The Navigator (Pocalyko novel)

The Navigator is a literary financial thriller novel written by Michael Pocalyko and published by Forge Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers.[1][2] It tells the story of "the world's first trillion dollar deal" against a backdrop of Wall Street dealmaking, Washington political intrigue, the relationship of two brothers, and international espionage. The novel's tagline is "Wall Street Comes to Washington."[3]

The Navigator
First edition cover
AuthorMichael Pocalyko
Cover artistDaniel Cullen
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subjectinvestment banking
information technology
international business
Washington politics
Genrefinancial thriller
political thriller
PublisherForge Books, Macmillan
Publication date
June 11, 2013 (hardcover)
March 25, 2014 (paperback)
Media typeHardcover, Paperback, Audiobook and E-book
Pages367 (Hardcover 1st edition)
ISBN978-0-7653-3224-0

Plot

At the liberation of a German concentration camp in 1945, a B-24 navigator suffers a breakdown. In the present day, Richard Yeager, a less-than-successful financial executive, arrives for his first day at a Washington financial services firm where he is immediately mistakenly arrested in an FBI raid. His brother Warren Hunter is Wall Street's reigning master of the financial universe, running ViroSat, the world's first trillion dollar deal, popularly called "Internet Next." Yeager's ex-wife Julia Toussaint, with whom he begins again to become romantically involved, is a gorgeous African-American legislative aide to a very ambitious woman US Senator who wants the federal government to regulate ViroSat.

An old Jewish woman dies under mysterious circumstances and Yeager, her financial advisor, is stunned to learn that he has been named her sole heir. The eponymous navigator is revealed to be the father of the two brothers. He is dying, suffering from Alzheimer's and PTSD. Hunter, famous for self-control, takes enormous risks and begins to lose his grip, showing symptoms of psychological decomposition like his father. No one knows where Hunter plans to get the cash for the ViroSat deal. Yeager, Hunter, and Toussaint are forced to reconcile and cooperate despite difficult personal history; Hunter was responsible for Yeager and Toussaint divorcing.

Two old Cold War spies, powerful Washington lobbyists, the Mafia in New Jersey, the senator, a northern Virginia technology titan CEO, and an American-Israeli lawyer are all chasing after the money and threatening the brothers.

Misleading and using a quasi-government corporation, Hunter collects the cash for ViroSat. He closes the deal with partners in Dubai tied to a German merchant bank that disappeared during the Nazi era. Hunter reveals the closing at a dramatic US Senate hearing before a last attempt on his life. Yeager, suddenly a billionaire, finally realizes financial success.

Major themes

In published comments about The Navigator, Pocalyko described his novel as "an up-to-the-minute financial thriller" that is also "a big-idea book."[4] The overarching literary leitmotif is the interplay of big government and big business in the digital economy.[5] The book's major themes are PTSD and its next-generation effects, financial regulation, clandestine intelligence operations, fathers and sons, competition between brothers, interracial romance, banks too big to fail, insider technology deals, political ambition, German guilt, Israeli justice, Arab honor, and "how the past is never really the past, even if it's not your own past." [4][6] The Holocaust is an important underpinning of the novel. Pocalyko's father was a liberator at Bergen-Belsen, an experience that he fictionalizes in the novel's dark, intense prologue.[7] The author is fluent in German, a language that figures very significantly in The Navigator.[8]

Development

Tom Doherty, founder and publisher of Tor Books, purchased The Navigator in late 2011 for his Forge imprint[1] and Michael Pocalyko revised the manuscript through the spring of 2013.[5] Pocalyko's editor at Forge is Robert Gleason, author of the apocalyptic novels Wrath of God and End of Days.

Publication

According to WorldCat, the book is held in 299 libraries [9]

Political and cultural significance

The Navigator was released nationwide in the US by Macmillan on June 11, 2013, at almost exactly the moment that the NSA's mass surveillance of American citizens under the aegis of the Patriot Act was revealed. Because of the novel's contemporary treatment of big government, big data, federal regulatory oversight of "Internet Next," and Michael Pocalyko's personal background in intelligence, business and government, the book received fairly wide media coverage, including the author's appearances on Booktalk Nation[10] and The Authors Studio.[11] Pocalyko was a guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight on publication day, discussing leaker Edward Snowden. Dobbs editorialized on-air that The Navigator "illustrates what can happen when powerful political and business interests intersect with the cutthroat world of Wall Street and Capitol Hill—the combination creating a thrilling story that hits all too close to home these days."[12]

Critical reception

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review.[13] Booklist gave it qualified praise.[14] The NACD Directorship magazine, gave it an unprecedented fiction review,[15] NPR also praised the book.[16]

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References
  1. Publishers Marketplace: Dealmaker: Kathleen Murphy (Agent)
  2. Tor/Forge New Releases: 6/11/2013
  3. The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko at Macmillan Publishers
  4. "Judging My Book By Its Cover" Algonquin Redux, December 29, 2012
  5. Big Data, Big Government: Lessons from The Navigator, Michael Pocalyko on "It's A Crime Radio with Margaret McLean," July 6, 2013
  6. Ethan Jones Books: 10 Questions with Michael Pocalyko
  7. "Kurt, Bernie and Walt" Algonquin Redux, April 30, 2012
  8. The Reader’s Guide to The Navigator from Macmillan Publishers
  9. WorldCat item record
  10. Michael Pocalyko on Booktalk Nation, The Authors Guild, June 26, 2013
  11. Michael Pocalyko Authors Studio Interview
  12. "Just the Tip of the Iceberg in NSA Scandal?" The Navigator author Michael Pocalyko on the expanding NSA leak scandal, June 11, 2013
  13. Publishers Weekly Review of The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko, April 29, 2013 "most financial thrillers limit the business side of the equation to a dead Wall Street CEO or two, but Pocalyko’s debut novel showcases a deal that reaches deep into the past for plot and motivation as well as to today’s headlines for a thought-provoking, riveting read."<
  14. Review of The Navigator by Michael Pocalyko, Booklist Online, May 1, 2013 " tech talk slow[s] the pace a bit" ; "the real star of the story . . . ViroSat, the technological behemoth start-up at the center of everything." ]
  15. Alexandra Reed Lajoux, "A Great American Novel," NACD Directorship 39,2 (March/April 2013) "A Great American Novel ,"; "almost nuclear energy."
  16. Kassie Rose, NPR, "one of the most intricately and uniquely plotted novels I've ever read that maintains its integrity of suspense and credibility 'til the very end."
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