Author: James Grippando.

Publihser: Nightstand Press.

ISBN: 978-0982996553

Creating an algorithm that would mystify and stupefy the world of finance and Wall Street and Ainsley Grace a smart, clever and outspoken astrophysicist plays a duel role within this novellas as we learn about how she created special codes worth millions and would pay off debts she incurred.

But, first meet her mother and this young girl as a child when she promises herself and her dying mother that she will create the largest telescope in the world and you won’t believe what it will able to do.

In the present we learn more about this project and how she at the age of 16 earned what so many take many more years to complete her Ph.D. You might say she is a genius and when her mother’s former colleague at MIT hires her to complete what her mother started called Project Cosmic Company, you would think she had the best of both worlds as this job added to the one she was hired for to create this amazing algorithm and code for Hilbert what we as readers witnessed will astound you as we learn the term Penny Jumper, how it comes into play when someone wants to buy in a shares of a company in a world where a click of the mouse creates high frequency trading algorithm just five microseconds too slow for the loser but what she created would eliminate any competition.

Placing an order from another buyer flashes on the screen with a bid of one penny more than  Hilbert’s bid she instructs them to cancel their order. A new ask price pops up on the screen and she says Lift the  offer and he does. But, the author then talks about Hidden Orders and when Vlad the man who hired her and she was instructing when the penny jumper offered the price of one penny more, the virulent HFT program, saw through it and was supposed to be hidden from the eyes of the other traders.

Within two weeks she had created a her trading algorithm and written her program. Just imagine what a millisecond is and that within that time an order for 100 thousand shares of a stock could be placed.. But, greed and control are part of this game and although as a result she was able to pay off her loans and more what happens next would change it all. Using her passkey and going into her temporary office at Hilbert Trading Group, she cannot believe what she sees and with a detective on her heels she is taken to the station and soon booked for stealing the codes and much more. Paying off the college loans, writing stock and trading codes for high frequency trading for a firm on Wall Street would turn not to be her salvation but nightmare she might never wake up from as the author continues with her arrest, her bail hearing and ability to create a supercomputer for her firm just disintegrated. Who would steal her laptop? Who would plant another one belonging to the Hilbert Group? Why would she chance taking it home when it was not allowed? Why would the prosecution offer her no jail time to plead guilty? Ainsley is blindsided by so many people she thought she could trust as she is arrested, placed in a jail cell for stealing Wall Street trade secrets.

Strong willed, astute, smart and tenacious are just some of the words that describe Ainsley as author James Grippando provides a surprise and delicate twist to an ending you won’t see coming. With a smart and clever lawyer named Connor Jamison things change even faster than a blink of an eye when someone learns the power what the meaning of the term PENNY JUMPER!

Next we meet a main character of many of his novels Andie Henning who is haunted by a specter from her past and finds herself reliving a nightmare that just might never end. With Jack, her future husband at the side, she does not tell him of the fear she has reliving what someone did to her but will visiting the prison where this person is held help her find the answers she seeks when he is the one who killed her sister and left her without anyone. Not knowing who her real father is and wanting more information will she succumb to the offer he places on the table or will she walk away? When something happens to change this man’s life will it change hers too as the ending leaves room for the author to create the start of another five star novel. 

The third story in this novella deals with someone who knows how to play two sides of the track as Jack is cornered by a former lover to defend her in a story titled: Death Cheated where he will find himself torn at the end by the verdict and a moral issue that he has to decide how to handle when betrayed. Told she had ALS, Jessie enlists his help since she sold her death benefit worth over 3 million dollars for 1.2 in order to have a cash flow before she supposedly died. Once again the main character is blindsided but the verdict and ending will shock readers.  

The final piece is an heartwarming tribute to his late dog Sam and what he meant to him and some of the things and times they shared. The ending is quite unique and what his son tells him about something in his pool and the FIVE star review he received from someone named same for the book titled Got the Look is quite remarkable. Got the Look received Five Stars from this reviewer too and this heartfelt story rounds out this outstanding novella.