Title: Death by Wall Street: Rampage of the Bulls
Author: Theodore Jerome Cohen
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 9781452078455
Pages: 240, Paperback
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Featured Review for the Month of October 2010
Book Review
I must confess I like the writing style of Theodore Jerome Cohen, so personally Death by Wall Street: Rampage of the Bulls paged like a gift from a friend. The reasons I like his style so much, aside from his exceptional character development, sophisticated plot machinations and superb use of suspense, is Ted Cohen uses many footnotes; offering Internet links, or additional insight to the material written. Dealing with a factious story and having the juxtaposition of factual detail as current web links seems to bring a heightened sense of authenticity and credibility to his writing. Furthermore, Ted Cohen is a brilliant person with a cache of knowledge; one feels as if he’s educating the reader in a humble way as he unfolds his storyline. He enlightens the reader to little known nuances of the industry that have come to his attention throughout his years of experience and his countless hours of research.In Death by Wall Street, Theodore Cohen begins by revealing a grotesque murder; a nauseous sight of a decapitated head impaled on the horns of the famous Charging Bull bronze sculpture in the financial district of NYC — a grim spectacle analogous to the scene along the path leading to Count Dracula’s castle. The case is turned over to homicide detective specialist Lou Martelli, a street smart cop that is quoted, “If you live long enough, you get to see everything.” As detective Martelli begins to dig into the surrounding circumstances, the reader is educated as to the inner workings of Wall Street trading, the FDA’s approval techniques for new pharmaceuticals, and the manipulation of the stock market for personal gain, irrespective of those that may die as a consequence.
Death by Wall Street delivers a powerful message, one that Hippocrates would roll over in his grave if he knew what was going on nowadays. Theodore Cohen exposes the greed of Wall Street and how the stock market is aligned with the money pit of the drug companies, showing the uselessness of the FDA and SEC for policing the regulatory laws. This results in a group of people of astonishing wealth. “Greed is good,” said Michael Douglas’ character Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. Ted Cohen takes greed and correlates it to murder on a grand scale, exposing the self-centered interests of those in power within the pharmaceutical industry. We all know of this type of big shot; the kind who adorn themselves in $4,000 dollar suits, accessorizing themselves with $650 silk ties, while driving a $450,000 SLR McLaren Mercedes; having $1 million dollars only represent 5% of their annual income. They are the greedy, egotistical, classless echelon of people that call most everyone else in the world, “The little people.” I’m not saying some haven’t earned their wealth, but in Death by Wall Street Ted Cohen brings to the attention of the reader just how millions of people have been killed – largely by not getting medication that has been developed which could have cured them or at least prolonged their lives. All because of the closing bell’s market value of the company’s stock at a point in time.
Similar to the writing style of Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy, Ted Cohen adheres to short chapters laying out a mental storyboard in the reader’s mind. He possesses a writing style ideal for screenplay adaptation with visuals that can make for a good movie. Why wait for Hollywood – Death by Wall Street: Rampage of the Bulls is currently playing in a theater near you, the theater of your mind. As with the stock market, “One man’s loss is another man’s gain,” but when dealing with the pharmaceutical industry, “One company’s greedy gains are millions of man’s lost lives.”
