The Deal by Adam Gittlin, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Adam Gittlin takes the captivated reader through the perplexing issues and high-stakes negotiations of rich and powerful New York City real estate moguls in The Deal, the author's second thriller set in the city that never sleeps.

Many an agent has claimed that he has brokered the most impressive deal New York has ever seen. But Jonah Gray, The Deal's central character, sets out to put that debate to rest once and for all. As his father is fond of saying, "An athlete still playing is only as good as his last game. A broker is only as good as his last deal." When he is called by Andreu Zhamovsky, his childhood friend from Russia, to initiate the beginning of what could become New York's largest brokerage deal, he calls his team, Tommy, Jack and Perry, together to begin a transaction that has a strict deadline of three weeks – money no object. This great opportunity, though, comes with sinister baggage not immediately known to Jonah and which soon becomes a nightmare for him. At first feels that he was winning the real estate race, but now in the race for his life, he is beginning to feel he is losing it all.

The deal begins to unravel when Jonah is faced with the theft of a valuable Fabergé museum piece that is placed in his possession by an unknown person, the murder of an undercover cop who has been following him, lies and deception by his father, and the subsequent murder of his father. Jonah wonders what these events have to do with the team's multi-million dollar real estate deal. His father also told him once that as in real estate, so it is in life, knowledge if king. With no knowledge of the chaos now surrounding his life, Jonah now feels like a joker instead. How is Jonah supposed to get his life back and salvage the deal? He needs answers and he needs them now.

The Deal is a fast paced financial thriller with a perplexing plot that is riddled with schemes and conspiracies. The author clearly knows the ins and outs of the commercial real estate business and brings them to life here in ways that seem fantastic yet plausible. A terrific book, The Deal should be on everyone's reading list this summer.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Deal.

Acknowledgment: Oceanview Publishing provided an ARC of The Deal for this review.