Tunnel-Town

This book is about two childhood friends from the poorer side of town—known as “Tunnel-Town” by the locals because a railroad tunnel ran through it—who took opposite routes in search of lucrative business careers. One, Jimmy Mason, went straight and became chief executive of a large company, only to fall from power and serve time in the penitentiary for breaking foreign corruption laws. The other, Marshall Andrews, started out as a mobster, also served time after being convicted under the RICO law, but later became a legitimate successful business executive of his own company after inventing and marketing a novel device used on virtually every automobile built today. After pursuing their own separate careers for twenty years, they unite when Andrews asks Mason to chair the board of his new company. The author weaves both stories together in a compelling narrative that illustrates the risks, rewards, and frustrations of climbing the corporate ladder.

Besides being a fictional read, the book introduces some novel concepts for achieving corporate goals using probability theory and for appraising management performance against results. The main audience for this book is the business person who enjoys a little corporate drama and infighting but who is also looking for something new along the way to apply to their business career. In Tunnel-Town they get both.

The author, E. C. Monty, brings many years of business experience from the domestic and international markets to the telling of this story. The events depicted are believable because they are, in many cases, based on real events during his long business career. Likewise, the facts are credible, and the outcomes for the leading characters are realistic. Tunnel-Town is Monty’s fourth book and his first novel.