Ways and Means

** LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION 2024 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE ** A searing debut novel about a striving finance student, the line between ambition and greed, and the disordered politics of our era "[An] auspicious debut . . . a wildly entertaining drama of ambition and consequence." --Sam Sacks, WALL STREET JOURNAL "An absolute riot...Thrilling...Lefferts's wry examination of the societal and economic shifts that led to the once unthinkable hits incredibly close to home." --Chris Murphy, VANITY FAIR "[A] sexy political thriller." --Charles Arrowsmith, WASHINGTON POST Alistair McCabe comes to New York with a plan. Young, handsome, intelligent, and gay, he hopes to escape his Rust Belt poverty and give his mother a better life by pursuing a career in high finance. But by the spring of 2016, Alistair's plan has come undone: His fantasy banking job has eluded him, he's mired in student debt, and in his desperation he's gone to work for an enigmatic billionaire whose ambitions tur