Starfishing - Nicola Monaghan

It's 1997 and party girl Frankie Cavanagh has just started working in the City, experiencing life on the trading floor in all its sweaty, macho madness. She plunges headfirst into the frenzy of the financial markets as well as the drug-fuelled club culture: Frankie works hard, parties hard and gives as good as she gets.

But when she embarks on a dangerous, thrill-seeking affair with her married boss, Frankie begins to lose her grip. Just how far will she go for a dare? In this world of high-octane party nights and high-stake big money deals, a girl could get pushed too far...

Nicola Monaghan graduated from the University of York in 1992, and went on to teach for several years before taking a job in the City of London. A career in finance took her to New York, Paris and Chicago, before she gave it all up in 2001 to return to her home town and pursue an MA in creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. The Killing Jar, Nicola's first novel, was inspired by the lives she witnessed on the council estates where she grew up.

Monaghan's second novel fizzes along with some verve, capturing the empty heart of the greed-is-good generation
Scotland on Sunday

Exciting and fluent... breathtaking in its pursuit of a game-playing relationship, and shocking in its suggestion of a moral vacuum that pulls in the major players
Independent

Monaghan - who has a background in finance - is adept at conjuring the giddy excitement and highs of life on the edge. However, the pace and claustrophobic atmosphere also serve to make this an almost unbearably tense read at times
Daily Mail - Amber Pearson