Ordeal of Riley Mcreynolds — Michael O'Rourke

The story takes the reader on a journey through a modern American corporation where bottom-line profit and individual glory take precedence over all else, including the welfare of ordinary employees. As a senior administrative officer with a large insurance and financial services company, Riley McReynolds deals day in and day out with a wide assortment of egos, personalities and political game-players, led by the son of a backwoods religious fanatic who struggles mightily to grow rich and gain status through a finely tuned blend of bravado, social climbing, and the power of the imperial chairmanship. Thinking he had seen everything there was to see when a prosecutor and criminal defese attorney, McReynolds is strangely unprepared for the Byzantine politics and insular dysfunction of The Lindbergh Companies. When, because of the company's relationship with a large and powerful area family, a routine government filing relating to an attempted money laundering becomes a political hand grenade, McReynolds finds himself at a moral intersection involving his own career and the welfare of Liddy Jonssen, an up-and-coming middle manager. Against the backdrop of a massive downsizing and the political machinations of The Lindbergh's senior leadership, the author manages to entertain us with searing social commentary, side-splitting humor, and, ultimately, a touching tale of the central importance of individual responsibility and moral choice. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Michael O'Rourke is a former law firm partner, state district court judge, and corporate executive. He attended Creighton University and the University of Minnesota, where he received degrees in liberal arts and law.