Hedge Fund v2: “Toxic Assets”

You had to see it coming. The signs were glaringly obvious.

Welcome to the rise and rapid fall of Frank Carvale. It’s Subprime Loan Time!

Losing All Your Credits

What’s Going On?

Frank Carvale went from newbie trader to king of the financial world in the first book. He found a mentor who brought him in, taught him how the markets worked, and then gave him a sizable fund to watch over.

He learned to live the fast life, free of any other responsibilities besides to make lots of money for his boss as quickly as possible, by any means necessary.

We saw how it destroyed one friendship at the end of the first book.

In the second volume, it all comes crashing down in the 2008 meltdown. This is where the subprime mortgage world kicks in and kicks Frank’s butt.

Normally, I wouldn’t tell you even that much, but the first volume made it pretty obvious that that’s where the story was going to go. The house of cards was constructed so clearly that it left no other direction.

Frank: Likable or Not?

In the first volume, Frank was somewhat likable. Or, at least, he was interesting.

He was on the lowest rung of the career ladder, willing to try anything to work his way up. He was the underdog, with his back to the wall. He couldn’t even afford rent.

He made some questionable decisions and, in the end, manipulated markets to destroy two people — one on purpose, and one less so. Even when he was being ruthless, he was at least clever about it and entertaining to watch work.

In the second volume, success has gone to his head. He’s completely forgotten about his friends and family, choosing the finance world over everything. He’s a hot shot speaker, a smooth talker, and a stubborn idealist.

Nothing will get in his way. He’s above the law and too rich to be touched.

That likable part of him from the first book went away quickly.

It gets to the point where you can’t wait for the market to fall apart and take him down with it. And when it does. your rooting interest is more in cheering as everything around him bursts into flames. He deserves it.

But not everyone around him does, and certainly not all the people on the periphery that his actions hurt.

Economics by Example

The team on this book does a good job in depicting the money world coming to the realization that the system is flawed and about to collapse everything around them in dramatic fashion. It’s an overnight crash, but there’s plenty of writing on the wall that everyone ignored for their short term gains.

Roulot and Sabbah dramatize the situation in this book in numerous ways, from one extreme to the next. The phone calls, the news alerts, the crimes, the despair from the people who most couldn’t afford to take the loans and were hurt the hardest. It’s dramatized with people at Frank’s firm being laid off, with clips from newscasts describing the damage, and with Frank’s increasingly desperate actions to keep his head above water.

And then, suddenly, the man who set him up for success is the man to issue the take-down in startling and severe fashion.

Honestly, it’s like a season of the reality show “Big Brother” in the span of two books. Alliances are made, hands are shook, every one loves each other. Once it’s convenient to stab them in the back, though, it’s all done for the good of the game. Nothing personal. Them’s the rules. Alliances shift quickly and surprising characters rise up.

Everyone has a reason for their every move, and each is explained where necessary in the script. Economic factors are described well. You won’t get too lost in this book, though it might help if you have seen “The Big Short” first and had some background on the whole mess.

Drawing Funds

When you think about it, Patrick Henaff has the hardest job of all the creatives on this book. He needs to tell the story with compelling visuals when the most dramatic things happen while people are sitting at computers in an office. The script includes a couple moments to let Henaff have a break here and there, such as a Ferrari outing that doesn’t go as planned.

Ultimately, though, this is a talking heads book. Henaff does a great job in his realistic style of drawing people with extreme motions.

Whether it’s Frank’s rage at realizing he’s been had or his slick and calm demeanor while letting his mouth write checks his butt can’t cash, Henaff is always selling the moment. There’s no confusion, because you can learn to read that body language.

There are a lot of panels which feel like he’s pushing in too close with his “camera.” Characters get cut off in odd ways at the edges of panels.

He’s using four tier pages, so there’s not much vertical room to work with. That makes medium shots a little tougher, but I’d still like to see more of them being more carefully composed and thought out.

It happens mostly in tighter rooms with lots of talking heads in them. Fitting everything on the page along with copious room for the large style of word balloons the script is calling for would be a tough trick, but it feels like too many compromises were made.

Recommended?

I’m torn on this one. So much of this book is completely predictable. There’s even a big surprise twist that’s almost groan-worthy because there was dialogue inserted into the first book to set it up so painfully obviously.

Aside from that, there is still the visceral thrill of seeing a young hot shot get taken down so badly, but that’s only in the latter part of the book. before then, there’s a certain frustration in watching characters who should know better continue to do completely stupid things, as their success went to their heads.

I’m torn on this book, but I’m enjoying this style of storytelling and the overall story so far. It’s a true character arc being inserted into real world events from not so long ago. I appreciate that challenge and the way they handle it here.

— 2019.044 —

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