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The Analyst

P.T. Dawkins
llumina Press (2011)
ISBN 9781605947235
Reviewed by Enid Grabiner for RebeccasReads (11/11)

David Heart is caught in a quandary.  His grandfather needs a costly surgery and his mother is panicked by her inability to cover the costs.  Facing eviction she turns to David for help.  David is a young investment analyst who secured his position based not on expertise but by nepotism, a favor for Uncle Charley.  Inexperienced and naïve he becomes coerced into changing research positions on a biotech drug company and then taking the blame when the report proves to be wrong.  Easily bullied and intimidated, he is taken advantage of by predator Sandy Allen, a savvy and unscrupulous trader.  On the pretense of mentoring him, she uses David to facilitate an illegal insider trading scheme.  The further into it she gets, the lower she drags David down as an unknown accomplice.  As he tries to extricate himself, he learns life’s lessons the hard way.

Dawkins presents a very interesting tale of a sheep headed for slaughter.  David is a good-hearted but immature young man placed in a precarious position by trusting the wrong people.  At first, I found him to be a likeable schlemiel, but became irritated at his dependence on other people.  If he would have acted on his own instinct instead of allowing other people to lead him, his circumstances might have been different. 

David developed his own strategy to succeed using the acronym “PERK” when referencing it.  The whole concept of infusing this philosophy into the story actually diminished it for me.  The reader will find this tactic unsuccessful and clearly annoying.  The story can stand very well without it.

Also nicely woven into the novel is the chronicle of Alexei Baikov, the CEO of Baikov Biopharma, whose company is the focus of the SEC investigation.  His history and motivation are well developed as are those of the other characters portrayed.  The author is careful to show that there are often hidden circumstances that drive one’s action.  It is those shades of gray that make “The Analyst” so good.

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