The Deal
Non-series
Adam Gittlin
Oceanview (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-933515-13-9 (1933515139)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-13-7 (9781933515137)
Publication Date: May 2008
List Price: $24.95
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): Everything about Jonah Gray screams
success—expensive clothes, a Park Avenue penthouse, and a
seven-figure income. A cutthroat, rainmaking New York City commercial
real estate broker, Jonah craves opulence and power. He beds models,
romps the globe on weekends, and sees the world as his for the taking.
Jonah Gray has it all. Or at least, he had it all.
When Andreu Zhamovsky, a close family friend, presents Jonah with the
deal of a lifetime, Jonah jumps at the chance. All Jonah has to do is
act quickly, invest half a billion dollars in prime NYC office
buildings, and collect a huge payoff.
But there is much more to this deal than Jonah had ever contemplated,
and this golden opportunity turns out to be anything but.
Along with this deal comes one of the world's rarest and most valuable
antiques planted in Jonah's briefcase, and within days of signing on,
Jonah is mysteriously thrust into the epicenter of an international and
personal scandal.
Forced to explore a whole new territory where he can trust no one, and
where danger, death, and deception lurk at every corner, Jonah will
learn some painfully hard lessons about the quest for true wealth.
Taking risks has been the hallmark of Jonah's career. But this time,
the stakes are much, much higher and Jonah will put
everything—and everyone—he loves at risk.
Closing this deal could mean losing it all.
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 and to Oceanview Publishing for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Omnimystery keywords for The Deal ...
Location(s) referenced: New York City.