Shadow Fields

Control - Jack wanted it back. It was ripped away long ago. So, this life of Wall Street - a realm where reality and myth intertwined - had taken its toll - on his body and on his soul. After December, he felt besieged, and it was all random and meaningless, and Jack knew he was falling into the abyss. Jack Maguire has it all: money, power, charm, and the ability to overcome any challenge, until today. Suddenly Maguire, the CEO of Taylor Drake and one of the most powerful businessmen in America, finds himself helpless-desperate for bearings. Working ninety hours a week is no help; in fact, the harder he works, the deeper he sinks. His wife, Jennifer, has grown distant. Anne, his teenaged daughter, is depressed. And worst of all, a tragedy struck on Christmas Eve. After years of camaraderie and laughter, Jack now suffers alone - a winner overwhelmed with loss. Wry, heartfelt, and deeply poetic, "Shadow Fields" explores the nature of opposites - life and death, success and failure, hope and fear - but ultimately asks whether these are opposites at all. Indeed, Jack Maguire cries out for an answer, and in the process, he speaks for everyone.

About the Author :
D. F. Whipple began writing short stories at the age of two. He received his BA from Washington and Lee University and an MBA from University of Pennsylvania. He began his career on Wall Street but left to establish a consulting practice, at the same time immersing himself in acting classes at The School for Film and Television in New York. While his work studies have taken him to London and Hong Kong he resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. This is his second novel.

Review :
Book Review by New York Times Best Selling Author Ellen Tanner Marsh Shadow Fields By D. F. Whipple What happens when you wake up from the American Dream to find that you are actually living in an American nightmare? Can reality ever be as good as all you had hoped for? In D. F. Whipple's wild original debut, Shadow Fields, we're about to find out. Jack Maguire has it all: charm, power and enough money made on Wall Street to live like a king. But things are definitely not what they seem. His wife Jennifer, for instance, is so plagued by her past that she soon sinks into the brink of madness. His daughter Anne is depressed and suicidal. And Jack's favorite anodyne, work, just isn't doing the job for him all of a sudden. How can Jack live when the only dreams he has now are broken ones? As satirical as Thomas Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities and as inventive as Nabokov, Whipple has great fun poking holes into Wall Street sacred cows. His prose is diamond-hard and shining with meaning, and his characters are so alive and rich, you'll swear you know them personally. But Whipple is after more important things than creating mere satire. This is a tough reexamination of lives in the balance, careers on the make or break, and the casual way in which we sell our souls to achieve what we only think we want. Blistering, funny and deeply moving, this cautionary tale tells us to be careful for what we wish for, because getting it may not make us happy. At least not as happy as this richly satirical novel does.