Through vivid reporting and unforgettable scenes - from 80-hour work weeks to drug-fuelled parties in mansions - The City Trap is Liar's Poker for a new generation, revealing what really happens behind the scenes of corporate life and why so many brilliant graduates never find their way back out. 
 
Big banks, consulting firms, and corporate law firms have become the automatic next step for the most capable graduates. But at what cost - for society and for themselves?
 
Drawing on his own experience inside Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, and McKinsey - plus more than 200 interviews across multiple countries - Simon van Teutem takes readers inside: 
 
The relentless nights, brutal workloads, and internal competition; 
the "work hard, play hard" subculture - from private-equity parties to drug-fuelled escapades and extravagant weekends - where belonging is forged; 
the psychological hooks that keep people saying "just two more years"; 
and the quiet erosion of idealism as careers harden into identities. 
 
The book build's on Simon's Financial Times article 'How our brightest minds get trapped in the City', whose extraordinary international response prompted The Financial Times to publish a dedicated follow-up piece gathering reader reactions.