He.l Bent on Success
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At a rather (im)perfect time comes the perfect novel: Hell Bent on Success. Appropriately enough, it's written by a former investment banker with more than a little mischief lurking in his clearly active imagination.
Andrew Mills spent eight years at JP Morgan, working in their middle and back office. He was then transferred to his home country, Australia, before setting up a software company which developed a CRM solution designed for banks (back in Blighty). A company that, one could say, also supports his side business, which is writing. He tells us about the book.
Give us a quick summary of Hell Bent on Success. What's it about?
It is a humorous story set in the City of London and tells the story of a hedge fund, an accountant, a living impaired ex-king, and what caused the collapse of the world financial markets. It really is a mixture of wit and the ridiculous thrown into a twisted urban fantasy. If I was asked to categorise Hell Bent on Success I would describe it as absurdist fiction.
Who would enjoy reading the book?
The audience for this book is essentially anyone who has had contact with the London banking industry, though there are several digs at the corporate world in general. I also wrote the book specifically with London transport in mind, so the chapters fit nicely into the time you'd have on a Tube or train commute, and hopefully people will arrive at their destination smiling from having a good read.
What came first - the idea for the novel, or the idea to write a book?
Looking back it is hard to say, but I think the idea came first. Well, the kernel of the idea came first, and once I started to write it down, the idea evolved into the book. I think the initial idea came from listening and reading all those doom-sayers that were predicting the end of the boom years before it happened and the hell that would follow such a collapse. I started to think about who would be accountable if the collapse happened as they predicted, and from there the idea evolved.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took about six months to write the first draft of Hell Bent on Success and many months of editing followed.
Did you come to any realisations about the banking world in the process of writing it?
I based the characters on people I know within investment banking but exaggerated certain qualities, for example the greedy became gluttonous. I never thought that people in the real world would actually possess these highly exaggerated qualities, but since finishing the book we are hearing more and more about the excesses of certain individuals within the financial markets. Anybody who works in banking knows about the greed in the industry but the realisation that it can be this grandiose reflects poorly on everybody involved in banking. A case of a few bad eggs spoiling it for all.
Click here to buy Hell Bent on Success.
Click here to visit the book's companion website.
Give us a quick summary of Hell Bent on Success. What's it about?
It is a humorous story set in the City of London and tells the story of a hedge fund, an accountant, a living impaired ex-king, and what caused the collapse of the world financial markets. It really is a mixture of wit and the ridiculous thrown into a twisted urban fantasy. If I was asked to categorise Hell Bent on Success I would describe it as absurdist fiction.
Who would enjoy reading the book?
The audience for this book is essentially anyone who has had contact with the London banking industry, though there are several digs at the corporate world in general. I also wrote the book specifically with London transport in mind, so the chapters fit nicely into the time you'd have on a Tube or train commute, and hopefully people will arrive at their destination smiling from having a good read.
What came first - the idea for the novel, or the idea to write a book?
Looking back it is hard to say, but I think the idea came first. Well, the kernel of the idea came first, and once I started to write it down, the idea evolved into the book. I think the initial idea came from listening and reading all those doom-sayers that were predicting the end of the boom years before it happened and the hell that would follow such a collapse. I started to think about who would be accountable if the collapse happened as they predicted, and from there the idea evolved.
How long did it take you to write it?
It took about six months to write the first draft of Hell Bent on Success and many months of editing followed.
Did you come to any realisations about the banking world in the process of writing it?
I based the characters on people I know within investment banking but exaggerated certain qualities, for example the greedy became gluttonous. I never thought that people in the real world would actually possess these highly exaggerated qualities, but since finishing the book we are hearing more and more about the excesses of certain individuals within the financial markets. Anybody who works in banking knows about the greed in the industry but the realisation that it can be this grandiose reflects poorly on everybody involved in banking. A case of a few bad eggs spoiling it for all.
Click here to buy Hell Bent on Success.
Click here to visit the book's companion website.
