Any wish fulfilled for the right price. That’s the promise the organization behind The Desire Card gives to its elite clients – but sometimes the price may be more menacing than anyone could ever imagine.Harrison Stockton has lived an adult life of privilege and excess: a high-powered job on Wall Street fuels his fondness for alcohol and pills at the expense of a family he has no time for. Quite … for. Quite suddenly all of this comes crashing to a halt when he loses his job and at the same time discovers he almost certainly has only months left to live.
Desperate, and with seemingly nowhere else left to turn, Harrison activates his Desire Card. What follows is a gritty and gripping quest that takes him from New York City to the slums of Mumbai and forces him to take chances, and make decisions, he never thought he’d ever have to face. When his moral descent threatens his wife and children, Harrison must decide whether to save himself at any cost, or do what’s right and break his bargain with the mysterious group behind The Desire Card.
The Desire Card is a taut, fast-paced thriller, from internationally acclaimed author Lee Matthew Goldberg, that explores what a man will do to survive when money isn’t always enough to get everything he desires.
“I couldn’t look away for a moment from Harrison Stockton’s thrilling train wreck of a life. Jeer at him, cheer for him, and maybe—just maybe—fall in love with him a little. Lee Matthew Goldberg has created a Bonfire of the Vanities for a new generation, and served it up with style, wit, and empathy. I guarantee you’ll want to devour The Desire Card in one glorious, heart-pounding sitting.” -Laura Benedict, Edgar nominated author of The Stranger Inside.
“Lee Matthew Goldberg’s The Desire Card is a character-driven, enthralling thriller that introduces readers to a dark underworld powered by an equally mysterious organization loaded with as much menace as promise. Goldberg’s characters are well-formed, memorable and complex, adding humanity to a story that is sweeping in scale and remarkably focused. The Desire Card is the kind of book you think about long after you’ve finished it.” – Alex Segura, acclaimed author of Blackout and Dangerous Ends
“Careful what you wish form especially from a nefarious shadow organization, in this gripping start to Lee Matthew Goldberg’s fast-paced, highly-compelling, buzz-worthy new series. If you love your characters morally compromised, richly drawn, and constantly surprising, you’ll love, The Desire Card. I burned through the first book and can’t wait to get my hands on Prey No More to see where this endlessly exciting story takes me next! Love it! -Daniel Palmer, critically acclaimed suspense author of The First Family and Mercy.
Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of two novels Slow Down and The Mentor. He has been published in multiple languages and nominated for the 2018 Prix du Polar for The Mentor which has also been acquired by Macmillan Entertainment with the film in development. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, his writing has also appeared in the anthology DIRTY BOULEVARD, The Millions, Cagibi, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Underwood Press and others. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series. He lives in New York City.
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From the intriguing title to the very last this book will be the master of your breath and heartbeats.
Thrill, suspense, crime, this book has it all and much more for you to unfold.
Fast paced, full of action, this thriller is a page turner with unexpected turns and twists. The well developed main character drags you with him. The author takes you on a journey through his main character.
Dark and realistic this book makes you ponder. Along with in-depth descriptions, in this crime thriller whenever you predict something it smashes that prediction right away and takes a new turn.
Providing you with a main character to hate rather than love, the author plays with the reader. The choices and consequences is yet another theme portrayed in the book that plays a major role in the plot but also raise questions.
Fortunately, this book is a series and so there is much more to explore. Can’t wait for the next part. And to say about the authors writing style, it really is gripping.
I would give this thriller 5 stars for the intriguing plot it holds. Definitely recommend.
This is a gripping thriller that had me hooked from its intense opening sequence! It was incredibly difficult to close the book and look away from the train wreck as things not only start off bad for Harrison, but continue to get so much worse.
While largely a tale of one man’s quest to determine what it is that he truly desires when life comes to a crash landing, this is certainly a fascinating exploration into the role of the highly unlikeable character! Harrison is repugnant, vile, and self-absorbed. But, the entire cast of characters is just as duplicitous and flawed that as awful as Harrison is, the actions and behaviors of those surrounding him are just as egregious, if not more so. Ultimately, the total disregard to humanity displayed by almost everyone makes you have some empathy for Harrison! The degrees of their unlikeability vary considerably, yet they all leave a bad taste in your mouth. Everyone is making horrible choices when it comes to the seven deadly vices, but gradually, Harrison’s descent stirs the guilt needed for him to reevaluate his life and outlook, striking a hopeful tone towards a whirlwind conclusion.
“It’d make sense if we have many different paths that might lie ahead based on the kind of person we are. If we’re cruel to others, or if our lives are purely driven by temptation, then our path will be torturous. Maybe not right away, but eventually.”
The author’s writing style is engaging and seamlessly connects the idea of karma throughout, driving us to consider exactly what we would do at every twist and turn of Harrison’s dilemma. This fast-paced story is driven by its frenetic energy that is only further enhanced by the constant juxtaposition of the gritty realism of everyday life to the mysterious and illusive nature of the secret organization behind the Desire Card. The keen descriptive language creates such visual appeal in setting the scene that you’ll often feel as though you’re watching this unfold on the big screen! This imagery adds so many layers to the themes and dynamics expressed during the course of the story.
Compelling, compulsively readable, and I can’t wait for the next ride!