Sidney Geeder, King of Mortgages, wants nothing more than to cash in his lucrative company stock and quit his job, but his dreams are threatened by the disappearance of Eggs Igino, the only possible man who can replace him Regardless of how you feel about investment banking ("It's a complete scam!"; "It's a great way to make a killing!"), this non-stop novelistic indictment of the shark-infested financial world--and by extension, much of the corporate world--is bound to make you laugh uproariously--and think deeply. As fast-paced and frenetic as the stock exchange on a Monday morning. This savage satire of the sleazier elements of Wall Street follows the fortunes of Sid Geeder, King of Mortgages in the trading firm of Atlantic Pacific. Sid can sell anything to anybody, all day and every day. Others, like Lisa Lisa and Nickel Sansome, eavesdrop, cajole, and bribe to copy Sid's techniques. The arrival of maverick Eggs Igino unbalances the corporate culture, however. Since none of the salespeople understands the market, finance, economics, or even the nature of the products they sell, they all fall apart in various ways trying to meet quotas until the biggest sales job of all comes along: the selling of an entire country. As a former bond trader, Bronson makes ferocious humor from the daily obsessions of this stressed-out bunch. Yuppies and MBA candidates should read Bombardiers before they have their next job interview; anyone owning stock will find food for thought here. For popular collections. --Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. In this chuckling caricature of an investment banking firm, Sid Geeder shines as the outfit's top-selling bond trader who hates his work, his bosses, his customers, the government, and hangs on only to be vested in millions' worth of his company's stock. Leagued with a rich gallery of likewise greedy rogues, he careens through the info-economy and unloads bonds by cajoling, insulting, and all-around yelling at the buyers. Lashed on by boss Coyote Jack, whose terroristic motivational method is random firing and constant bellowing to GETBACKTOWORK!, Sid frantically traffics in rumors and inflated optimism. Beneath the bluster is a lovable protagonist trapped in an insanely cynical world of avarice, whose only means of escape (to become vested in those shares) is to weave ever more fantastic, illusory deals, such as selling an entire banana republic--which ironically chains him ever tighter to the phones and video monitors. Yes, Sid's rebellions lead to his bizarre escape from the firm, which culminates this exuberantly satirical commentary on contemporary finance. Wacky characters and an offbeat, sardonic story point to popular success for this debut writer. Gilbert Taylor A vicious, hilarious satire of bond traders and, by extension, the prevailing mindset of corporate America. This audacious first novel (by a former salesman for First Boston) echoes the biting tone of Catch-22. Rather than cogs in an absurd war machine, however, Bronson's protagonists are desk-bound hustlers trying to sell complicated and shady corporate bonds to the gullible or to those who know the government will bail them out when the bonds go belly-up. Caught in a cycle of making outrageous commissions for meeting outrageous quotas, the traders at Atlantic Pacific push themselves to physical and psychological ruin just to keep up. Sid Geeder loathes every new bond that management forces him to sell; because he hates the whole racket, he tries to bankrupt it by moving as many bonds as possible--which perpetually keeps him at the top of the heap as ``King of Mortgages.'' Geeder's position is threatened by Eggs Igino, a young hotshot who is such a good salesmen that he palms off breakfast futures on his fellow traders. But Iginio's genius leads him to the radical thought that maybe the bonds in which corporate America wallows are not ethical, a conclusion that creates a crisis for Sid and the entire firm. This couldn't come at a worse time, as Atlantic Pacific is trying to float bonds on the Dominican Republic in order to claim the nation as a corporation, then take it over and exploit its assets. Fast-paced, enlivened by a cast of odd yet believable characters, Bronson's debut is filled with wit and storytelling sleight of hand that will have readers alternating tears of laughter with tears of despair over the state of our financial institutions. Required reading for politicians and financiers, in hopes that it will make them think twice about the way they're mortgaging America's future. Required reading for everyone else, just because it's so much fun. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Hilarious, mad-as-hell entertainment that bites like an alligator...filled with the most memorable cast of loonies and sharpies since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . -- New York Daily News Po Bronson a