Book excerpt: Five ambitious executives vie for the top job at a major corporation after the president suddenly drops dead in this classic business novel Fifty-six-year-old Tredway Corporation president Avery Bullard is getting into a taxi after a business lunch in Manhattan when he collapses from a cerebral hemorrhage. Although his body isn’t immediately identified, the reverberations of his death will soon be felt in the boardrooms of every branch of his company. In the minutes before he died, Bullard had finally decided on whom to appoint as his executive vice president—but he never got the chance to announce his selection. Now, with no successor in place, five corporate VPs—comptroller Loren P. Shaw, treasurer Frederick W. Alderson, design and development director Don Walling, manufacturing chief Jesse Grimm, and head of sales J. Walter Dudley—compete for the top position. Who will ascend to the executive suite? From the long-simmering resentments to the startling power plays, insider trading to rapid business decisions and personal dramas, Executive Suite is a riveting novel as well as an authentic and timeless depiction of how a corporation operates and what it takes to succeed in business.