Jack Payne

There is an old Wall Street truism. Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs get slaughtered.

Jack Payne sets his tale in a different age – 1966. His protagonist, Steve Draves is a scummy, womanizing, corner-cutter who manipulates the system. The author warns us this is a tale of sin. It is set in a simpler time. Homes could be brought for between $15,000 and $18,000. A cup of coffee cost a dime; a drink cost only a quarter and a dime.

Draves wants to be rich. He starts as a bull and somewhere along the way becomes a pig. Despite his marriage to a woman he claims to love, twin sons and ownership of a $12,000 house, he pursues a million dollar deal with a mob boss. By the time his greed swings to fear, it is too late.

The clock may have reeled off 40 years, but the tale is relevant. Today we may think life is more complicated. Both eras share their respective rampant sins. As the author tells us in his prologue Six Hours Past Thursday is a simple story of sin, everyday working sin.

Payne’s novel allows the reader to successfully straddle these two eras. The more things change; the more they remain the same. He leaves the answer to the question, which was worse, entirely to the reader.… (meer)

A fictional account of a scummy, womanizing con-man that explains in boastful detail how crooks can legally manipulate the system to defraud their victims in business and investments. The author, Jack Payne, has seen it all in the real world, then managed to transpose a myriad of devious machinations into an entertaining tale of deception and greed. A must-read for anyone thinking about buying a business or real estate opportunity.

The protagonist, Steve Draves, is as good at bending rules as a magician is at twisting balloon animals. Behind his family-man facade lurks a narcissist bereft of any morals. Payne not only manages to describe the sexist womanizer's exploits without needless vulgarity, he actually has you worrying about someone you'd want to murder if you ever did business with them.

While it's hard to imagine this psychopathic liar could have the ability to feel the emotion of love, his occasional acts of consideration - for even a select few - leaves you wondering if redemption is a possibility.

Though it appears easy for Draves to read and manipulate both the emotions and thought processes of someone during a short encounter, it proves to be an impossible task with those he interacts with on a daily basis.

In a dramatic twist, which should enlighten us all to the vagaries of ego and empathy, Jack Payne leaves us with an enduring tale of the human condition.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1591134935/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/10...… (meer)