Success becomes dangerously seductive for this Wall Street broker in a dizzying thriller by the author of the Amazon Charts bestseller Dead Certain.Will Matthews came to Wall Street with hopes and dreams of hitting it big. But things have not been going as expected. He’s on the verge of being fired when he meets the devilishly mysterious and fabulously wealthy Sam Abaddon.Winning Sam’s business … Abaddon.
Winning Sam’s business answers Will’s prayers, catapulting the young stockbroker into the privileged world of money and luxury. Not only that, but Will also has met his dream girl, ambitious attorney Gwen Lipton.
All at once, it seems as if Will’s life couldn’t get any better.
And it doesn’t.
When Will witnesses a shocking act of violence, his charmed new existence is revealed to be a waking nightmare as the truth about his benefactor—and his own complicity in criminal conduct—becomes devastatingly clear. As the noose draws tighter, Will faces an impossible choice: feast upon the poisonous fruit of his bloody business or defy his patron and face dire consequences.
Then again, maybe there’s a third option…
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I was very pleasantly surprised by this one! It’s not my usual genre, in part because thrillers like this are often also full of violence, language, and sexual content that causes me to put it down early on (or never pick it up at all.) I only downloaded this one because it was one of Audible’s Daily Deals, and I expected something supernatural from it, due to what appears to be the primary antagonist’s name: Sam Abaddon. (Abaddon is also the destroying angel in the book of Revelation, so I thought he might turn out to be the devil incarnate or something.) While that didn’t happen, Sam’s character was so intriguing to me that I overlooked the language (which was not at all as heavy as I’d have expected for a thriller) and the one descriptive sexual encounter in the book.
The story follows Will Matthews, an optimistic late-20-something to the point of naïveté who works at an investment firm. He meets Sam and his stunningly gorgeous girlfriend Eve at a hockey game. Sam is clearly in the top 1%, and for reasons that are never quite clear to Will, he takes him under his wing, allowing him to become his personal investment banker–for millions of dollars. (This part of the story also intrigued me because I know next to nothing about the world of Wallstreet, so it was educational as well. The author either has first-hand experience, or did a lot of research.) At this point the story sounded a lot like the true “Billion Dollar Whale” story, of convoluted shell companies created for the purpose of laundering enormous sums of money. Meanwhile, Will dates and falls in love with Gwen, an up-and-coming attorney assigned to a high profile murder case. Here too I was impressed with the insights into the world of litigation–the author again either had firsthand knowledge or did his homework. Gwen is the more skeptical of the two, and warns Will on several occasions as his ties to Sam grow deeper and more binding. Will doesn’t listen–until it’s too late.
What really surprised me, though, was the way in which Will discovered it was “too late.” I really didn’t see it coming at all. A major twist shows up about halfway through the story, and from there we get to experience all of Will’s revelations along with him. Perhaps I should have guessed, but when I’m engrossed in a story I don’t even try because it’s more fun to be surprised!
Very engrossing tale, with a satisfying ending. I tore through it in a few days!
A Matter of Will, the latest offering by Adam Mitzner, is absolutely mesmerizing and quite difficult to put down. So talented is Mitzner with plot lines and characters, that in this meeting of Wall Street and organized crime, readers know that they are in for a good rumble!!
Will Matthews is a young stock broker in danger of losing his job for not meeting quotas when he attends a hockey game between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils (good vs evil – oh the irony!!). By the end of that game, Will’s life will change forever. Sam Abaddon, and his girlfriend, Eve, are sitting beside Will, whom Sam engages in conversation. By games end, Sam, undoubtedly both extremely rich and powerful, tells Will to meet with him the next day so that he can open three accounts with him, to the tune of $6 million each! Naïve Will ignores the shouting in every reader’s head “Come on, you don’t get this for nothing!”, but the reader also knows if Will doesn’t comply, there will be consequences as well, and not good ones!
Will is soon a rising star on Wall Street, with clothes personally made by Sam’s tailor, large accounts with many of Sam’s friends and a new $9.6 million penthouse apartment. His girlfriend, Gwen, is a lawyer assigned to the defense team of a high-profile murder case. Things seem like they can’t get better for this young couple.
Then a change in the wind, as the federal government begins investigating Will and his firm for money laundering.
I love all the twists and turns Mitzner puts in the plot, some obvious, some a complete surprise! I also loved the cleverness and irony of the book’s sections being titled Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall after the seasons of the year.
Adam Mitzner is always a sure bet for a good, fast-paced read. A Matter of Will proves that true once again and gets a 4 star rating from me. Do yourself a favor and let yourself be entertained by this book!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer who allowed me to read an ARC of this novel in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions here are my own.