"Leverage" Drops in Three Weeks (!!!)
Shit's getting real
My darkly hilarious, grimly topical, and hella fun novel Leverage hits bookstores in three short weeks!!!
Note: This is the final Leverage-specific newsletter I'll be sending before publication day on August 19. My forthcoming pieces will feature satirical content, humorous essays, and a killer collabo. Getcha popcorn ready.
Promotions, Publicity, and Reviews
All publicity is good publicity, and at this stage of the game I'm very pleased with the amount of attention Leverage has received.
CrimeReads featured the novel in its "most anticipated" of the summer list and provided this monster blurb:
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. In Leverage, a successful trader is backed into a corner by his menacing boss after a shocking loss, and forced to embrace deeply unethical practices to make up for his perceived error. All is not as it seems, but even as additional challenges mount, Gowani’s scrappy hero might just be clever enough to carve out a win. This book was so ridiculously good.
Chicago Magazine included the novel in its required summer reading roundup and said:
With equal parts nuance and absurdity, Gowani brings his insight as a former Wall Street analyst to bear in this thriller.
On the independent review site Best Thriller Books, Steve Netter wrote a glowing review of Leverage and perfectly captured the novel's ethos with this killer line:
Amran Gowani crushes this debut novel with a deep dive into Wall Street depravity and ill-gotten gains, the corrupting influence of wealth, and the lucrative trafficking of illicit information.
On the excellent literary newsletter Spark, Elizabeth Marro wrote a generous and thoughtful analysis which included these highlights:
Amran Gowani writes with humor, insight, and a highly-tuned sense of pacing. [Leverage is] a fun—and often funny—read and one that leaves you thinking after you close the book.
Leverage was also featured in a recommended summer reading roundup by a business intelligence company called Secondaries Investor. This is a fantastic sign the novel's finding its way into the investment community, which could and should be a significant source of readers.
Of course, it's not all kittens and rainbows out there. The prominent trade journal Publishers Weekly dished out a positively tepid review. In fact, the commentary is so sterile there's not even one superlative I can yank from the blurb and pretend like the entire review was great.
Finally, I'm slated to be featured in at least five excellent newsletters in August and I'm starting to hit the podcast circuit.
You can find links to all my past media appearances on my website (click HERE). Hopefully I'll have many more interesting updates and exciting items to share as the summer progresses.
Another Goodreads Giveaway
The House of Bezos subsidiary is giving away another 100 copies of Leverage! You can put your name into the hat until tomorrow by clicking HERE.
Related: If you've read an advance copy of the novel and are willing to leave a rating and/or write a review on Goodreads—good, bad, or ugly—that would be quite helpful and much appreciated!
Launch Party on August 19
The Leverage launch party at The Book Cellar is official!
I'll be in conversation with the scary smart Martin Seay starting at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, August 19. There should be ample time for book signings and hanging out afterwards as well.
If you're planning to attend, please RSVP HERE.
Bouchercon 2025
All my logistics are set for Bouchercon 2025 and I’m stoked AF for this event. It'll be my first time attending the conference and my first time visiting the sweaty and spooky city of New Orleans.
In addition to the regularly scheduled events, I'll also be participating on a panel discussing the applications of "AI" in publishing and whether human creativity can ever be replaced. I hope the attendees are ready for some scorching hot takes.
You can learn more about Bouchercon 2025 and register to attend HERE.
How I envision my visit to NOLA.
Pre-order Leverage!
After more than a year of buildup we're just three damn weeks from pub day.
The state of play is simple: Leverage is an objectively awesome novel, and if you haven't yet pre-ordered a copy you're an objectively bad person.
Get your shit together by purchasing your preferred format (e.g., hardcover, e-book, audiobook) from these popular purveyors:
Not Evil
- Bookshop.org
- Libro.fm (The supremely talented Shawn K. Jain is narrating!)
- Your local independent bookstore
- Your local public library (ask them to stock a few dozen copies)
Somewhat Evil
Mostly Evil
Fully Evil
I won't lie, Friends: If I'm super rich and hella famous by Labor Day, I'm not gonna remember any of you. Until then, I've got a killer slate of newsletters planned for August.
Stay tuned and—as always—stay frosty out there.
—Amran