Ambition is a part of the human condition, something each of us has to come to grips with at some point in our lives. It often causes us choose between priorities in order to achieve our dreams, and is just as likely to put us in a place we don’t readily recognise.

Few suspense novels address our inherent need to achieve in this dog-eat-dog world, yet fewer are written about business in Australia and life in Sydney in particular. My first novel, Ambition, seeks to capture the essence of its characters’ struggle to achieve and the price they are prepared to pay to do so.

Sydney and its magnificent harbour are the setting for this mainstream fiction novel whose main premise is that ambition is good in that it can save one from self-destruction, but too much can be fatal.

Ambition is the story of Marc Braddon and his drive to succeed against all odds in the fiercely competitive construction industry as a way of overcoming his tragic beginnings. It also deals with Loren Wilmont and her overwhelming desire to destroy the men who cross her path, and Elisa, the sort of woman with whom he should be able to find ultimate happiness. The story pits desire against greed and good against bad and draws in many other characters whose lives interact with those of the main protagonists.

The story also takes in the Australian landscape and touches on uniqueness of this country—from the rugged and dangerous bush to its federation country towns and the shining sophistication of Sydney. It focuses on Marc’s drive to succeed in a business where his financial existence is continually perched on a knife’s edge. Nearly every deal he becomes involved in to expand his business interests is forced upon him by circumstances and an overwhelming desire to survive.

This often puts him at the crossroads of his life. And each time, he chooses to battle on, past the next set of dangers and adversities, immersing himself even deeper into a business he can’t abandon without losing everything. His continuous drive toward what he sees as his destiny eventually allows him to achieve what most people call success, but he soon finds himself struggling to find fulfillment and meaning in his otherwise empty life. It also catapults him headlong into the big league, forcing him to mix it with key players from the “big end” of town, who play by a different set of rules.

Into his Spartan existence comes a woman who appears to be the reward for all of his years of loneliness and self-denial, a temptress who takes him on an emotional roller-coaster ride. Loren Wilmont is driven against all reason to create havoc for anyone who dares to care about her, punishing them for her father’s desertion of her as a child and her mother’s moral double standards. Over time Loren discovers she has feelings for Marc and tries hard to control her penchant for her special brand of black-widow spider loving, but the dark patterns of a lifetime are often too hard to resist.

Loren’s presence only adds fuel to the fire when Marc is about to achieve the position and financial stability that he has spent all of his business life pursuing. This dangerous woman also seems to be behind a new set of obstacles that threaten his life and then his business existence by pulling down everything he has struggled to build.

In the midst of all of this turmoil, he meets Elisa, a woman who is the antithesis of Loren, and the attraction is immediate and mutual. Her support inspires him to finally find a way out of the dangers around him.

After finally discovering the source of the treachery against him, Marc finds himself at another crossroad—he can either vanquish his enemies and carry on in business, or punish them by forcing them to take from him what they seek.

Having spent half a lifetime doing what he thought others wanted in order to prove his worth and reach the pinnacle of success, Marc Braddon now faces a critical test of character. Does he have the inner strength to take back his life and find its real purpose or is his life to be spent in shackled servitude of other people’s expectations, the businesses that he was forced to create, and the people who would destroy him.

Peter Verinder
Author