by Jason DeSena Trennert
I’m always up for a good book with an insider’s look at the
world of finance and hijinks on Wall Street. The tri-named author of this book,
who I’ll call Jase because that’s what he goes by and because his name is so
long, seems to have been an insider for something like thirty years, lately as
the owner of his own research firm. He has plenty of interesting stories,
unusual anecdotes, and some unheard tales from inside the world of finance.
Unfortunately, many of his stories fall a little flat, and none of them deliver
on the promise of this book’s enticing subtitle. I expected a “warts and all” look
at how Jase and his moral bearing, ethical, everyday friends and colleagues
bested the “wolves, quants, and flash boys” in battles in the trenches of high
finance, but after the subtitle, there is nary a mention of any of those
things, much less any high pitched, multi-million dollar investment battles.
It’s just Jase going about his business being a good fiduciary representative.
All that’s well and good but I expected a lot more. At least
Jase is a skilled writer. He’s clear, succinct, and highly readable, at times
humorous, at times philosophical, at times poignant. His stories and anecdotes for
the most part are worth telling and reading. I don’t know that his 9/11 story
added much to the book (it certainly didn’t add to the diaspora of stories
surrounding that infamous day), but it’s nice that he has a personal take on
these things and it certainly makes us feel for him more as we get to know him
better. Still, with no thread to tie the stories together, the whole book just
muddles through. Some of the stories seem to be thrown in at the last minute
because Jase remembered something and wanted to share it with the reader. Maybe
this isn’t a bad reason to include something interesting, but I would have
preferred a more well-constructed approach.
All that said, I really enjoyed this book. I would have
preferred some more fireworks and war stories, but I still felt that I got
something out of it for the effort of reading the whole thing. Maybe Jase can
get together with another Wall Street insider like Joshua Brown, author of
Backstage Wall Street. Beefier, more broad-ranging stories would make a best
seller for sure, which this, unfortunately is not. Still I give it three and a
half dollar marks.
