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LEVERAGE: A NOVEL

THE COVER

It's a banger.
AG’s thoughts: During the revision process, Peter Borland, my fantastic editor, graciously asked if I had any specific cover concepts in mind. I told him I liked simple color palettes, with clean designs, and I envisioned a play on the word “leverage” featuring a MAD MEN-inspired silhouette. The brilliant team at Atria Books produced this absolute banger on the first shot!

THE HOOK

For readers of Percival Everett and viewers of INDUSTRY, a hotshot hedge fund employee must risk everything to save his job—and his life—in this timely and darkly funny thriller about race, power, and the corrupting influence of the almighty dollar.

Ali “Al” Jafar is a rising star at notorious hedge fund Prism Capital, but fortunes change fast on Wall Street. When his biggest investment goes up in smoke, Al loses $300 million—and his fragile sense of self-worth—in a single afternoon. He’s certain he’ll be fired, but Prism’s obscenely rich and politically connected founder isn’t that merciful. Instead, he gives Al an impossible ultimatum: recover the lost money in three months or become the fall guy for the government’s insider-trading investigation into the firm.

Desperate and depressed, Al turns to high finance’s dark side, where he battles back-stabbing coworkers and cutthroat competitors and digs himself into an even deeper hole. As the clock winds down, and the pressure mounts, Al’s mental health deteriorates. To survive, he’ll have to outfox one of the world’s most powerful men and decide if he values the dearest asset of all: himself.

AG’s thoughts: This is, more or less, the same “hook” I used in my query letter while pitching literary agents. A version of this copy also appeared in my Publisher’s Marketplace deal announcement in Spring 2024.
This is my deal announcement. There are many like it but this one is mine.

THE BLURBS

“With LEVERAGE, Amran Gowani blows off the facade of high finance, revealing a world that is even more depraved than most think, where 'profits over people' is the rule of the day. Armed with years of Wall Street experience, the skill to weave a compulsively readable tale, and prose that'll make you go 'WHOA!', Gowani reminds us that the most valuable commodity on Earth isn't oil or gold, but the unshakable spirit to do better and be better which dwells within us all. A bell-ringing debut with high ROI."

—MATEO ASKARIPOUR, New York Times bestselling author of BLACK BUCK

“LEVERAGE is a wild ride that is, at various turns, funny, dark, and heart-wrenching. This thriller will make you burn through the pages and revel in twist after twist. By the end, you’ll leave satisfied, entertained, and in possession of a far greater understanding of both the Wu-Tang Clan's discography and what can happen when capitalistic greed is stretched to its furthest extremes.”

—ANDREW BORYGA, author of VICTIM

“No one else is doing what Amran is. He’s smarter than funny people, funnier than smart people, and has more heart and edge than both.”

—DENNARD DAYLE, author of HOW TO DODGE A CANNONBALL

“Told in a dazzling, wildly assured narrative voice, LEVERAGE is a by turns tense and hilarious thriller set against the backdrop of a financial crisis which doubles as a sly dissection of the exploitation and structural inequity buttressing that very system. Amran Gowani’s debut—part social satire, part tale of self-discovery, and part love letter to hip hop culture—announces the arrival of a writer to be reckoned with.”

—ELIZABETH MCCULLOUGH KEENAN and GREG WANDS, international bestselling authors of TRUST ISSUES

"LEVERAGE is a high-octane, high-finance thriller set in the mid-2010s when stocks were flying high yet there was a sense the whole ship might be sinking and Wall Street’s rats were gorging instead of fleeing. Gowani writes in hardboiled-tinged and always hilarious prose, and his narrator Al is a lovable fuckup you can't help but root for."

—LINCOLN MICHEL, author of METALLIC REALMS

“Fast and funny, appalling and appalled, LEVERAGE absolutely nails the rats-eating-each-other vibe of the post-Great-Recession, pre-Trump era. Al Jafar—who knows hedge funds like Ishmael knows whales, like Dante knows Hell—is among the most entertaining voices in recent fiction.”

—MARTIN SEAY, author of THE MIRROR THIEF

"A profanely funny and devilishly entertaining novel about the American worship of capital at the expense of all else. LEVERAGE has both the merry prankster vibes and the nerve-wracking pacing of r/wallstreetbets. I loved it."

—LEIGH STEIN, author of SELF CARE

AG’s thoughts: I feel incredibly fortunate to have received such incredible praise from such an incredible collection of authors. Once I’m compost, put these on my epitaph.

THE REVIEWS

“[A] blistering and riveting debut...Funny and full of narrative shocks reminiscent of works by Percival Everett and Sergio de la Pava, Leverage is gloriously outlandish and compulsively readable.”

—BOOKLIST (Starred Review)

"In this masterpiece of late-stage capitalism and its discontents, Amran Gowani uses the crime genre to eviscerate the world of finance and the psychopaths at their center. This book was so ridiculously good."

—CRIME READS

AG’s thoughts: Humbling and gratifying, to say the least.

I hope the information above has inspired you to purchase and read a copy of LEVERAGE!

For better and worse, pre-orders play a huge role in the commercial success of a novel. If customers demonstrate early interest, publishers are more willing to invest in marketing and promotion and retailers are more likely to purchase large order volumes. All pre-orders also count toward “week one” sales, which influences “best-seller” lists and generates buzz within the reader community.

This self-fulfilling prophecy is part of the publishing game, so if you’re planning to purchase LEVERAGE, snagging a pre-order can make a big impact.

Here are pre-order links for several major retailers:

BONUS FEATURES

Finally, here are two bonus features for the real ones.

THE JOURNEY

The following posts – among my most popular ever – chronicle my path from mid-life crisis to Big Five book deal. I hope you’ll check them out.

THE SOUNDTRACK

Nineties hip hop features prominently in LEVERAGE and fans of the genre will find plenty of easter eggs and homages throughout the narrative.

I created an unofficial “soundtrack” for the novel which everyone can access via Apple Music or Spotify.

Warning: Lyrics very NSFW.