Human Capital A Novel

It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control. As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving the men's children gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. StephenAmidon's previous books includeThe New CityandSubdivision. He lived and worked in London for fifteen years before returning to the United States, where he lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with his wife and children. It's the spring of 2001, and Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his first marriage; his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior, and the thriving real estate brokerage that was his father's legacy to him. And then an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund, opens to Drew the prospect of vast, frictionless wealth. What Drew doesn't know is that Manning has problems of his own--his Midas touch is abandoning him; his restless wife, Carrie, is growing disillusioned with all that new money, and his hard-drinking son, Jamie, Shannon's classmate, is careering out of control. As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving Shannon and Jamie gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. But his decision to speculate with human lives instead of money has unforeseen consequences and brings the novel to a devastating climax.Human Capitalis the work of a "powerful and perceptive" novelist (The Washington Post) and of a realist for our times. "[A work of] meticulously observed social details [and] some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entree to his characters' inner lives."--Michiko Kakutani,The New York Times "Like Rosellen Brown'sBefore and After(1992) and Scott Spencer'sEndless Love(1979),Human Capitalgrounds a melodramatic, soap-opera-ish plot in meticulously observed social details, its relentless pacing in some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entree to his characters' inner lives, lavishing special attention, as he has in so many of his earlier novels, on the fraught relationships between parents and their children . . . We finish this novel not only with an appreciation of his skill at orchestrating suspense but also with a keen understanding of the emotional consequences of his characters' decisions."--Michiko Kakutani,The New York Times "Smart . . . Amidon moves the story along swiftly and skillfully . . . His characters are interesting and sympathetic and very real . . . The best things aboutHuman Capitalderive from his skills as a reporter and social commentator. He has learned a great d

Stephen Amidon's previous books include The New City and Subdivision. He lived and worked in London for fifteen years before returning to the United States, where he lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with his wife and children.

"Amidon nails it. . . . Human Capital is terrific."--The Washington Post Book World

"A splendid novel with the satiric bite of Bonfire of the Vanities . . . terribly well-realized."--The Seattle Times

"Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a twenty- first Century gilded age. . . . His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in the dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all."--Chicago Tribune

"A gripping, troubling, and incisive portrait of the way we live now . . . has the ambitious sweep and narrative power of a nineteenth-century novel."--Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children