The Trust

Vonnegut’s engaging second Grove O’Rourke novel (after 2009’s Top Producer) takes the Wall Street stockbroker to his hometown of Charleston, S.C., for the funeral of his mentor, real estate mogul Palmer Kincaid, who has accidentally drowned. To Grove’s delight, Palmer’s daughter, his old high school crush, asks him to join the board of Palmer’s influential charity, the Palmetto Foundation. Grove later realizes he may be in over his head after muckraking attorney Allan “Biscuit” Hughes reveals that a Palmetto-supported Catholic charity dedicated to rescuing Manila street children is also funding an adult superstore near Biscuit’s Fayetteville, N.C., home. Worse trouble lies ahead in the twin forms of hard-charging FBI agent Izzy Torres and a mysterious assassin known only as Bong. Drawing on his own years on Wall Street, Vonnegut (Kurt’s fourth cousin) bolsters this efficient thriller with credible financial and legal detail while offering in Biscuit a colorful foil to his rather stolid hero. Agent: Scott Hoffman, Folio Literary Management. (July)