Slippery by Liam Carroll

by Liam Carroll

Liam Carroll’s debut novel, Slippery, shines a blowtorch on the smoldering home truths of the finance industry and the hedonistic minefields of the expatriate lifestyle in Southeast Asia.Flynn James, a young man from the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly, previously content to live his life as a physiotherapist and surfer on Australia’s east coast, is awakened to the zero-heavy bonuses of the finance world. He abandons the sleepy life of health sciences, embraces the greed is good mantra and manages to flare past thousands of candidates in a Geneva simulation trading day exercise. He is ushered through the shady doors of a fiercely private Swiss commodities trading company and set on the path to oil trading superstardom. Based in Singapore and Shanghai, Flynn learns the ropes of commodities dealing at breakneck haste. With the arrival of his first seven-figure bonus, the glossy veneer of his overpaid world crumbles, setting the stage for a shattering finale.Much more than another mere exposé on the world of trading, Slippery is an adventure/thriller. It explores the gritty realities of successful commerce in the corporate maelstrom of Southeast Asia, the inevitable moral compass decimation when you place money above all else and is done so with a constant side-splitting, bitter self-loathing, terminal awareness.You won’t be able to put it down.

Paperback

First published May 20, 2015

About the author

I was born in Sydney at the regally named Royal North Shore Hospital in 1980. Everything from that point on is somewhat of a mystery. I've written books and screenplays, traded oil and gold, surfed in funky places where no one goes, worked as a physiotherapist, completed studies in science, finance and screenwriting and, on the whole, I've been a very lucky boy. Not always, but far too often to ever have anything to whinge about. Happy reading! And best of luck with your writing for everyone brave enough to put pen to page and see where it leads them. Oh, and of course, don't trust anything you read, ever! Least of all if I wrote it! Make up your own mind about anything and everything with any and every piece of evidence and intuition you can, and you'll always be in the rarified air of people I love talking to. Cheers, Liam Carroll

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The protagonist’s first person descriptions throughout this novel cut like a flick knife and had me in stitches as I read about the trials of Flynn James who seeks to become a ... erm ... filthy rich trader (best not employ the word constantly used by the protagonist to describe his career goal in a public forum). The cutthroat world of traders is recounted with raw, unbridled swagger, free of any diplomacy or excessive political correctness. The vibrant prose is refreshing in that it constantly highlights confronting topics about modern day life, coupled with an irreverent turn of phrase that is at all times hilarious. Liam Carroll is a daring new voice in Australian fiction, and in my view he fully achieves his aims with his debut. His style is unique and inimitable, and I hope this approach remains undimmed for a while yet. Selfishly speaking, I also hope that this instalment is the first of many more Carollian yarns to come.

[Twinkle K · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was given this book by the author in exchange of an honest review*

Its not a normal story but its about the business and trading. There were many ups and downs in the business of oil trading which where superbly shown. The book revolves around a man who has forge his CV in order to get a high profile job. And boy, do he get that.
Flynn gets the job and thus from here on his journey starts.
There were many ups and downs in his journey and dozens of tests to pass you are fired instant but he survived.
The writing in this book is very refreshing unlike other trading novels. The foul language, the dirty mouth of Flynn keeps us entertaining until the end. The sights and insights of Flynn mind is awesome! And how he thinks of everybody around him. I totally enjoyed reading him.

[Katrin Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never read such a crazy "honest" book. It made me cry from laughter and it made me shake my head constantly. And when I thought what's coming next, the ending killed me!!
Five stars.

[Louis Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

thought it was satire I promise

[Lenka · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not finish, wtf is this

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting turns of events, but nothing unbelievable until the finale. The Aussie slang was good, but a bit overdone at times, and the casual racism was rampant (though entirely in keeping with the protagonist and other characters). Characterizations were largely superficial - it is interesting how little the protagonist actually spoke, especially his mind, but we got a lot of his internal monologue. Not bad per se, just a bit imbalanced overall.

The book could've used one good copy edit prior publication. Maybe it's an Australian thing, but 'noone' and 'infront' are two words, not one. There was a consistent lack of hyphenation for adjectival nouns that I personally found frustrating, and some misspellings (Biggy Smalls, Barrack Obama).

The story itself was good, as was the emphasis on luck and bullshit, and it would be especially interesting to anyone not versed in commodities trading. There were also some truly amusing passages interspersed throughout the text.