Customer Reviews

Need You Now: A Novel

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme has influenced this novel. In this case, Abe Cushman, a former chairman of the NASCAQ stock market, committed suicide when his Ponzi scheme was brought to light.

Patrick Lloyd is a young Wall Street advisor to the BOS (Bank of Switzerland). He's called to the corporate office and ordered to find Lilly Scanlon and the money she manipulated while an executive with the bank. This was in connection with the Cushman Ponzi scheme.

Lilly is Partick's girlfriend. She informs him that she's being set up and was fired unjustly. She tells Patrick that the money in question is from some of Cushman's investors who are criminals and will stop at nothing to get their money back.

Patrick and Lilly decide to work together. Soon after, each is threatened by criminals and then something about Patrick's past comes to light.

The maze of possibilities that these characters must negotiate makes the novel an interesting adventure to observe. There seem to be competing forces looking for the money and the two protagonists must go about their search for the missing money while not knowing who to trust and even if they can trust each other.

The setting is mostly in New York and is nicely described. At one point, a character tells of experiencing "...the old St. Paul' Churchyard...bathed in silence wile hearing the buzz of construction at the World's Trade Center across the street."

This is not only a financial thriller but deals with other important issues. There is a powerful message of a father's love for his children while also being a social commentary on the greed existing today and the desire to gain riches at any expense. It is also morality story of misplaced trust and the failures in the witness protection program.

The author has caputed the naivete of his two young protagonists and shows how innocence can be destroyed in a world of governmental ignorance and corruption at the highest levels.

I did feel the story was more complicated than it needed to be but did a nice job in showing Patrick and Lilly's struggles and made the reader want to see them succeed against seemingly impossible odds.

This is the first novel of Grippando I have read, but it won't be the last. This story based on the Madoff ponzi scheme is enthralling. Even though it is a story of financial swindles and great losses by investors, it has little to tell in the way of the financial markets. It is devoted to the telling of the unwinding of the mysteries and characters involved in a fictional case.

There are more twists and turns than would be expected, but they are explained...not just all of a sudden shooting you off in a new direction. The characters are real, the drama heavy, and the writing superb.

If I had any criticism at all it would be the use of too many pronouns at times. There are many characters and occasionally a "he" would be better if replaced the characters name. That may well be done in the final printing along with a few other obvious proof reading errors that will be found.

I highly recommend this work.

This is a thriller based upon a Ponzi scheme of the Madoff variety. A letter came with the pre-publication version from the author. He is of counsel to the law firm that filed the first class action suit against Madoff. There was some thinking that for such a scheme to go unnoticed there must have been some government involvement. This is the novelization of that conspiracy theory. Although the novel has some fairly over-the-top characters, the theory is not that unbelievable.

The plot is somewhat labyrithine as one might expect. A young investment banker hooks up with the FBI to do some inside sleuthing. Two billion dollars has gone missing from the Ponzi scheme money and everyone is looking for it including the bank, the good guys and the bad guys.

In addition to the somewhat over-the-top bad guys, there are a few tough top believe connections among the characters that are necessary to make the plot work. The good side of this, though, is that Mr. Grippando uses these connections to give the reader background so he can keep up with what is going on and what went on in the Ponzi scheme.

This was a page turner with the interesting background of knowing that the author was always thinking of Madoff's scheme. There were things that - one would think - could only happen in a novel and for that, it is down to a four star.

James Grippando is an author i've been reading for years. I like his Jack Swyteck series the most. His current thriller Need You Now is a very well written and topical thriller. I'm sure everyone has made the connection with the Madoff scam. Likeable characters and a steady plot should give most Grippando fans the satisfaction they have come to expect.

New York Times bestselling novelist James Grippando served as counsel for a law firm - a firm that filed one of the initial first class action suits on behalf of Bernie Madoff's victims. Thus, he has been in the know and aware of how his firm and others were going about trying to retrieve the billions Madoff's clients lost. Grippando's observations not only gave him ideas for this intense thriller but also raised important questions in his mind.

He was reminded of a book in which an author describes his before-it-all-came-apart investigation into Madoff's activities. He gave this information to the SEC but they paid no heed. Ergo, the question might be: Could the SEC really have been Wall Street's biggest bumblers, having this information but either disinclined or not able to use it? Did someone way high up not want it used? And, the jackpot question: Where did the billions go?

Need You Now is one of the timeliest thrillers out there - brimming with stunning surprises, covert operations, false identities, and more. Abe Cushman dove 55 stories to his death after his Ponzi scheme was discovered. While the suicide of "a former chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market and a force on Wall Street trading for nearly fifty years" shocks and affects many, it has deep repercussions for Patrick Lloyd, an up-and-coming Wall Street advisor at a major Swiss Bank, and his girlfriend, Lilly. Actually, Lilly is his ex-girlfriend. She hooks up with him again after he's threatened with a gun muzzle to his neck and given a message for her. Seems Lilly had an involvement with the missing Cushman money. But Lloyd didn't know that and as he says there's just one thing more dangerous than knowing where the billions are: "Not knowing - and having a trained killer think that I did."

You've read some shocking Wall Street stories but probably never one like this.

How far Abe Cushman has fallen is the whispers on Wall St. He has been a major player on the Street for five decades and includes on his sterling résumé a stint as the chair of NASDAQ. Now Abe who had billions of Money To Burn is scheduled to meet with the Feds on a $60,000,000,000 Ponzi scheme. Instead Abe commits suicide rather than spend the rest of his life behind bars.

However, the billions have vanished angering investors; some of whom want revenge and their money as those who understand the Street know Cushman could not have done this alone. The Manhattan branch of the International Bank of Switzerland assigns junior analyst Patrick Lloyd and his former girlfriend Lilly Scanlon to search for the lost loot. However, Lily has insider knowledge that leaves her and Patrick in jeopardy from those who will kill for the money.

Filled with twists and action, fans of financial thrillers will relish this strong tale that offers a terrific solution to the missing Madoff money. Fast-paced, the fun in the entertaining storyline is how James Grippando brilliantly delivers his Ponzi scheme spin.

Harriet Klausner

Need You Now is another winner from an author who never disappoints. Wall Street is rocked by the discovery that "financial genius" Abe Cushman was running a massive Ponzi scheme. Immediately, questions need to be answered: who knew he was fraud, why did no on one stop him, and where did $60 billion go? Patrick Lloyd, a young up-and-comer at the world's largest Swiss bank, is shocked to learn that his ex-girlfriend Lilly could have been a player in Cushman's fraud. When it seems that some of her nefarious "clients" will stop at nothing to get their share of the missing money, Patrick and Lilly are literally running for their life. Filled with surprising twists, Wall Street insights, and a great New York "feel," Need You Now is a book you won't be able to put down. If you can appreciate the fact that a "fast read" for the reader is not a "fast write" for the author--it takes skill to keep the pages turning--you will enjoy Need You Now. Another Grippando gripper.

What I really liked about this mystery/thriller? The plot: It could be happening right now--and there's more than a likely chance that it is....

Give someone power; hey, give them a lot of power, and their arrogance and superiority will cause them to start breaking all kinds of laws with impudence and audacity. Make the plot current by using Wall Street and terrorism as backdrops--and, there you have it, a great story line.

What I didn't quite like about the book? While my heart raced with disgust and anger and frustration over what the high power-level culprits were getting away with, I would have rather it been racing from some other emotions, too. Maybe emotions more down-to-earth. Maybe something that I could more easily relate to. I wasn't really feeling the disgust, anger, frustration and rage of the good guys, the main characters, the "little" guys of this story. And I should have been feeling it.

This gets a low four-stars in my book: It kept my interest; it was a better-than-average read; I liked the plot; there were a lot of angles. I liked the characters, but they could have been better developed so that the reader could feel their pain. Some of the "developments" were a bit contrived--kind of thrown out there in the midst of some other developing action. But I'm glad to have read the book. On the other hand, I won't need to read it again.

James Grippando is one of those writers who can hold your interest while reading his books but the stories tend to fade shortly after reading them.
"Need to Know" is a story focused on a Ponzi scheme a la Bernie Madoff. This book is all about the aftermath of the financial disaster and the revenge of those who were duped by Abe Cushman who commits suicide as the book begins.
A young hot shot Wall Street guy becomes the plot's point man when he finds himself caught between his job with the Bank of Switzerland and his quick affair with a co worker in Singapore. Patrick Lloyd also has some critical ties to the FBI who is also involved in trying to track a boatload of missing money and sort through the conspiracy which has already involved a brutal murder of one of Cushman's main players in the fraud.
Lloyd has some major secrets of his own which are carefully exposed throughout the book. These will explain his working with the FBI as well as why he has become the target of some very bad people.
Lots of secrets are opened up in the pages of this novel and some of the financial stuff tends to get a bit tedious at times but the realism of the story in relation to current times keeps the book moving.
Computer nerds, secret government involvement, international conspiracies and organized crime bosses enter the picture as Grippando does a good job of moving the plot along. What makes the story really good is the final 50 pages in which a secret operation called Operation BAQ which is referred to throughout the story is finally revealed. (No spoilers here) That makes for an exciting conclusion to a reasonably interesting novel.
I'm fairly sure I will forget the plot of this story in a few weeks but I did have a hard time putting it down particularly at the end so I can recommend it to people who enjoy a quick thriller type read and like some quality twists along the way. So I'm reluctant to give it 4 stars but if I could I would say 3 1/2 stars.

I'm sure that the author intended this novel to be a gripping plot that would be impossible for the readers to know the real "bad guys" until the very Last paragraph. He suceeded beyond his dreams as he injected so many characters with so many complicated agendas that one would need to have a photographic memory to find a main story theme. I was delighted to have survived the ordeal and reached the last page.

A long-time customer of Amazon