When you hear that a forthcoming novel is an examination of one of the rich investment bankers who ruined our economy last year, I wouldn't blame you for grimacing a bit.  First of all, while it's somewhat pleasing to consider a serious of awful things happening to a symbol for the declining value of your 401-k, it seems like it might be a little too soon to go back to that bad place.  However, Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic might just end up being the lens we see this time through.

The form of Haslett's book almost makes it unreviewable, other than to say whether or not you liked it.  To say much about the characters might give away too much about their character arcs, but Doug Fanning, the center of the story, is an amazingly well composed protagonist, is an attractive, seemingly ruthless former soldier working outside the law in the world of international banking, affected by his experience in the Persian Gulf in a manner that isn't quite clear.  Surrounding him are his co-workers at Union Atlantic (a powerful Boston bank with global reach), including an overly permissive boss.  At Fanning's McMansion of a home, there's a slightly unstable former teacher for an enemy who communicates with her politically radical dogs, including one who speaks as Cotton Mather.  Then, there's a confused somewhat aimless teenager who gets caught up in Fanning's world.  Yet, there are still other well formed residents of these two worlds as they smash up against each other.

As the plot begins blazing forward at a rapid pace, it's impossible to say where any of the characters will end up, but it's impossible not to wonder how the cards will fall.  The layers of plot stack up as themes of the modern military, the economy, class wars, gender and sexuality clash.  Haslett's work can be bleak at times (even more so than in his acclaimed short story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here), but the starkness of the reality he has created in Union Atlantic is such an incredible literary work, it's nearly a must read account of the time we live in.