THE BOSS
Stan Pottinger
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Thriller
Hardcover: 031227677X
Paperback: 9780312945343

• Read an Excerpt
• Author Talk -- December 2006

Stan Pottinger never disappoints. His books are infused with a realism that makes them larger than fiction, a rare quality that belies the fact that THE BOSS, his latest novel, is only his fourth. In many ways it is also his best.

THE BOSS is set within the oil industry, arguably the most important element of our modern world. Spin Patterson runs Gulf-Tex Oil, a company that he inherited from his father-in-law and has transformed into a major oil industry player with a combination of brains, cunning and unscrupulousness. Max McLennon, a second-generation employee at Gulf-Tex, is Patterson's protégé and almost his greatest admirer. McLennon is staking everything and everyone on the development of Black Eyes, a tool that has the potential to transform the world by giving oil companies the ability to detect oil far below the earth's surface rather than engaging in the costly and often futile practice of drilling where they think oil may be had.

Patterson is a high roller with nerves of steel and a ruthless drive who will roll over anything or anyone that gets in his way. McLennon is the opposite of Patterson, an upright individual who can sympathize with the working man but who has the tendency to freeze under pressure. The presence of Tacoma Reed, the intelligent and exotic legal for Gulf-Tex, complicates matters for both men, as Patterson attempts to beat the odds and revitalize Gulf-Tex from a major setback --- even as his actions may result in the sacrifice of everything and everyone he holds dear.

Meanwhile, McLennon is given the opportunity to make things right for the people Patterson has damaged. It soon becomes clear though that he is playing a high-stakes game for which he is outclassed. Help arrives at the last moment from two unexpected sources, but it may be too late --- even as THE BOSS races toward an exciting and explosive conclusion.

Pottinger could have phoned in a tale of greed and corruption that would have played well with the masses and conformed to the popular, if simplistic, worldview of the oil industry. Instead, he has chosen at least in part to put a human face on a difficult enterprise. Yes, there are billions of dollars to be made in the oil industry, but there are also billions upon billions of dollars to be lost. The process of finding oil is extremely difficult; extracting it is all the more so. It is a dangerous and dirty business, the essence of which Pottinger captures well on all levels, explaining complicated concepts in an understandable manner without dumbing them down. I submit that one will not be able to read THE BOSS without thinking of the book the next time one fills up the tank.

Pottinger also does a magnificent job with characterization here. Patterson and McLennon are excellent protagonists. Though flawed in different ways, they are believable, each having detracting and sympathetic traits that ultimately result in a highly ironic ending for both.

THE BOSS is as readable a work as any that you'll encounter this year.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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