Annuity

It started as a club for six friends to raise money to go on vacation with their families. But when they won a billion-dollar lottery prize, everything changed. The A Just Cause Foundation was formed, a way to support causes that members believed in, from education to aid for the impoverished.

When the foundation decided to focus on bringing the electric car to the American people, they discovered they had bitten off more than they could chew. Opposed Industries quickly initiated a smear campaign to discredit both the electric car and the foundation itself. How do you fight back against wealthy opponents who care more for their own profits than they do for the people they supposedly serve? And how far are those opponents willing to go?

Leslie Gaiter’s first novel, Annuity, reads like a tale of caution for those who think that improving life for American citizens trumps corporate profits. The author has conceived of some intriguing ideas: We the People, a nationwide group with the interests of the American people at its heart which apparently controls a surprising amount of political happenings; a lottery trust fund as a way to solve the Social Security crisis; and the optimistic (if unrealistic) idea that a group of young men, when presented with a collective fortune, could overcome personal desires and instead do a great deal to benefit their community and the nation as a whole.

Other than the conspiracy theorist undertones, this novel’s biggest drawback is its acute need for a skilled editor; numerous instances of bad punctuation and grammar jarringly detract from the author’s otherwise decent writing skills. The characters are varied and well-developed, though different enough to keep things interesting while still meshing nicely with one another. The plot is generally engaging and will hold most readers’ interest throughout.