'[The Armageddon Trade] captures the nature of the traders behind the foolishness and greed stalking the financial markets' - Alex Brummer, City Editor, Daily Mail
Jim is the cockney boy wonder who can read stock charts like 50 ft road signs. His uncanny talent has taken him from tea boy to trading superstar. Is he a genius, or a fluke? He doesn't know.
The mysterious Max Davas, emperor of trading, makes billions dealing US Treasuries using more computing firepower than NASA. - but now his models are telling him that something is about to go catastrophically wrong.
The same trading system that has made him one of the richest and most powerful men in the world is telling him that in a year's time, Gold will be at $0 an ounce, so will Oil, so will Microsoft and the dollar won't be trading at all. The Euro, the Pound, the Yen, sugar, wheat, coffee...all will fall down to zero.
But are predictions fate? Or does the cockney kid hold the key to the Armageddon trade?
'Fresh as today’s headlines'
- Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail [read the full review]
With the global economy hanging by its fingertips, Chambers’ first thriller centres on a cockney trader who can read the stock market with uncanny accuracy, even if he’s not quite sure how he does it. Against the background of terrorist attacks in London, mysterious billionaire trader Max Davas senses the destruction that is about to happen – which could see gold and oil worth absolutely nothing.
The question is whether the East End boy wonder can unlock what becomes known as the Armageddon Trade on 11-9-11.
Full of insight into how the trading floors actually work (no surprise from a City journalist of repute,), it never lets up for a moment. Fresh as today’s headlines, it reminds the world just how close it could be to financial meltdown.
Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail
'Part science-fiction, part Grisham thriller, The Armageddon Trade plays out its doomy prophecies with unerring skill... a real page-turner'
- Mark Campbell, Crime Time [read the full review]
'about as good as a post credit crunch financial thriller could get – it plays on our darkest fears and creates new ones, and is impossible to put down. Essential Tube reading.'
- Zoe Strimpel, City A.M. [read the full review]
For anyone with pretensions of literary grandeur – or even just dignity – The Armageddon Trade looks at first sight like something to steer clear of, especially in public. The book’s cover sports a military helicopter flying into an erupting volcano – hardly promising.
But covers can deceive. Chambers is a financial guru – CEO of ADVFN, a stocks and shares website, and a revered markets commentator. It’s clear from reading even a few lines of this book that he also has a creative flair that has been bursting to get out for years, and with this, his first novel, it’s finally on the loose.
The action begins with a day in the life of Kenco, a genius trader at a Docklands bank who began as a teaboy there before being discovered for his talent in predicting the future of markets. Then there’s Max Davas, king of trading, who makes billions dealing US treasuries. But now his system is telling him something’s wrong, that in a year’s time, all assets will be worth zero dollars – including gold, oil, and Microsoft. In fact, the dollar won’t be trading at all. Kenco is also worried – his predictions show catastrophe is around the corner. But is it set in stone? Do predictions signal reality? Can the world be saved in the nick of time?
Written at a smart clip, and humorously observant, Chambers clearly knows what he’s talking about in the real world that he can translate it effortlessly into fiction. This is about as good as a post credit crunch financial thriller could get – it plays on our darkest fears and creates new ones, and is impossible to put down. Essential Tube reading.
Zoe Strimpel, City A.M.
'a cracking idea for a book... Chambers clearly knows his stuff inside out'
- Sharon Wheeler, reviewingtheevidence.com [read the full review]
'Terrifying'
- Geoff Cutmore, CNBC Anchor
'The book recently hit number two on Amazon’s Movers and Shakers list – '
- Victoria Bates, City A.M. website [read the full review]