- Hardcover: 536 pages
- Publisher: Imprint unknown; Large type edition edition (Nov 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1843955288
- ISBN-13: 978-1843955283
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.2 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,362,428 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Hailed as “the John Grisham of Wall Street” by the New York Times, Christopher Reich returns to the world he knows so well--the dangerous, dazzling world of high finance and international intrigue. In this ingeniously crafted thriller, the bestselling author of Numbered Account and The First Billion introduces his most complex and engaging hero yet: forensic accountant Adam Chapel--and paints a frightening scenario where terrorism is big business and money is the ultimate weapon of war…
The explosion that shatters the smart Parisian apartment reverberates around the globe. In an instant, a suspected terrorist is dead and half a million dollars has vanished. Within days, the CIA is certain it has found a connection between the dead man and a planned terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Determined to avert another 9/11, they have assembled an elite counterterrorist task force, code name: Blood Money. Its mission: to follow the money trail. Its secret weapon: forensic accountant Adam Chapel. A man who trusts numbers more than people, Chapel has his own reasons for wanting to get the job done-- four of his colleagues were killed in the Paris blast. Now Chapel is thrust back into the line of fire when he teams up with British intelligence agent Sarah Churchill. The two are assigned to hunt down a shadowy mastermind who is moving vast sums of money from country to country, from bank to bank, leaving no tracks--as he prepares for an Armaggedon of his own devising.
As Chapel follows a disappearing money trail from Paris to Munich to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Sarah uses her elite training to stalk the “shadow” and his elusive network. Meanwhile, their quarry is auditing their every move, laying a twisting trail of false clues and shocking surprises. With the clock ticking down, soon Chapel and Sarah have only days, hours, minutes to avert disaster as a master terrorist plots to unleash the first strike in a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy--with an almost unimaginable goal.
Hurtling us from the winding alleys of Pakistan to the elite banking houses of Europe, The Devil’s Banker creates an adrenaline-fueled world where following the money has never been more dangerous, and evil has never been harder to unmask.
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
The explosion that shatters the smart Parisian apartment reverberates around the globe. In an instant, a suspected terrorist is dead and half a million dollars has vanished. Within days, the CIA is certain it has found a connection between the dead man and a planned terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Determined to avert another 9/11, they have assembled an elite counterterrorist task force, code name: Blood Money. Its mission: to follow the money trail. Its secret weapon: forensic accountant Adam Chapel. A man who trusts numbers more than people, Chapel has his own reasons for wanting to get the job done-- four of his colleagues were killed in the Paris blast. Now Chapel is thrust back into the line of fire when he teams up with British intelligence agent Sarah Churchill. The two are assigned to hunt down a shadowy mastermind who is moving vast sums of money from country to country, from bank to bank, leaving no tracks--as he prepares for an Armaggedon of his own devising.
As Chapel follows a disappearing money trail from Paris to Munich to the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Sarah uses her elite training to stalk the “shadow” and his elusive network. Meanwhile, their quarry is auditing their every move, laying a twisting trail of false clues and shocking surprises. With the clock ticking down, soon Chapel and Sarah have only days, hours, minutes to avert disaster as a master terrorist plots to unleash the first strike in a brilliantly orchestrated conspiracy--with an almost unimaginable goal.
Hurtling us from the winding alleys of Pakistan to the elite banking houses of Europe, The Devil’s Banker creates an adrenaline-fueled world where following the money has never been more dangerous, and evil has never been harder to unmask.
From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
About the Author
Christopher Reich worked for a major Swiss bank in Geneva before joining its department of mergers and acquisitions in Zurich. In 1995 he decided to pursue writing full-time. He lives in California and Switzerland with his wife and children.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Christopher Reich has written some good novels, most notably, “Numbered Account”. With his first book he started to carve himself a place by writing contemporary thrillers that were driven by his own background in international finance. With his newest work he unfortunately has joined many of his peers in the genre, by taking the easiest way out and borrowing his adversaries from current events. Others may still enjoy yet another take on stereotyped Arabic adversaries; I find the subject to be cliché and to read like it is being recited from too many other tales I have recently been through.
Another annoying aspect of these stories is that they trade on the very real tragedy that was September 11. Continually reusing the concept of, “preventing another 9-11”, is beginning to read like tabloid news and opportunistic talk shows that skim their subject matter off the lowest depths. Mr. Reich even borrows the real life name of a Prime Minister’s daughter that is both obvious and heavy handed. A writer that feels the need to be so patronizing to his readers should take a moment before structuring his next work.
I have enjoyed his previous three books to varying degrees but, “The Devil’s Banker”, sets a new level for this writer’s work that I hope he does not revisit.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In the post-9/11 world nearly every new thriller that deals with the threat of global terrorism seems to follow a similar template. Namely that the bad guys are fanatical followers of Islam bent on the destruction of the west, and those who fight them are either dogged FBI agents seeking to prevent another terrorist atrocity or CIA/MI6 agents hunting down a worldwide terrorist network.
It is refreshing therefore, to find in Christopher Reich's new thriller the current conventions being turned on their collective heads. From the lead protagonists, where the stereotypical male & female roles are reversed so that the man is gunshy and bookish and the woman tough and resourceful, to the 'bad-guys', who are motivated not by a desire to destroy western civilisation but to rebuild their own, this book delights in rewriting the rules.
And it does it very well. For a story that relies on tracing bank accounts & money transfers rather than guns or people to drive it the narrative cracks along at a good pace. It is well researched, the major characters are well drawn and whilst it contains enough twists and turns to keep you entertained it never becomes so convoluted as to confuse you. It is a taught, original thriller which will keep the reader gripped from start to finish.
Of course it isn't perfect mind you. Squeezing all the action into a relatively short period of time whilst at the same time having characters jumping around Europe, South America and USA does make you question how far you could travel in the time available. And whilst the major characters are well drawn and complex some of the minor figures are little more than cardboard cutouts, their to move the story along.
Compared to Reich's previous books it is up there with Numbered Account and comes close to The First Billion, but it lacks the taught, linnear feel of The Runner that made the latter book so enjoyable.
Still, if nothing else it is good to read a book from this genre where, just for once, it is not the American hero who saves the day and the girl but the otherway round.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read The Devil's Banker in about a day, that says a lot about it. It is your average run-of-the-mill thriller that totters along at a pretty rapid pace, bypassing subtlety and depth, and heading straight towards overblown drama. None of the characters are believable, particularily Sarah Churchill, and the baddies are cliched Arab terrorists. Throw in a few predictable red herrings and you've got "The Devil's Banker". The plotline is a much repeated 'post Sept 11th terrorist attack somewhere in the US - who will stop it?' type with nothing new, original or different added. On the plus side, it is quite well-written, albeit with cliches galore. Furthermore, the plot does run at a pretty rapid pace, so all is not lost.
So basically, this is not a boring book, but don't expect any originality either.
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