From Shreds To Riches

In Fisher and Orey’s historical novel, a successful entrepreneur sees his professional and personal life torn apart.

As the story opens in 1974, readers meet Scott Newman, a high roller with a posh Fifth Avenue office and an enormous bank account. As he looks out on his world, he considers it to be heaven on Earth, and a far cry from his former, blue-collar life. He remembers how his father, a low-paid route salesman for a local bread company worked himself into an early grave; Scott decides early on that he doesn’t want a life like that for himself. Instead, he eventually builds a light bulb telemarketing company, Argon Industries, into a powerhouse that makes him very wealthy. Then, one day, FBI agents burst into his trading rooms, accusing him and his partner, Doug Kaufman, of criminal activity. As the raid and its aftermath unfold, the narrative follows Scott’s memories of founding the company with Doug and meeting a wide array of challenges, from building their business expertise to dealing with thuggish extortionists. This flashback narrative spans decades, and when it loops back to the present, readers find Scott fuming with rage over his heavy-handed treatment at the hands of the FBI—and this stress lands him in the hospital. His challenge is to find a way to survive his setbacks and return to success, but the obstacles seem insurmountable as the government closes in.

Fisher and Orey’s novel opens with a rather familiar setup, but the book’s extensive flashbacks, detailing Scott and Doug’s past, will grab readers’ interest. The stories of their rise to corporate dominance are told with considerable slang and energy and get across the forward momentum of two guys trying to scratch and hustle their way to financial success: “Today it’s only a crazy dream,” Scott says about possibly opening a jewelry store, “but tomorrow I’ll begin working to make this reality.” The supporting characters in Scott’s life are as well fleshed out as the rest of his backstory; the present-day storyline, though, features by-the-numbers portrayals of federal agents, which the authors see fit to portray as almost uniformly snide, sneering, and whip-cracking—the type of antagonists who can be relied upon to say,Godfather-style, “this isn’t personal.” Fisher and Orey compensate by developing the chemistry between Scott and Doug, which is compelling at every stage of their association. The authors smartly anchor the book’s final act in the present rather than the past, bringing the action to a climax with some dramatic courtroom scenes in which Scott must fight for his life against charges of fraud and money laundering—even after it seems as if he’s been betrayed by his nearest and dearest. The work would have benefited from a stronger copy edit, and some elements of the story itself might raise eyebrows among less ardent capitalists—Scott may be charismatic, but no reader would want to do business with him. Ultimately, though, the novel’s sheer narrative energy carries the day.

A multilayered and consistently engaging rags-to-riches story.