Fortune's Trail: A Nevada Story (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781499256826)

Kaaran Thomas and A.J. Hicks have devoted their careers to high finance, gaming and corporate restructuring. Kaaran got her first big break in 1987 when she became one of the first female partners at Vinson & Elkins, among the world's largest law firms. She represented some of the most prominent oil companies during the collapse of Texas' oil-based economy. At Vinson Elkins she was a colleague of former Texas Governor John Connally, a towering Texan who was "shot in the back twice-once by Lee Harvey Oswald and once by a goddam bankruptcy judge." Her long list of powerful and influential contacts provides a realistic, vibrant background for her stories, readers get the perspective of a "fly on the wall". A.J. is one of Nevada's preeminent gaming lawyers. He has worked with many of Nevada's casinos as well as the office of Nevada's Attorney General. He has been part of some of the most significant events in Nevada's history. Kaaran's work with Nevada's businesses led to the creative partnership with A.J. and Fortune's Trail: A Nevada Story. The book is a fictional recreation of the trail leading many misfits to the Silver State where they created Las Vegas, the gaming capital of the United States. The book is a virtual tour of Las Vegas in the 1950's and '60's as it strived to become a tourist attraction. Kaaran and A.J. combine financial expertise and story-telling ability. Readers will find themselves lost in the tale of Hattie, the Mississippi farm girl who runs away from home to join itinerant gambler Sam Wilson, and his boss Bingo Baxter, the characters in Fortune's Trail. But they will close the books with a new appreciation of how companies boom and bust and how the economic cycle affects not just businesses but the people whose lives depend on them.