Five minutes before a crucial presentation, an executive twice my age and three times as confident pulled me aside. He didn’t offer me guidance or wish me luck. Instead, he said, “Kristine, grab a seat along the left wall. I’ll toss it to you when the time’s right.”
He wanted me to be a wall-dweller? I had prepared for weeks to sit next to the suits and deliver an analysis that would move the needle. My seat was at the table. My power was in my voice but not if others, whose chair legs kissed the carpet under the polished mahogany, decided to speak instead.
So, there it was, the unwritten, unacknowledged, absolutely hairsplitting truth about Wall Street: power isn’t just held, it’s performed. Every gesture is a negotiation. Every seat is a battlefield and every meeting a silent distillery of how to climb, how to survive, or how to share the stage without losing relevance.
That moment outside the boardroom, which was equal parts absurd and revealing, taught me something invaluable: you don’t need to create drama on Wall Street. The drama is already there. Which is exactly why the corporate world makes the perfect setting for crime fiction, and why I set my thriller, The Lies We Trade, squarely in the center of it.
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Power imbalance is the air Wall Street breathes
Thrillers rely on tension, and there is no tension quite like the silent hierarchy of finance. It’s not just who talks, it’s who is allowed to talk. It’s the way a junior analyst’s idea suddenly becomes visionary when echoed by someone with a loftier title.
This is exactly the kind of imbalance that drives The Lies We Trade. Meredith Hansel isn’t just navigating corporate politics; she’s navigating the delicate ecosystem of unspoken rules, shifting alliances, and hidden agendas. When that mysterious envelope lands in her hands, the question isn’t just What does it mean? It’s Who benefits? Who is threatened? And who wants her out?
Power imbalance is thriller fuel, and Wall Street produces it with every trade.
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High pressure creates organic suspense
Some thrillers require a serial killer, a car chase, or an evil plot from decades past. Wall Street needs none of these. The stakes are already sky-high. Every decision from sending a file, to approving a trade, to signing a contract carries weight. The pressure is relentless because everything is fast, public, and expensive. And unlike other professions, you don’t need a killer lurking in the shadows to create danger.
In The Lies We Trade, Meredith juggles deadlines and deals all while trying to protect her family from the fallout. One slip could cost her career. One secret could cost her everything else. On Wall Street, danger isn’t a distant possibility. It’s a constant, humming presence, one wrong decision away.
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Everyday villains are far more interesting than cartoonishly evil ones
Wall Street thrillers are addictively readable because the antagonists don’t need to be masterminds. They just need to be human. They fear failure, irrelevance, and at their very core, they fear not being enough. These are the motives that make characters like Hardwin, the older lawyer in The Lies We Trade, so compelling. He’s not twirling a mustache; he’s clinging to an identity, desperate to stay indispensable.
In real life and in thrillers, corruption rarely starts with malice. It starts with rationalization.
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The corporate world provides a sensory playground
Authenticity matters. That’s why in The Lies We Trade, the details matter: the texture of the carpet Meredith’s heels sink into, the hush before the NYSE opening bell, the smell of coffee and ambition swirling before dawn.
Betsey is brilliant but fragile with impostor syndrome. She could be a hero, a pawn, or a nightmare depending on her wounds and choices. Wall Street is full of people who simply drift into danger without intending to, and the finely drawn spaces make you feel like you are there.
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Corporate pressure bleeds into family life and amplifies the stakes
A great thriller doesn’t just put its protagonist at risk professionally. It puts her at risk personally. Wall Street excels here, too. The demands are relentless, and the emotional cost is real. In The Lies We Trade, Meredith’s high-pressure job strains her marriage, distances her from her daughter, and forces her into impossible choices that follow her home long after the trading day ends.
When the crime in a thriller threatens not just a job but a family, the reader feels every blow more deeply.
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Big themes like trust, forgiveness, and integrity glow much brighter under pressure
One of the reasons I love writing Wall Street thrillers is that the emotional stakes are every bit as high as the financial ones. The corporate world reveals who you become under stress and what you’re willing to sacrifice. At the same time, you have to decide who to trust and recognize how complicated forgiveness can become.
Meredith’s story in The Lies We Trade is built on these themes. She’s a woman trying to hold together her career, her marriage, her children, her faith—and the explosive secret that threatens all of it.
Thrillers thrive on secrets. Wall Street seeks to expose them. It’s a perfect match.
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Wall Street is the ultimate metaphor for both ambition and fragility
Ultimately, finance is built on risk, reward, strategy, and the hidden consequences of every choice. So is crime fiction. And so is life. Wall Street thrillers remind us that behind complex financial instruments and billion-dollar deals are people trying to solve problems, protect their reputations, and hold on to what matters most.
In The Lies We Trade, the real climax isn’t just about uncovering the truth. It’s about Meredith discovering who she is when the world she built begins to crumble.
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Wall Street makes the perfect setting for crime fiction because it’s already a thriller—every meeting, every moment, every misstep
It’s the perfect place for stories like The Lies We Trade, where ambition meets vulnerability, secrets collide with truth, and power is the most volatile currency of all.
As someone who spent more than twenty years navigating high finance, alongside people whose quirks, brilliance, and egos could fill a bookshelf, I can say with absolute certainty: you don’t have to invent drama on Wall Street. You just have to pay attention.
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