Review of "Snatch 2&20: A Satirical Romp Through The Wall Street and Silicon Valley Swamps" by Luke E. Fellows

This comic novel is about the greedy 1% who suck in money using financial shenanigans most people don't understand. Giles Goodenough gets caught up in the system with dire consequences. (Not a spoiler. Giles wakes from a coma at the beginning of the book.)

*****

American financial analyst Giles Goodenough studied the classics in England before his father finagled him into a job at Merrill Lynch in New York.




By sheer chance Giles was assigned to one of the great story stocks of the century, Zyxview, which has risen steadily in the ten years Giles has been on the job.




Giles knows nothing about stock analysis, so his modus operandi is just to upgrade the stock whenever Zyxview CEO Egon Crump announces a new objective. Things have gone well so far, though Zyxwiew hasn't marketed anything, and no one knows what the company is developing.



With his easy-peasy job, a small trust fund, and an open marriage to his beautiful wife Cherry - a stripper/beauty product influencer - Giles is high on life.



Things take a tricky turn, however, when Giles is hired by Peter O. Silver - the leader of hedge fund 'POS Capital' - who has the mistaken notion that Giles actually knows something about Zyxview.



It turns out Giles is accumulating a large position in in the stock, and he tells Giles to "Make sure you know more about Zyxview than Zyxview knows." Giles would then presumably convey the information to Peter without actually telling him, to avoid insider trading. In fact just getting secret information about Zyxview is illegal, so this is a VERY risky assignment for Giles.

Giles does manage to meet Zyxview CEO Egon Crump, a wildly eccentric man who attends a business conference wearing mirrored sports shades, black leather pants, brown leather flip-flops, and a luxuriant fur vest (sans shirt) that wouldn't be out of place on a stripper.



Giles tries to get information about Zyxview without getting information, which is a tough call. In the process, Giles makes an accidental remark that strikes Egon Crump as 'genius', with consequences that are unpredictable and fun.

The story includes a bizarre orgy;
















a sneaky spy;



online nudity;



someone's comeuppance; a mirrored 'surveillance chandelier';



kooky business meetings; elegant dining; a COO who played college lacrosse;



naïve easily-gulled investors; and much more.



There's a good bit of talk about how hedge funds work, the 2&20 fee structure, financial chicanery, and so on - which is incomprehensible to this scientist - but I didn't mind. 🙂

If you need a laugh about the reprehensible 1%, pick up this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author (Luke E. Fellows) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars