Customer Reviews

Zero Coupon

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Something Paul Erdman does that many of his comtemporaries neglect to do is he gives his characters personality and life. The dialogue has some spark.

Besides good characters, Erdman is good with the technical details of finance. You get to dabble with offshore corporation, shell companies, underwriting and the like. It does not read like a textbook. It reads more like what you can imagine Micheal Milken doing in a meeting with his minions as he's setting up something - lots of charisma, some financial details, but not so much details that it would put us laypeople to sleep.

His other books are like this, too. Except for the Swiss Account (which reads like a history book) and The Panic of 89 (which reads like a Tom Clancy thriller).

This book's release in the pre-internet days prevents it from getting its deserved recognition. Erdman has written well-received books since the 1970s. Snappy dialog containing factual information about the world of high finance both educates and entertains the reader.

After reading Den of Thieves this books brings us over from reality to fiction by way of the Grisham / Clancy type drama and action of high finance and intrigue.
Beginning where Den of Thieves leaves off (in the real world) this takes us on a fast passed romp through start-up, cutting deals, leveraging coin, and turning up the heat to create a trading operation in the woods north of San Francisco.
The Willy Saxton character is perfect and handles the presure well.
This of course is not great literature, but it sure is a fast and great read. Books like this are like "Text Movies". They grab and entertain you.
If you like high finance, drama, and intrigue then this is it!

A masterfully written book. Even though I read the book almost 4 years ago, I still believe it's the best I have ever read. Mr. Erdman crafts a wonderful story about the world of high-finance. He writes about an area of life that few understand and makes it easy to comprehend. The characters are solidly depicted and the hero is even more realistic due to his flawed and checkered past. The flaws in the hero just make him more believable and his goal in the story just reinforces human nature that "even though you're down, you pick yourself up and start over"; (by any means necessary) just makes Willie Saxon's character that much more exciting and real. One can almost imagine being in the character's place. Some may even wish to be where Willie Saxon was. Paul Erdman's characters are always strong willed and powerful. Mr. Erdman's portrayal of a riches-to-rags-to-riches character makes the story that much better. A great plot. A must read. For me, it's a must read "again".

It was a fun book, but there is one thing wrong. When one issues a zero coupon, they issue at a deep discount (such as a dollar price of 10 cents on the dollar). So, why does the subject in the book receive THE FACE VALUE of the bond? He should only have gotten.one tenth of that. Still, I am an Erdman fan.

I read this book about the same time "The Game" came out with Michael Douglas. I don't know, something about that magical city and high finance just gets me. I flew there and "Zero Coupon" and "The Game" were all I thought about. Excellent reading, I wish it were a movie, it would beat the hell out of Wall Street, the movie.

Paul Erdman is the Tom Clancy of high finance.
In his excellent way of building the plot he teaches you
how financial markets work and the different tools available
in today's financial markets.

You can either read the boring non-fiction books about those
subjects or this exciting page-turner.

A must read to anyone who likes suspense and the world of
high finance.

This is a fun book. Even if you don't have an interest in the markets, you can still really enjoy it. Erdman does a great job of explaining the sometimes complicated market elements. And for those with a market bent, the concepts the author interweaves are intriguing and thought-provoking.

This book is about international banker Willy Saxon. He is brought down by the junk bond market and has to serve a three year prison sentence.Unlike Boesky and Milken he refuses to turn

state's evidence.He uses 74 million dollars that he has stashed in Europe to covertly purchase a San Fransisco investment house.

Saxon also purchases a Napa Valley ranch which he turns into a

high tech trading exchange.He makes use of bogus bonds(tax free

zero coupon bond) and runs into problems.He manages to escape this situation by accurately predicting the plunge of the

German mark.Willy also shows traits of becoming quite ladie's man with some of the wealthy women in San Francisco.This turned

out to be a very interesting book.

Paul Erdman is to investment banking what Michael Crighton is to paleo-genetics. A wildly entertaining fiction with deep insight into derivatives, debt financing and foreign currency exchange. Only fiction I ever read that moved me to write the author.