Alpha Male: A Tale of the Battle of Commerce

by Sam Foster

Jack Kendrick is fired from his job as sales manager for a high-power commercial real estate agency because he will not compromise his ethics and agree to an illegal sale. He lands on his feet and is hired by another firm. One of the agents working under him is a rapacious and ambitious woman named Liz Peterson. She has no ethics and will stop at nothing to close a deal. She exploits the ambitions of a young trainee, forces him to have sex with a client, which drives him to suicide. Jack Kendrick, investigating the young man's death, uncovers the illegal aspects of Liz's dealing, and a showdown tests the morals and the strengths of all concerned.

Genres: Business

222 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

My ancestral home is a dying little port on the Illinois River. But my father was, as the ‘80s country song tells, “The next of kin to the wayward wind.” One result being that until I came to Los Angeles for college, I’d never lived for more than two years in the same place in my entire life. That was in 1962. My intention at the time was to become a vet, to drive around country roads in a pick-up truck and do for farm animals what the farmers could not do themselves. But my inability to pass organic chemistry and my draft boards clear statement that I had only 8 semesters of deferment before “going into the pool” changed my major to history.
When I was graduated I, like every other man who was graduated that year, had a choice for my graduation trip - Canada or Vietnam. My antipathy to cold weather and a little of Socrates wisdom picked up in college caused me to select the latter. So, my first job out of college was with the U.S.M.C. A few years later I was honorably discharged after 5 months in a Naval Hospital but body and spirit mostly intact.
I’ve always been a story teller, but at 24 I was not willing to “starve for art” and wanted disparately to find stability. So, I married, moved back to Los Angeles and dove into corporate America. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-forties and a divorced father of two with a house and a little money that I was brave enough to indulge my creative impulses. I’m not entirely my father’s son. I’ve got the “wayward wind” gene but mine is recessive. Aside from a year in Washington DC and a few years in New York City I’ve lived at the beach in Los Angeles my entire life. That “wayward wind” gene I inherited just makes me travel a lot, not pick up and move.
The stories I’ve always liked best have more than a plot and a couple of memorable characters, they also introduce me to an entire world I do not know. I write about things I know just so I can show you worlds you may not. My first book was about a business hustle and set in Los Angeles. My second was about the U.S.M.C. during the Vietnam era. (It is more about race in America in the 60s than killing Vietnamese.) But this story, the one that led you open this webpage and bio, is about the American I grew up with and know well, whose history I understand perhaps better than it’s present, and whom I will love until I die.
I had a friend who died a few years ago, one whose name you may have heard. It was Al Sparlis. Al was U.C.L.A.’s first football All American. He was 185# center on the 1941-42 & ‘45 teams. Al flew in three American wars. He flew with Chennault in China; he flew in Korea and was one of only 7 pilots in his squadron to come back alive; when he volunteered again during Vietnam, they told him he was to old. Al could be very forceful. They gave in and let him fly soldiers back and forth to Hawaii – live ones going over and dead ones coming back. I tell you about Al because he once said something that struck me as so profound, I’ve never forgotten it. “The measure of a man is the things he’s willing to die for.”
My stories are about the things in America men, and women, are, if not willing to die for, at very least risk all for.

Reviews

[Timothy Kell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic tale of ego and greed inside the world of big-time commercial RE.

I feel like I worked with characters just like Foster’s during my tenure as a broker. Although this is more a novella, Sam portrays this cutthroat, dog-eat-dog of big stakes real estate very accurately. His book is the story of early Inland Empire real estate pioneers and their struggle with good and evil.

[Alex Poulos]

Entertaining fiction about the commercial real estate industry. Very informative about the the political dynamics of a brokerage office.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a bit of risque text in the first couple chapters, but if you can get past that, it is a great read about the ethics of the commercial real estate business. I think it is a worthwhile read for anybody getting into business or sales.

[Fredsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this as an antidote to Susanna Moore. Forget it. There is no antidote to Susanna Moore.