“FAST-PACED . . . A TALE OF MARKET MISDEEDS AND MURDER.” – The New York Times Augustus McKnight senses his dead-end life is about to change when he makes a shrewd online investment and earns an impressive windfall. But before he can tell his wife about his success, she reveals an adulterous affair and demands a divorce. A day later, she is found brutally murdered– leaving Augustus as the sole beneficiary of her million-dollar life insurance policy. To escape his anguish, Augustus plunges into the world of the full-time day trader–and discovers that he has become both a pawn in a complex game of manipulation . . . and the target of a twisted quest for revenge. Now, he’s not only gambling with his fortune, but with his life. “MASTERFUL . . . The Day Trader cashes in on the recent market craze, but with much more success than a lot of the dot-com IPOs.” –Orlando Sentinel “A TRUE PAGE-TURNER . . . GOOD ENTERTAINMENT.” – San Jose Mercury News “ONE OF HIS BEST [FINANCIAL THRILLERS] BY FAR.” –The Globe and Mail "FAST-PACED . . . A TALE OF MARKET MISDEEDS AND MURDER." – The New York Times Augustus McKnight senses his dead-end life is about to change when he makes a shrewd online investment and earns an impressive windfall. But before he can tell his wife about his success, she reveals an adulterous affair and demands a divorce. A day later, she is found brutally murdered– leaving Augustus as the sole beneficiary of her million-dollar life insurance policy. To escape his anguish, Augustus plunges into the world of the full-time day trader–and discovers that he has become both a pawn in a complex game of manipulation . . . and the target of a twisted quest for revenge. Now, he's not only gambling with his fortune, but with his life. “MASTERFUL . . . The Day Trader cashes in on the recent market craze, but with much more success than a lot of the dot-com IPOs.” –Orlando Sentinel “A TRUE PAGE-TURNER . . . GOOD ENTERTAINMENT.” – San Jose Mercury News “ONE OF HIS BEST [FINANCIAL THRILLERS] BY FAR.” –The Globe and Mail Stephen Frey is a principal at a Northern Virginia private equity firm. He previously worked in mergers and acquisitions at J. P. Morgan and as a vice president of corporate finance at an international bank in Midtown Manhattan. Frey is also the bestselling author of The Takeover , The Vulture Fund , The Inner Sanctum , The Legacy , The Insider , Trust Fund , and Silent Partner . I’m not a religious man, but I make the sign of the cross over my heart just in case. The way I do every time I start. After all, the next few seconds could change my life forever. Employees aren’t supposed to use company Internet access for personal reasons, but lots of us violate the policy and no one’s ever been fired for it. Jesus, they only pay me thirty-nine thousand dollars a year to be an assistant sales rep for retail paper products in the mid-Atlantic region. So the way I see it, I deserve a perk or two along the way. I’ve dedicated eleven years to this company, but my wife and I still live paycheck to paycheck, even though she has a full-time job too. Images flash across my computer screen, and I quickly reach the home page of the on-line brokerage firm I use to trade my small stock portfolio. As I enter the information required to access my account, adrenaline surges through me, like it always does when I get to this point. It’s as if I’ve bought a lotto ticket with a fifty-million-dollar jackpot, and I have that lucky feeling tingling in my veins. Name:  Augustus McKnight Password:  Cardinal Account Number:  YTP1699 My fingertips race across the keyboard as I close in on my target, and I pause for a sip of coffee and a deep breath. The deal is only a few screens away, and I’m addicted to the anticipation—so I prolong it. It’s one of the few things I look forward to these days. This morning, as I guided my rusting Toyota through bumper-to-bumper northern Virginia traffic and thick summer humidity, I had a premonition that today would be different. That something was going to interrupt my daily grind. But I’ve had that feeling before. There’s a sharp knock and my eyes shift to the office doorway. Standing there is my boss, Russell Lake, vice president of all paper product sales. Russell is a slender man with thinning brown hair, a full mustache, and a pasty complexion. He leans into my cramped office, one hand on the doorknob, peering at me over wire-rimmed glasses. And I stare back like a boy caught digging in the cookie jar just before dinner. “Good morning, Augustus.” I can tell by the intensity in Russell’s eyes that he’s trying to figure out what I’m doing on my computer, but I’ve positioned it so someone standing at the door can’t see the screen. “Hello,” I say warily. You never know what he’s up to. “Up with the eagles this morning?” “What do you mean by that?” “It’s only eight o’clock,” he says sarcastically, tapping the cracked crystal face of the same Timex he wore the