Chameleon [Hardcover]

Richard Hains (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2010

Jon Phillips is head bond trader at one of Wall Street's largest investment banks and lives the American dream in the heart of New York's decadent banking community. But, after years of selfishness and extravagance, he plans his exit through an unprecedented and ultimately fraudulent deal in the US government bond market. A high-ranking colleague, who sits on the bank's main board, has teamed up with a Russian financier in order to provide Jon with one of the key elements vital to the success of his ingenious scheme. The deal goes spectacularly wrong and Jon's world collapses. As the Russians desperately attempt to recover their lost millions, Jon is thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse. From the seedy nightspots of downtown NYC to the plush yacht clubs of the Hamptons, pastoral aristocratic England, and Southern Australia's endless beaches, past lovers, new menaces, and numerous apparently accidental deaths line his trail. Jon's survival now depends on putting the past behind him and becoming a calculated predator instead of the vulnerable prey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cocky Australian financier Jon Phillips, head of proprietary bond trading at the Bank of Manhattan in New York City, has hatched a bold plan to corner the U.S. government bond market by buying $15 billion worth of bonds. He then intends to run up their value by starting a false rumor that a major U.S. company is in legal trouble, whereupon he will sell all for huge profit. To pull off this scheme he uses money from a Russian mobster who's eager to launder his own ill-gotten gains. The fact that what he's doing is illegal doesn't bother Jon, and it's only after, inevitably, he comes a cropper that he realizes he's in serious trouble. The bank fires him, and the Russian is out for revenge, but Jon remains fairly nonplussed until a series of deaths force him to flee Manhattan. Hedge fund partner Haines's strong suit is insider financial info, but the basic plot, characters and writing are all formulaic. There's a continuing, valiant attempt to heat up the action with a variety of lurid sexual encounters, but even this effort can't lift what's run-of-the-mill into out-of-the-ordinary.
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Review

Jon Phillips is a successful Wall Street bond trader whose lifestyle is both lavish and arrogant. He plans to retire after making an unprecedented deal to secure his financial future through gaining control of the U.S. Government bond market through barely-legal procedures and the inclusion of shady investors that include a Russian gangster seeking to launder money through American financial markets that will expose the investment bank he works for to serious regulatory risk. When things go sour, Jon finds himself the target of a potential lethal manhunt and his survival depends on his ability to become more predator than prey in the Wall Street jungle. Author Richard Hains skillfully draws upon his many years as a professional finance expert and successful global investor to provide realistic background detail in his novel Chameleon, a gripping and highly recommended work of suspense that could have been plucked from the newspaper headlines of today. --Midwest Book Review, December 2006

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Beaufort Books; First Edition edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0825305101
• ISBN-13: 978-0825305108
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,787,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Thriller placed in financial industry, January 3, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chameleon (Hardcover)

When a book starts out with several clips of characters and then becomes a technical novel, I lose interest rather quickly.

I realize some character description is necessary, but dropping them all in on the first few pages makes the book difficult to follow. Add to that--the story is geared towards bankers and others in the finance world--all making it even more difficult to follow.

I had a hard time getting past the first three chapters in this story because I had to look up so much information that was presented. When reading, I would like the story to flow from page to page. Back story can be brought in without it being done in large sections. Character profiles can be done throughout the book with a well-written story without having to show me the characters all up front. This is hard to keep up with as the story unfolds due to having to flip back and forth and figure out where that person was from or what was important about why he was introduced on page 1.

If you are into the finance world, and you can get past the character drop-ins at the beginning, then this novel may be for you. Unfortunately, not my cup of tea.

Armchair Interviews says: May be of interested to those in finance industry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sexy thriller set in the world of international finance, May 28, 2006

By 

Book Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chameleon (Hardcover)

What I really liked about this book is that the author clearly knows whereof he speaks, and the authenticity of the fascinating world in which his main character moves--fast-moving financial and uppercrust social circles from New York to London to East Hampton to Australia, just for starters--kept me turning pages throughout. (Never mind some of the hottest sex scenes I've read in a long time.) This is one book that should appeal to both men and women equally.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Chameleon does anything but blend in, May 26, 2006

By 

ilk - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chameleon (Hardcover)

I am not generally a thriller fan, but this one held me.
Richard Hains has pulled a coup in this new financial thriller, and though it does not quite redefine the genre, CHAMELEON is both refreshing and energetic. The book opens in the madhouse of Wall Street, and soon degenerates into a viper's nest of intrigue. The main character has to flee New York, both in fear of his life and in hope of revenge. The hunts moves around the world (in English-speaking regions for the most part) and climaxes in the author's native Australia. The story's ending is its strongest suit, and Hains does an excellent job keeping us in his world.
I got much more out of this book than I thought I would, actually learning a few things about the financial world (aside from the decadence).