Customer Reviews

The Devil's Banker

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Adam Chapel is a former accountant indepently wealthy from a job at a big investment firm that is recruited into a new (sub) intelligence agency against the war on Terrorism. Chapel faces ther reality behind the glamourous new career when a bomb kills members of his fellow team, on the hunt of a terrorist.
A taped message has all the acronyms (and this book is loaded with them) on edge as it threatens another attack on American soil. Enter Chapel and his enigmatic partner Sarah Churchill from M-I6. Chapels, job is to help hunt the terrorists using numbers and accounts as his tools of the trade, follow the money trail that will lead to the Hijura.

Reich does many things right in this novel. He prints out pages and pages of suspense, International intrique, and a dab of romance between his lead characters(probably preparing for a Hollywood adaptation.) The main flaws I found with this thriller was its pace. While entertaining and intriquing enough to finish, it lagged purposely in parts. There was enough suspense, but not quite enough action to rate higher on my own scale of thriller novels.

This is a well written novel, with an interesting enough premise and plot to be worth the read yet would not label it a "must-read" by any means.

First of all: I love thrillers, and read them a lot. I liked Reich's "Rules of Deception", it was a decent read. This, however, is so bad I could go on forever, complaining about the obvious ignorance the author shows regarding geography, technical devices, and so on. But what's most annoying is the totally uninteresting and unbelievable main characters and sidekicks, who act like they are either high on something, or complete sociopaths. It seems like Reich has got the idea "Oh, there must be some personal conflicts between them!", but he has absolutely no idea how to pull it off. We are often told the characters react strongly on something said - the problem is that there is absolutely nothing to explain the reaction, when looking at what was actually said! And this goes on and on and on, intermixed with the equally unbelievable love affair between the main characters.
Poorly written on any account, this is such a waste of time and money I get mad every time I think of it.

I became aware of Christopher Reich and a fan of his when I read Rules of Deception and Rules of Vengeance, two of his newer books, so I decided to go back and read his earlier books. But I felt that this book was almost like it was written by a different person. There was a distinct lack of character development and the storyline was too busy with too many things going on at the same time without developing each line. The good thing I can say is that his writing has much improved and his two latest books are much better than his earlier ones.

After reading "Numbered Account", I was expecting this to be a better book than it was. It was somewhat choppy reading and had a really deflated ending. There are other books out there more worth your time.

There are many ways of fighting the war on terrorisim and Christopher Reich has written an enthralling novel about one of the least understood. Adam Chapel hunts terrorists by "following the money." It is not easy finding the "golden thread" and it is decidedly not dull for Mr. Chapel. The plan has been years in the making and inspite of painstaking care on the mastermind behind it, pieces of it come to light. Sarah Churchill hunts terrorists the old fashioned way. On the ground. As their lives intertwine they each do their part to uncover the plot which involves overthrowing the government of Saudi Arabia by the neuclear destruction of the White House while the Saudi King is guest of honor at a White House dinner. There are many twists and turns in the plot which will hold the reader, but throughout the novel one thought kept reocurring to me, i.e., that there was no suspension of belief needed to appreciate this story. It is frighteningly real and far too plausable for comfort. A superb effort!

The title to my review says it all. I stumbled through this absolutely boring "thriller" until about page 320 where there is finally something interesting. Unfortunately for this novel, there are only 389 pages so that left only 69 decent pages of writing and the only reason I even gave it two stars.

I was greatly disappointed having read "Numbered Account" by the same author which was absolutely brilliant. Perhaps he is a one hit wonder author.

In this dreadfully slow book Adam Chapel, a type of forensic accountant is on the trail of some terrorists that plan to blow up something. It is not really known to Chapel or his partner Sarah (a foreign agent) exactly what will happen because the threat comes from a tape made in the apartment of a terrorist who blew himself up with Chapel's partners. The tape is incomplete so nobody knows exactly what the threat is.

Chapel tries to learn who is involved by tracing some of the transfers to an account used by someone who paid the rent on the apartment (supposedly the terrorist). Then nothing really happens as Chapel and Sarah chase paper trails for about 250 pages.

The ending of the book is dopey and the ultimate goal of the terrorists can be guessed not too far into the book. It seems like the author rushed this book out right after September 11 and the Patriot Act to use those ideas for a book that goes nowhere!

I'm a book-a-week thriller reader and, as far as I'm concerned, THE DEVIL'S BANKER deserves the "thriller of the year" award.

It's smart, exciting and as fresh as tomorrow's headlines.

Don't miss this one!!

I have to say that the book was ok. This was my first book from Mr.Reich. I've heard so many great things about Numbered Account that I wanted to read his latest book because the premise sounded interesting. While he did delve into financial crimes details which I enjoy, the story line was just not beleiveable. It just felt like something was missing. It was all too pat, the characters were cardboard.
I am planning on reading Numbered Account and I am hoping that it will be better.

But on the plus side, I'll still keep an eye out for what he will be writing next as I like financial thrillers.

The Devil's Banker by Christopher Reich is the thrilling tale of Adam Chapel, a forensic accountant struggling against a horrific terrorist agenda. Adam's goal is to track down the ruthless mastermind who is manipulating immense amounts of money to stage an Armageddon before it is too late. But his enemy's powers are implacable and as far-reaching as the almighty dollar itself. Flawlessly recorded, completely unabridged, and dramatically narrated by John Lee, The Devil's Banker is a terrifying and an all-too-real drama which is enthusiastically recommended for audiobook collections.

This is a novel by an author that I would have expected a better story line from coupled with more action and suspense. The beginning of the opening chapter left me still wanting to understand why they were trying to locate the $500,000 dollars being transfered from a foreign country. The obvious answer was it was headed for a terror organization, but that fact does not really emerge since the balance of the book is about following the money trail. And what a money trail we are led on. Literally through a plethora of the major banks of Europe and their regulations as to the disclosure of deposit records or ATM withdrawals. Again the book needed more action to make me turn more pages at a quicker pace. I found the end of the book a bit more exciting as the money issue is solved and the true purpose of the terror attack is revealed. Nonetheless this book was not really up to par for what I usually find in a mystery.