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The Chairman: A Novel

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Overview

No one knows the dark side of "The Street" better than master storyteller Stephen Frey, author of such riveting novels as Shadow Account and The Day Trader. Now, in his most ambitious work to date, Frey proves that no writer can put a high-powered hero at greater risk, nor offer readers more thrilling rewards.

Editorial Reviews

Diminished by dull prose, but distinguished by colorful, well-drawn characters and an arresting, labyrinthine plot, this 10th novel by Frey (after Silent Partner) illuminates the machinations of big business and high finance. Frey introduces Christian Gillette, who will be a continuing character in this inaugural volume of a projected series. As 36-year-old Gillette walks out of a Park Avenue church after delivering the eulogy following the suspicious accidental drowning of the late chairman of Everest Capital, he is nearly killed when a firebomb obliterates his waiting limo. Undaunted, newly elected chairman Gillette steps into another car and carries on with his planning: he's determined to make the company's new equity fund, Everest Eight, the biggest in the history of private equity and to eliminate his competition within the firm. Corporate chicanery, boardroom sex and backstabbing abound, and conspiracies proliferate, as Gillette enters into a deal with the chief of a mega-insurance company to increase Everest Eight's capital to $15 billion in a bold attempt to surpass rival Paul Strazzi at Apex Equity and become the nation's dominant private equity firm. Sadly, a perfunctory denouement does no justice to the clever plot. Agent, Cynthia Manson. (Mar. 29) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Stephen Frey

Author Stephen Frey used to work in mergers and acquisitions at J. P. Morgan and as a vice president of corporate finance at an international bank in Manhattan. Currently, he is a principal at a Northern Virginia private equity firm.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Ballantine Books

Filesize

1.14 MB

Number of Pages

320

eBook ISBN

9780345482075

Excerpt from: The Chairman by Stephen Frey

The chairman of a large private equity firm is the ultimate decision maker. Which companies to buy. How many billions to pay. Who to hire as CEO. How many millions to pay.

If his judgment is flawed, the chairman loses everything. Maybe even his freedom. But if he negotiates the lies, lawsuits, and vendettas that haunt his world, he becomes one of the richest and most powerful men on earth.

Christian Gillette gazed out from the pulpit at a grim-faced congregation, then down on an open coffin ' and Bill Donovan ' s face. Until two days ago, Donovan had been the chairman.

Gillette was just thirty-six, but suddenly that enormous responsibility had been thrust upon him, the decision to promote him made by a razor-thin majority of Everest Capital investors late yesterday at the climax of an emotionally charged meeting held in a conference room overlooking Wall Street. The controversial vote had come within three days of Donovan ' s death ' as stipulated in the partnership ' s operating agreement.

' The world has lost a great man, ' Gillette declared, ending his brief eulogy. Donovan wouldn ' t have wanted something long and drawn out. He ' d been obsessive about efficiency ' and the lesson had been learned.

As Gillette stepped down from the pulpit, he heard the muffled sobs of family, the stony silence of enemies. Donovan had touched many lives for better and worse. It was the inevitable consequence of being chairman.

' I ' m sorry for your loss, Ann, ' Gillette said quietly, getting down on one knee before the veiled widow in the front pew. ' We all admired Bill very much. '

' Thank you, ' she whispered.