The Boss: A Novel [Hardcover]

Stan Pottinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 28, 2006

Spin Patterson is a Texas Golden Boy who has it all-a company he's inherited from his father-in-law and built into a multi-billion dollar goliath, a wife as glamorous as she is ruthless-and a mysterious past. He also has a beautiful mistress, Tacoma Reed, a briliant part-Cherokee woman with ambitions of her own. When Spin's wife Audrey files for divorce and threatens to sue him for everything he's worth, he must protect his empire-even if it means resorting to fraud and violence. Max McLennon, Spin's devoted protege and executive assistant, has grown up in the shadow of oil rigs where he's seen his father killed and his brother horribly maimed. Now, as he watches the employees of his company threatened with bankruptcy by the very man he has admired like a father, he is forced to choose between loyalty and justice-between his mentor and the families and friends he grew up with. His choice must be made, but not without risking his own life and the life of the woman he loves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Pottinger (The Final Procedure) craftily plays on the metaphorical bigness of Texas in this oversized thriller—big egos, big money, big love triangles, all fueled by big oil. The biggest ego of all is that of 38-year-old Jack "Spin" Patterson, a good ol' boy from Houston who has scratched and scrounged his way to the top of Gulf-Tex Oil. He's got money, women and a shadowy past he's trying desperately to keep hidden. Love him or hate him, Spin's the sort of man who takes over a room, as well as a novel. Spin's nemesis is Max McLennon, a former protégé who thrives under his mentor's wing until he discovers Spin's greed and ambition know few bounds. McLennon lays a trap designed to bankrupt Spin and scuttle his boss's latest invention—a gold mine of a device dubbed Black Eyes that can detect oil fields at far greater depths than existing technology. Juicy sex, high-stakes vengeance and taut action will keep readers turning the pages. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Call it a case of extremely lousy timing. A billionaire oilman is poised to unveil new technology that could revolutionize his business. But, due to a dumb mistake, his wife finds out about his affair with a legal advisor. When his wife says she is going to sue him for everything he has got (including that potentially lucrative new technology), he discovers that he is willing to do anything to keep her from getting her mitts on his hard-earned fortune. But can Max McLennon, the oilman's protege (and the novel's narrator), allow his mentor to destroy his own company and the lives of its employees? Protecting his friends and coworkers turns out to be tougher--and deadlier--than Max could possibly have imagined. The story moves along at a brisk clip, although some clunky passages may cause readers to rear back on their heels. It's as if the author got so excited about the story he was telling that he didn't slow down to tell it as well as he might have. Still, it's a solid yarn for those who like to turn pages quickly. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (November 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031227677X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312276775
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great novel from an author who never disappoints, December 14, 2006

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Boss: A Novel (Hardcover)

Stan Pottinger never disappoints. His books are infused with a realism that makes them larger than fiction, a rare quality that belies the fact that THE BOSS, his latest novel, is only his fourth. In many ways it is also his best.

THE BOSS is set within the oil industry, arguably the most important element of our modern world. Spin Patterson runs Gulf-Tex Oil, a company that he inherited from his father-in-law and has transformed into a major oil industry player with a combination of brains, cunning and unscrupulousness. Max McLennon, a second-generation employee at Gulf-Tex, is Patterson's protégé and almost his greatest admirer. McLennon is staking everything and everyone on the development of Black Eyes, a tool that has the potential to transform the world by giving oil companies the ability to detect oil far below the earth's surface rather than engaging in the costly and often futile practice of drilling where they think oil may be had.

Patterson is a high roller with nerves of steel and a ruthless drive who will roll over anything or anyone that gets in his way. McLennon is the opposite of Patterson, an upright individual who can sympathize with the working man but who has the tendency to freeze under pressure. The presence of Tacoma Reed, the intelligent and exotic legal for Gulf-Tex, complicates matters for both men, as Patterson attempts to beat the odds and revitalize Gulf-Tex from a major setback --- even as his actions may result in the sacrifice of everything and everyone he holds dear.

Meanwhile, McLennon is given the opportunity to make things right for the people Patterson has damaged. It soon becomes clear though that he is playing a high-stakes game for which he is outclassed. Help arrives at the last moment from two unexpected sources, but it may be too late --- even as THE BOSS races toward an exciting and explosive conclusion.

Pottinger could have phoned in a tale of greed and corruption that would have played well with the masses and conformed to the popular, if simplistic, worldview of the oil industry. Instead, he has chosen at least in part to put a human face on a difficult enterprise. Yes, there are billions of dollars to be made in the oil industry, but there are also billions upon billions of dollars to be lost. The process of finding oil is extremely difficult; extracting it is all the more so. It is a dangerous and dirty business, the essence of which Pottinger captures well on all levels, explaining complicated concepts in an understandable manner without dumbing them down. I submit that one will not be able to read THE BOSS without thinking of the book the next time one fills up the tank.

Pottinger also does a magnificent job with characterization here. Patterson and McLennon are excellent protagonists. Though flawed in different ways, they are believable, each having detracting and sympathetic traits that ultimately result in a highly ironic ending for both.

THE BOSS is as readable a work as any that you'll encounter this year.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Fast Paced Thriller, November 15, 2005

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Boss (Hardcover)

The Boss is a great fast paced novel and with short chapters and great characters you'll finish it in no time at all. In The Boss as a child Max McLennon watches a terrible accident which takes the life of his father on a Gulf-Tex oil rig. Luckily his father's friend Spin took him under his wing and has raised Max as his son. Max is now Spin's right-hand man and is in Max's eyes the best employer anyone could ever have. The image of Spin as the perfect boss and man starts to be eroded when Max finds out Spin has cheated on his wife with Tacoma the woman Max has been in love with since his first year at university. But this is only the first of many secrets Max will discover about his idol while at the same time Gulf-Tex's revolutionary new technology is turning out to be not what it was promised to be and the company's oil reserves have been dramatically overstated.

This thriller of outwitting, survival and taking risks is a must read. If you like this kind of novel also check out The Money Makers by Harry Bingham. Stan Pottinger's novel The Last Nazi is also a great read as well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars spicy Texas thriller, December 16, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Boss: A Novel (Hardcover)

In Houston, not even forty years old, Jack "Spin" Patterson has worked his way up the ladder of success leaving behind many a corpse as he reaches the acme of Gulf-Tex Oil, the company he inherited from his late father-in-law. This expert at exploiting others is affluent with money, power, and women. Spin also has a past that now that he is part of the Texas in crowd her prefers hidden. However, his empire teeters when his wife Audrey has had it with his neglect at his best or scorn as his norm; she not only plans to divorce him, but threatens his seat as THE BOSS.

Oil runs in Max McLennon's veins though he knows the down side as his father died by a rig and his brother is disfigured. He worships his hero Spin until he begins to observe the dark side that would allow Gulf-Tex Oil employees and stockholders to lose everything just because his former idol has become too big for his britches as he refuses to negotiate with Audrey. Max decides to spin a different ending for the amoral Patterson because now he knows Jack.

Readers will see the obvious connections to the TV show Dallas as THE BOSS is a spicy Texas thriller that in some ways satires the Hagman drama by lampooning the "bigness" belief of elite natives. Spin steals the show with his supersize ego that enables him not only to step on people including his wife and to a lesser degree his mistress Tacoma Reed, but also allows him to believe he never makes mistakes as he is above human frailty. Max becomes his adversary as the statue falls from pedestal. Stanley Pottinger provides a fascinating look at the biggest of the big Texans.

Harriet Klausner