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Ghost Trader
In reality, the illusion of wealth... In dream, the illusion of reality.
As the world sleepwalks into the 2008 credit crunch, three victims of a previous crisis collide in a near-fatal accident by an alpine lake. Despite apparent suicide, Clem's former friend Ambrose may have caused the accident, whilst Clem & Mallory may be its victims, as Clem's subsequent dreams of lying comatose in hospital seem to suggest.
Once successful Clem has lived by Lake Annecy ever since he was ruined by Lloyd's, the world's oldest insurer, and he is now att¬racted to the reclusive and enigmatic Mallory, who manages a secretive hedge fund for ruined Lloyd's investors, especially when she enlists his help in "shorting" irresponsible banks. But Ambrose denounces her to one of Clem's friends as simply another Madoff.
As the credit crunch becomes more nightmarish, dream & reality become increasingly entangled. Their only escape from nightmare, their only chance of recovery, is to face and forgive each other's darkest deeds before the Kafkaesque Court of Transition - and then only if Ambrose doesn't thwart them. A tale of loss & love, revenge & redemption set in the 2008 financial crisis, where nothing is as it seems until the very end.
As the world sleepwalks into the 2008 credit crunch, three victims of a previous crisis collide in a near-fatal accident by an alpine lake. Despite apparent suicide, Clem's former friend Ambrose may have caused the accident, whilst Clem & Mallory may be its victims, as Clem's subsequent dreams of lying comatose in hospital seem to suggest.
Once successful Clem has lived by Lake Annecy ever since he was ruined by Lloyd's, the world's oldest insurer, and he is now att¬racted to the reclusive and enigmatic Mallory, who manages a secretive hedge fund for ruined Lloyd's investors, especially when she enlists his help in "shorting" irresponsible banks. But Ambrose denounces her to one of Clem's friends as simply another Madoff.
As the credit crunch becomes more nightmarish, dream & reality become increasingly entangled. Their only escape from nightmare, their only chance of recovery, is to face and forgive each other's darkest deeds before the Kafkaesque Court of Transition - and then only if Ambrose doesn't thwart them. A tale of loss & love, revenge & redemption set in the 2008 financial crisis, where nothing is as it seems until the very end.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 13, 2013
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy Cook
38 books3 followers Jeremy Cook was born in Liverpool in 1942. An Oxford graduate, he moved to London where he was senior partner in a marketing consultancy for 25 years, with many financial clients. Like Clem, he suffered substantial losses as a result of his involvement with Lloyd’s. His wife is a successful investor, and the pair have jointly argued a financial case before the high court. They live in Notting Hill, London.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 2, 2014
Ghost Trader is an original and innovative novel that makes for compelling reading. Set in the world of insurance and financial trading, the main character, Clem Holden, is a ruined man – financially destroyed by the near collapse of Lloyds insurance in the 90’s and personally devastated by the failure of his marriage. He takes refuge in a small apartment near Annecy in France and there he meets Mallory Stellenbourg a stock market trader who is battling to redeem the fortunes of her clients through a risky but potentially lucrative operation.
The story moves with pace through the complex world of high finance, introducing a range of colourful and complex characters. Then just as the reader is becoming attuned to this world, there is a complete paradigm change which challenges and overturns all that has come before. Past misdeeds have to be acknowledged and atoned for. As the story draws to a close the morality and integrity of financial trading is held under the spotlight against the backdrop of the recent global financial crisis.
Jeremy Cook writes with great fluidity and expertise. He clearly has great knowledge of the world in which his novel is set bringing authenticity and credibility to his characters and plot. His settings are dramatic and vivid taking in Annecy and its lake, a derelict sanatorium and a perilous waterfall - amongst many.
Ghost Trader is not to be missed. It’s unique.
The story moves with pace through the complex world of high finance, introducing a range of colourful and complex characters. Then just as the reader is becoming attuned to this world, there is a complete paradigm change which challenges and overturns all that has come before. Past misdeeds have to be acknowledged and atoned for. As the story draws to a close the morality and integrity of financial trading is held under the spotlight against the backdrop of the recent global financial crisis.
Jeremy Cook writes with great fluidity and expertise. He clearly has great knowledge of the world in which his novel is set bringing authenticity and credibility to his characters and plot. His settings are dramatic and vivid taking in Annecy and its lake, a derelict sanatorium and a perilous waterfall - amongst many.
Ghost Trader is not to be missed. It’s unique.
June 6, 2014
Ghost Trader
By Jeremy Cook
Here is a vibrant story that will resonate to all whose work is in the city or with interests in financial markets. Jeremy Cook brings considerable inside knowledge of transatlantic financial markets as well as inner workings of Lloyd’s of London as the setting of his contemporary story.
Ghost Trader is a robust and complex plot with wholly believable and attractive characters that make for riveting reading. Financial ruin has not infrequently spurred those who have suffered to dream up dark deeds of greed and envy to regain their former lives.
Clem and Mallory, the main protagonists, are both victims. As their love story proceeds, set by Lake Annecy in France, unexpected incidents by characters from the past continue to unleash homicidal revenge.
This takes the story into an other-worldly realm where the good guys pull off a brilliant shorting of the financial institutions. The reader is then transported to an illusory state where reality and dream are satisfactorily intermingled, and the heroes finally are the winners. Ghost Trader is a modern fairy story with a Robin Hood quality, the proceeds of the short end up benefitting financial victims.
Robin Baker
June 2014
By Jeremy Cook
Here is a vibrant story that will resonate to all whose work is in the city or with interests in financial markets. Jeremy Cook brings considerable inside knowledge of transatlantic financial markets as well as inner workings of Lloyd’s of London as the setting of his contemporary story.
Ghost Trader is a robust and complex plot with wholly believable and attractive characters that make for riveting reading. Financial ruin has not infrequently spurred those who have suffered to dream up dark deeds of greed and envy to regain their former lives.
Clem and Mallory, the main protagonists, are both victims. As their love story proceeds, set by Lake Annecy in France, unexpected incidents by characters from the past continue to unleash homicidal revenge.
This takes the story into an other-worldly realm where the good guys pull off a brilliant shorting of the financial institutions. The reader is then transported to an illusory state where reality and dream are satisfactorily intermingled, and the heroes finally are the winners. Ghost Trader is a modern fairy story with a Robin Hood quality, the proceeds of the short end up benefitting financial victims.
Robin Baker
June 2014
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February 20, 2014Ghost Trader by Jeremy Cook
This is a remarkable book, elegantly but lucidly written throughout. For the first few chapters it is a real page-turner, a romantic mystery-thriller set in the financial world of the City of London but mainly in rural France: Lake Annecy, no less, the scene of a horrendous real-life murder while the author was completing his manuscript. From this point, the story gradually begins to take peculiar twists and weird turns: the characters have strange dreams, ghosts appear, and people seem to come back from the dead. Clues to all these happenings are present, embedded in the text, from the very beginning of the book, but who can spot them? Towards the end, the story becomes intense and morphs into a kind of morality-tale, with a spiritual dimension, although the author sternly denies any religious influence or that he himself is of a religious disposition. Overall, a fascinating read.
Gordon Douglas mmxiv
This is a remarkable book, elegantly but lucidly written throughout. For the first few chapters it is a real page-turner, a romantic mystery-thriller set in the financial world of the City of London but mainly in rural France: Lake Annecy, no less, the scene of a horrendous real-life murder while the author was completing his manuscript. From this point, the story gradually begins to take peculiar twists and weird turns: the characters have strange dreams, ghosts appear, and people seem to come back from the dead. Clues to all these happenings are present, embedded in the text, from the very beginning of the book, but who can spot them? Towards the end, the story becomes intense and morphs into a kind of morality-tale, with a spiritual dimension, although the author sternly denies any religious influence or that he himself is of a religious disposition. Overall, a fascinating read.
Gordon Douglas mmxiv
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews