“ Naked Option is a breezy, easily digestible pleasure that reads like a pulp detective story in a Wall Street setting. Kolman accurately encapsulates the psychological roller coaster that comes with putting your money and reputation on the line. ” —Jonathan Hoenig , Chicago Sun-Times “ Their relationship crackles, along with the narrative, driving toward a memorable ending by a pro at both trading and writing. ” —Stephen M. Sears, Barrons

“ A page-turner and a slice of life—on and off the trading floor ” —Nassim Nicholas Taleb, best-selling author of THE BLACK SWAN and FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS

Option traders are the high wire act of the circus that’s Wall Street. . In his debut novel, Joe Kolman pulls back the curtain on this $200 trillion market, where he spent a decade as editor of its most influential U.S. trade publication.

Kolman takes us on a guided tour, showing us some of the world's sharpest minds crammed literally shoulder-to-shoulder on huge investment bank trading floors, trading money along with jokes, insults and, sometimes, revenge. It’s a pressure-cooker setting where sophisticated thieves can steal millions by quietly skimming a few thousand off each trade -- and a successful trade made at 10 AM can turn into a multi-million dollar disaster by lunchtime.

Dave Ackerman, the narrator of NAKED OPTION, is brilliant trader but one day, recklessly trying to one-up his firm’s superstar, he goes naked on an option trade and loses $112 million in two hours. His career is over.

Then he hears about an auditing job at an investment bank. He knows within minutes that something is very wrong, but he's so desperate, he takes the job. His new partner is Susanna Cassuto, an attractive young auditor he tags as a rich party girl. But on the couch with the lights off, she becomes something else - awkward and inexperienced. What is going on?

Together, they discover the elegant embezzlement scheme going on: one trader is working inside with a partner outside. When somebody turns up dead, Dave and Susanna race to put the pieces together -- but the bank drops the case. They’re fired. Furious, Dave goes out on his own to find the killer.

But the killer finds him first.

Readers will cheer as Dave uses all his Wall Street smarts to discover the one trade in ten thousand that links the victim with the murderer. And they'll empathize with the conflict between his desire to save his career and his ruthless determination to nail the killer.

Kolman has written a hyper-realistic, character-driven thriller that shows the real drama of a Wall Street trading desk. In contrast to the usual depictions of corporate greed, he paints an unusually nuanced portrait of life on an investment bank trading floor, and the options subculture in particular, where the dizzy mathematical challenges are as attractive as the financial rewards.

From the elegant corporate dining rooms high above New York to the mansions of New Jersey, NAKED OPTION is an erotic mystery thriller that crackles with uncompromising realism that governs its plot, its portrayal of Wall Street and even sex. NAKED OPTION is ultimately a tale of hidden identity, where the struggle for power and prestige trumps even greed.