Leverage is a whip-smart, punchy debut that drags the high-powered, low-morality world of hedge funds straight into the light—and doesn’t care who it offends along the way. Al Jafar, our quick-tongued antihero, is losing millions by the minute, his life is on the line and still somehow managing to make us laugh out loud with deadpan one-liners and spot-on pop culture jabs. Team America, superheroes, corporate buzzwords (and I think I remember Monty Python being referenced in ‘your general direction) —it’s all fair game, and Al’s sarcasm isn’t just sharp, it’s survival. In a world this toxic humor might be the only thing keeping him from going under.
The title isn't just a nod to financial jargon—it’s a razor-sharp metaphor for the pressures, power plays, and moral compromises that define the protagonist’s world. On the surface, it refers to the risky borrowing tactics hedge funds use to amplify profits (and losses), but for Al Jafar, it’s also the emotional and psychological weight used against him. His firm leverages his identity, his fear, and his desperation to protect itself, while Al scrambles to hold onto his career, his sanity, and his sense of self-worth. Gowani uses the concept to explore who gets power, who gets crushed by it, and what it really costs to survive in a system where everything—including people—is currency.
Gowani doesn’t flinch from the ugly stuff either. The racism? Constant. The bullying? Corporate and casual. The gaslighting and moral rot? Oh, it’s thriving. Everyone in this world has sold their soul, but Al is still clinging to a receipt—and watching him maneuver through the greed and hypocrisy is part thrill ride, part slow-burn tragedy. Leverage is biting, bold, and brutally honest.
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