He was a trading prodigy, making partner at Morgan Stanley in 1985 at the tender age of 33 and earning fat profits for the firm. He also was one of the Street’s loudest critics, railing about ethical lapses and conflicts of interest, even though, he says, “no one listened. No one wanted to rock the boat.” Now, more than a decade after leaving the brokerage business, Morris, 50, is seeking a wider audience as the author of a financial thriller, Man in the Middle, his first novel. The book’s hero, Peter Neil, a bright young trader working for a high-flying hedge fund, uncovers myriad illicit and unethical dealings, which the author says are all too common on the Street. Morris, most recently a financial institutions consultant in southern California, spent the past five years writing the novel. “I really had to become a student of writing,” he says. “I’ve been putting in 60 hours a week without fail.” Morris has completed a draft of a second novel, Chosen Man, which follows a Wall Street biotech analyst who becomes entangled in a government investigation of anthrax proliferation. His publisher, Bancroft Press, plans to release that book next March. “It’s much darker and more frightening,” he says.
