The Bull Option is a work of suspenseful thriller fiction penned by author Sameer Garach. Set in the cutthroat world of finance, this criminally inclined novel starts when homeless and hopeless Kannada Khan saves the life of Wall Streeter Robert Prosperi. As a former banker, Kannada sees the opportunity to reverse his fortunes and win back his former love when Robert persuades him to partake in a Wall Street heist. The homeless man goes on a wild ride, recruiting a ragtag crew and planning the heist of the century.

Sameer Garach’s work reads like an upscale Ocean’s Eleven, bringing the complexity and elegance of New York’s financial world into the mix alongside everyday Joes who want to make some money and make it fast. What really sold it to me was the down-and-out Kannada Khan, whom any reader would empathize with and root for despite the huge financial crime he’s planning. Author Sameer Garach puts great empathy into Kannada’s dialogue and ways of thinking, offering a unique and intimate perspective of the lengths that people will go to get themselves out of the gutter, in this case, literally. Garach strikes an excellent balance between the well-described ensemble cast and the plot, which wasn’t overly complex. Overall, I recommend The Bull Option to fans of crime fiction, suspense novels and heist movies in general.

In The Bull Option by Sameer Garach, homeless Kannada Khan is a former investment banker who hit rock bottom. With so much time on his hands, he’s writing a book about a heist on the New York Stock Exchange by a group of people. When he saves Robert Prosperi, a troubled hedgie, from getting run over by a taxi, Robert invites him to dinner, where the book is discussed by chance. Intrigued, he offers Kannada the risky task of making the fictional scheme a reality, aiming to subvert his rival, who’s also a hedgie and the head of the NYSE. Worried but seeing the job as a fast way to turn his life around, Kannada recruits his people to steal the proceeds from the biggest Initial Public Offering, an action that will either make or break him.

Hedge funds, insider trading, stock markets, IPO－there was an initial concern that I wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate the story with my layman knowledge regarding the mechanics of the financial world, particularly Wall Street. However, The Bull Option is not excessively weighed down by too many monetary details or financial terms. Non-technical readers will be able to enjoy this financial thriller just fine. The recruitment process of Kannada’s motley crew of ‘The Main Street Company’, the planning of the heist, and its execution are quite Ocean's Eleven-esque although the outcome is not as smooth.

The story is another reminder that the world of Wall Street is unforgiving and that morality is simply inapplicable, particularly when it’s about greed and getting even. Garach’s characters are well-developed to move the plot in its intended direction. They are not easily likable at first; in fact, most of them are not likable at all. Nevertheless, morality is not completely lost on some protagonists, which may or may not surprise readers. Overall, this is a solid debut from Garach.