The Devil's Banker (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "IT IS DIFFICULT TO WALK CASUALLY WITH FIVE HUNDRED thousand dollars taped to your belly..." (more)
Key Phrases: hundred euros, thousand euros, Marc Gabriel, George Gabriel, Adam Chapel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reich (The Numbered Account; The Runner; The First Billion) returns to the stratospheric heights of international finance in this complicated novel of terrorist intrigue. Mild-mannered forensic accountant Adam Chapel revels in his first field mission, as he follows the tangled trail of a terrorist money transfer. Just as he's set to make an arrest, the suspect detonates a bomb that kills four of Chapel's fellow investigators. Injured in the blast but undeterred, Chapel teams up with Sarah Churchill, a beautiful spy of uncertain affiliation, to hunt down the bomber's secret organization. The shadowy association called the Hijira is funded in part by the elusive genius financier Marc Gabriel, who is engaged in funneling vast sums of money through legitimate and clandestine financial markets to fund Hijira's master plan to destroy the very heart of the American political establishment. Reich's numerous characters can be difficult to keep straight, as can the acronymic organizations they belong to, leading to sentences on the order of: "Run the name through the CBRS. Check for SARs and CTRs" and "OFAC called the White House. The White House called FTAT to confirm that OFAC's IEEPA request was legit...." Readers may scratch their heads in confusion as they wade through the alphabet soup, but those who persevere will receive an advanced education in the secret world of financial deviltry on the grandest of scales. Reich has a lot of fascinating financial lore to pass along, all of which goes down easily as the fast-paced plotting and relentless action speed the reader over the bumpy parts and into a satisfyingly gripping and informative read.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This smart, fast-paced read shuttles between Wall Street finance and the Eastern paperless hawala banking system--and makes both sound surprisingly cool."
--Entertainment Weekly
-- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; First Edition edition (August 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385337272
• ISBN-13: 978-0385337274
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #860,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bank on this for a devil of a great read, November 21, 2003

By	John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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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!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Suspense of the Year!!, October 11, 2003

By A Customer

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!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wish rating system allowed 1/2 stars as this is 3 1/2, January 25, 2005

By	paul mason "dedarkone" (Barrie On) - See all my reviews

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.