Rigged - Ben Mezrich

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RIGGED - BEN MEZRICH

‘The true story of a Wall Street novice who changed the world of oil forever.’ MAYBE.

‘How cultural differences and stereotypes disintegrate in face of commerce and capitalism.’ MORE LIKELY

‘Business adventure.’ MOST CERTAINLY!

Ben Mezrich’s fictional version of the exploits of a blue-eyed but able business novice is a non-stop read. With the explosion of financial markets and crude prices taking up most newsreels this book is relevant and contemporary fiction.

David Russo is struggling in the post 9/11 job market but a chance meeting with his role-model lands him in a rewarding job in the New York Mercantile Exchange or the ‘merc’. The only hurdle he has to overcome to access the reward is getting around the fact that his hard-earned Harvard business degree means less than nothing in an environment dominated by self-made and sometimes poorly educated men.

Russo journey from nobody to a man of standing at the merc is the first half of the story; and this is where the fun is. From here on the action starts.

The blinding ambition of a modern Arabian ‘nomad’ scion puts Russo’s career on the steroids. Khaled, backed up by billions, proposes an audacious partnership to Russo; but Russo is neither a fool, nor very well travelled. His typical American stereotypes write off the other young man’s proposal; that is until he sees the real Dubai that was created not by necessity but by ambition and instinct. Once the idea is sold to Russo a formidable partnership is formed and the adventure begins.

From escaping blackmail to avoiding communists; from taking on traders on the floor to taking on traders in the bar: from throwing up in the boardroom to eye-balling a bat wielding Italian millionaire: from meeting hard-line clerics to morally-flexible but price-conscious religious brokers; from being seduced by exotic business women to handling fiery Italian mothers and Latino girlfriends, the Russo’s tale is pure adventure in today’s money-centric world.

(Watch out for similarities with John Grisham’s The Firm! ;) )

Also by Ben Mezrich

Ugly Americans