After William Boyd made loss adjusting...erm...sexy?...in his novel Armadillo, Dex Cameron has decided to do the same for actuaries. Yes, actuaries - those gallant men and women who measure everything in life with a slide rule.
Cameron is a pseudonym of Mike Ramsay, a semi-retired actuary who has worked in life and pensions most of his life. His novel Embedded Values touches upon "several financial careers" including a character who audits life companies, an investment banker, a property developer and "a chef with no accusations of cooking the books".
The book's jacket says it all - it has everything a modern work of fiction needs: ambition, greed, success, love, and for a book about the life and pensions business "failure and sorrow".
Plaudits have come from across the literary spectrum. The Cornish Times called it "colourful and highly readable"; the Helston News and Advertiser said the book was "well written, entertaining, gripping and addictive"; while the North/Mid-Cornwall Advertiser gushed "like an old friend - one you'll keep wanting to meet again and again".
Backchat was left quite speechless.
Embedded Values is published by Clear Water Books, priced £10.99:
www.clearwaterbooks.com .
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
