Stand Alone Series by Badal, Joseph
Stand Alone #2
Shell Game (Stand Alone 2)
Badal, Joseph
“Banking has never seemed so dirty as it does in “SHELL GAME,” the pulse-pounding new thriller from Joseph Badal. The author brings a lifetime of business experience to this tale, which shows how banking regulations can ruin lives and how a villain can manipulate such rules for his own gain. Don't miss it!”—Steve Brewer, author of “LOST VEGAS” “Shell Game is a financial thriller using the economic environment created by the capital markets meltdown that began in 2007 as the backdrop for a timely, dramatic, and hair-raising tale. Joseph Badal weaves an intricate and realistic story about how a family and its business are put into jeopardy through heavy-handed, arbitrary rules set down by federal banking regulators, and by the actions of a sociopath in league with a corrupt bank regulator. Like all of Badal’s novels, “Shell Game” takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of action and intrigue carried on the shoulders of believable, often diabolical characters. Although a work of fiction, “Shell Game,” through its protagonist Edward Winter, provides an understandable explanation of one of the main reasons the U.S. economy continues to languish. It is a commentary on what federal regulators are doing to the United States banking community today and, as a result, the damage they are inflicting on perfectly sound businesses and private investors across the country and on the overall U.S. economy. “Shell Game” is inspired by actual events that have taken place as a result of poor governmental leadership and oversight, greed, corruption, stupidity, and badly conceived regulatory actions. You may be inclined to find it hard to believe what happens in this novel to both banks and bank borrowers. I encourage you to keep an open mind. “Shell Game” is a work of fiction that supports the old adage: You don’t need to make this stuff up. “Joseph Badal is like the guy in the commercials who is “The Most Interesting Man In The World.” ”—Larry B. Ahrens, CEO Dynamic Interviews.comReviewReview of Shell Gamem.facebook.com/profile.php?comment_id=5361124&id=1422145905&story_fbid=4887895761542%3Fcomment_id%3D5361124&v=feed&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Ffacebook.com%2Fn%2F&src=email_notifFrom the AuthorShell Game is a stand alone financial thriller inspired by actual events around regulatory actions taken by the Federal Government. I was moved to write this novel when the FDIC began taking over ownership of community banks all across the United States. In many instances, the appropriation of these banks made litttle or no sense. SYNOPSISSHELL GAMEShell Game is a 87,700-word suspense novel that uses the current economic environment as the backdrop for a timely, dramatic and realistic story about how a family and its business are put into jeopardy through heavy-handed, arbitrary rules set down by federal banking regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC") and by the actions of a sociopath who is in league with a corrupt bank regulator.In 1988, the Winter family suffers the loss of Frank Winter, a self-made man who leaves his family in financial difficulty due to his investments in commercial real estate. His investment partner, Gerald Folsom, takes advantage of the Winter family's problems and acquires all of Frank Winter's assets at a discount from his lenders. Winter's wife, Katherine, and their two children, Edward and Carrie, move from their home in an upscale Philadelphia neighborhood to a small house in a tough, disadvantaged section of the city. Despite this setback, Katherine works to give her children the best life and the best education possible. Edward ultimately earns his MBA and then serves in the U.S. Army in Iraq, where he is wounded and highly decorated. He returns to Philadelphia and goes into the fast food restaurant business with his mother and sister. Two years after starting the business, Edward's sister, Carrie, decides she needs something more challenging and enters the Army where she goes through Special Forces training and ultimately becomes an intelligence officer.Edward expands his business to two dozen restaurants and is planning additional expansion when his bank informs him it will not only not finance his planned expansion but will not renew his current loan facility. When he attempts to refinance his loan at other banks, he discovers no bank is able to extend him credit due to restrictions placed on them by federal bank regulators. To make matters worse, his bank is taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and is immediately sold to his father's old partner, Gerald Folsom. Folsom is in league with Donald Matson, a corrupt FDIC official who has been steering sweetheart deals to him for years.Folsom is a sociopath who delights in causing financial pain to others and physical pain to his young and beautiful wife, Wendy. As the years have passed, Folsom's taste for inflicting pain has accelerated to the point that he nearly kills his wife. As soon as she can, Wendy runs away and, through a serendipitous turn of events, is aided by Katherine Winter.Folsom hires an assassin to kill Wendy and Donald Matson, both of whom he has decided have become liabilities. The assassin murders Matson.Carrie Winter comes home on leave in the middle of her brother Edward's business problems and finds her mother sheltering Wendy Folsom. Carrie saves Wendy when Folsom's assassin breaks into Katherine's home. Wendy convinces Carrie that her husband is behind the attempt to murder her. Carrie assumes a false identity and orchestrates a meeting with Folsom. They have dinner together and then go to Folsom's mansion where he gets rough with her. Carrie subdues Folsom and, before leaving his place, finds a stash of money Folsom had given to Donald Matson and was holding in safekeeping for him. Carrie finds notes hand-written by Matson in the cases with the cash. Folsom is not aware that Matson had put the incriminating notes in the money cases.The Winter family attorney, Paul Sanders, who has strong feelings for Katherine, attempts to assist the family in dealing with Folsom's bank. He contacts an acquaintance at the FDIC and is able to acquire information about Folsom's deals with the FDIC. He and Edward contact an editor at The Philadelphia Journal and are successful in getting her to write a series of articles about Folsom and his dealings with the government.Meanwhile, the deadline for Edward Winter to refinance his loan with Folsom's bank is fast approaching. It is Folsom's intent to force Edward's company into default, enabling Folsom to foreclose on the loan collateral, which includes all of Edward's restaurant locations and his franchise agreement. Folsom wants to take over the highly profitable business. And he wants to make Edward Winter suffer the same way he made Edward's father suffer, ultimately driving Frank Winter to a heart attack. What no one but Katherine understands is that Folsom is motivated by more than greed. She spurned and humiliated Folsom decades earlier, before she and Frank married, and she suspects that Folsom is partly motivated by revenge.But events are beginning to close in on Folsom. Encouraged by Katherine Winter, Wendy files assault charges against him. The FDIC is investigating his relationship with Donald Matson. The press is also putting pressure on him. The FDIC forces Folsom out of his bank and appropriates all the cash he has there. Folsom decides to flee the country ahead of corruption charges and packs up jewels, cash and $50 million in bearer bonds. But before escaping, he seeks to avenge the damage his wife Wendy and the Winter family have caused him. They are hiding in a hotel where they believe Folsom can't find them. But Folsom tracks them down through activity on Katherine's credit card. What Folsom does not know is that Carrie has prepared for the possibility that Folsom will try to harm her mother and brother. She enlists the assistance of two former Special Ops friends, who spirit Wendy, Katherine, and Paul from the hotel. Carrie and Edward wait at the hotel and confront Folsom and his hit team. They thwart Folsom's plan. Folsom tries to bribe Carrie and Edward, telling them he will give them $2 million from his room at the hotel if they let him go, letting his confederates take the fall for the attack. But before they can leave the hotel suite, one of Folsom's hitmen kills Folsom.Before the police arrive, Edward takes a satchel from Folsom's hotel room and gives it to Wendy, thinking the $2 million Folsom mentioned will help her make a new life. But when Wendy opens the satchel, she finds a vast fortune in jewels, cash, and securities.The FDIC brings in new ownership and management for Folsom's bank and repairs the damage Folsom had done to Winter Enterprises and many other bank customers, renewing loans to these companies. Wendy uses part of her new fortune to thank the Winter family and secretly pays off their loan at the bank. She leaves town to start a new life.Paul and Katherine decide to take a trip together - the beginning of something more serious.Shell Game is a work of fiction, but is also a commentary on what federal bank regulators are doing to the United States banking community today, and, as a result, the damage they are inflicting on perfectly sound businesses across the country. Much of this novel is inspired by actual events that have taken place as a result of regulatory actions over the past few years.
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