Reel and Rout

REEL AND ROUT is a timely novel that exposes the backroom and boardroom shenanigans that plague corporations and that have led to a daily dose of headlines and scandals. From Enron to Global Crossing to ImClone we are inundated with the suspicion that all is not right with the business world. Filled with colorful New York lawyers, inept trustees, avaricious bankers, and even a few devoted public servants who care about more than the latest sex scandal, REEL AND ROUT is a tale of greed gone wild but in a world where some try to accomplish good.

The protagonist, Cedric "Drive" Rhodes, is the aging South African CEO of the world’s most powerful media company and he is anxious to do one last deal. Over the years he has taken his experience in the family newspaper business, a stint in Hollywood, and in television to sculpt a global powerhouse that is both feared and admired. Drive believes he is the smartest CEO who ever lived and this deal will prove it. He will do the impossible. He will acquire, in a hostile takeover, a beloved corporate icon, THE AMERICAN OBSERVER, at one time the most widely read and translated magazine in the world.

But THE AMERICAN OBSERVER has fallen on bad times. Circulation is down, revenues are diminished, and the stock price has plummeted. With a cadre of colorful characters, Drive Rhodes goes to work on the most challenging of transactions – a foreigner taking over an American institution.

Robert Monks has spent his career in public service and business advocating for responsible behavior from all parties involved in the global corporation – executives, board members, and shareholders large and small. This lifetime of experience has been brilliantly translated into a novel that is insightful and persuasive.

Robert A.G. Monks, one of the world’s leading shareholder activists, is the author of four books on investments and corporate responsibility. He is a founder of Institutional Shareholder Services and LENS and has had a varied career as a lawyer, industrialist, politician, as well as constant thorn in the side of big business. He is the subject of Hilary Rosenberg’s biography, A TRAITOR TO HIS CLASS. REEL AND ROUT is his first novel.