About this item
Warren Hament is a bright young man who wanders into a career in finance in the early 1980s. Nothing Personal is the extraordinary story of his rapid ascent toward success, painted against a landscape of temptation and personal discovery. Introduced to the seductive, elite bastions of wealth and privilege, and joined by his gorgeous and ambitious girlfriend, he gets a career boost when his mentor is found dead.Warren soon finds himself at the center of two murder investigations as a crime spree seemingly focused on powerful finance wizards plagues Wall Street. The blood-soaked trail leads to vast wealth and limitless risk as Warren uncovers unexpected opportunity and unknown dangers at every turn and must face moral dilemmas for which he is wholly unprepared.Nothing Personal is a stellar debut novel, which follows an increasingly jaded protagonist as he comes of age in a rarified, deeply corrupt world. Offit, a former senior insider, unflinchingly divulges Wall Street's culture of abuse and portrays the insidious, creeping forces of greed, sex, and power---and the terrible price paid in their thrall.
About the Author
After about 20 years on Wall Street, with some success, I decided to return to my first love, writing. I was lucky enough to be picked up as a columnist for Departures Magazine, the American Express luxury lifestyle bible. My column, titled "Material Comfort: Smart Advice for Smart People" ran for about two years,and covered topics from how to hire domestic help safely to the absurdity of planting your own vegetable garden, to New Year's resolutions for dealing with the financial crisis. I also contributed several feature articles on travel and golf, notably a piece on renting a gorgeous sailboat in Turkey, and the developments on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. In other words, hard-hitting gritty journalism!A few years ago, I sat down and decided it was time to address the great gap in my life. I have a great wife and kids, four dogs, and parents who have always offered unconditional love and support. But, I had never written a novel. I had started one years back, only to be distracted trying to call attention, starting in mid 2007, to the gathering financial storm I saw coming. The novel waited while I bombarded various publications with articles about what was going to happen, then what was happening, and finally, what had happened and how to fix it. One piece did get published online by Marketwatch.com, and it proved prescient. Some six months after the President of SIPC, the organization that insures and monitors customer accounts at all brokerage firms responded to my warnings with a dismissive letter,Bernard Madoff Securties, one of his charges, collapsed, and the truth of my piece became apparent.There is scant satisfaction in having warned about, but not prevented, financial disaster. So I returned to the novel. Not too long after, I had discovered inside myself a fun, interesting financial thriller that brought together my experiences and imagination, composites of characters inspired by some of the colorful folks I met or wished existed, and a fictional plot that, while set in the 1980s, could have happened in 2008 or even 2013. There's an old joke about a matchmaker convincing the mother of a poor homely girl to allow her to arrange a marriage with a dashing, wealthy young Prince. after objecting at first, finally the girl's mother consents to the match, The matchmaker collects her fee and says "Well, that's half the job done!" Writing the book was relatively easy compared to getting a first novel published in the current landscape. Then I broke my neck, and everything went back on hold for a while.After a brief and discouraging foray with a few literary agents, I sent off one blind submission to a top publisher, and set about the process of self publishing. To my astonishment, the publisher responded, and shortly thereafter agreed to purchase and publish my novel! I was told the odds of this happening were astronomical.Now, a year or so later, the book has come out to generally positive reviews
