seasoning would hide the rutabaga.
Though Charters' efforts at writing a tale about a lifestyle that he knows from the inside out, and I do believe in the cliche that you should write about what you know, I found the 'rutabaga' on page 3.
And then it seemed that all I could taste was the 'rutabagas' all the way through the end of the book that has been proclaimed to be 'a flawless social satire' and has been compared to American Psycho.
Never read American Psycho. And if Trust Me, I'm a Banker is written in that tradition, well, then, I am glad.
Now, mind you, I will give Charters this - had he done a little less description and jumping from subject to subject and put in less details about the less important parts of the book, i.e. the hookers his character is with, their names and the drugs - which are nothing more than pieces to the puzzle that don't fit but look pretty, I might have given it a better rating. Maybe.
I do thank the staff at St. Martin's for sending me books to review - they don't have to - but they do and each one, even the ones where I can taste the 'rutabaga', are treasured. Some may never come back off the shelf, but they are there.
For just as someone might like rutabagas, someone might like this tale.
But for me, don't trust the banker.
What draws me first to a book is the cover, then the title and then the summary written on the back cover or inside flap. What keeps me is the first 5 pages - which should be like a pot of my mom's vegetable soup. You know, she would mix everything in there, even the rutabagas - which I can't stand, but all the other stuff and the seasoning would hide the rutabaga.
Though Charters' efforts at writing a tale about a lifestyle that he knows from the inside out, and I do believe in the cliche that you should write about what you know, I found the 'rutabaga' on page 3.
And then it seemed that all I could taste was the 'rutabagas' all the way through the end of the book that has been proclaimed to be 'a flawless social satire' and has been compared to American Psycho.
Never read American Psycho. And if Trust Me, I'm a Banker is written in that tradition, well, then, I am glad.
Now, mind you, I will give Charters this - had he done a little less description and jumping from subject to subject and put in less details about the less important parts of the book, i.e. the hookers his character is with, their names and the drugs - which are nothing more than pieces to the puzzle that don't fit but look pretty, I might have given it a better rating. Maybe.
I do thank the staff at St. Martin's for sending me books to review - they don't have to - but they do and each one, even the ones where I can taste the 'rutabaga', are treasured. Some may never come back off the shelf, but they are there.
For just as someone might like rutabagas, someone might like this tale.
But for me, don't trust the banker.
August 23, 2012
I found this book on the new books shelf in the library and thought it looked interesting. It turned out to be a satirical look at world of investment bankers, from an English perspective. Although the story is an exaggeration to make it humorous, one can't help but wonder how far it is from the truth, especially the first half, which talks about bonus time.
August 2, 2011
Reminded my of Harold Robbins novels except that its written by a banker about investment banking.
November 30, 2012
A very depressing but somewhat enlightening book about greed.
February 7, 2014
Presumably the fantasy of a middle aged man who has spent his career as a city middle ranker. Sad
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews