(FORTUNE Magazine) -- A Young & Rubicam Exec by day who penned The Futurist: A Novel (Doubleday) by night, James P. Othmer has produced a frighteningly accurate send-up of modern corporate culture. The protagonist - a consultant who spends his days pontificating about the "future" only to suffer an identity crisis - will be an inspiration to anyone who has lost his creativity to the daily grind.

What do businesspeople read on the beach? This summer it's bound to be Jonathan A. Knee's upcoming tell-all, The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade That Transformed Wall Street (Oxford University Press). Chronicling his years at Goldman and Morgan Stanley during the '90s, Knee reveals a world that rivals 24 in intrigue and drama.