Numbered Account

Rating:
Summary: Very heavy going - stamina needed to get to the end.
Review: As someone who works in investment banking I thought this would be a good read but was greatly dissapointed. I left the book two thirds of the way through - it's a waste of scarce pulp. Too many confused plots in the novel and none of them work. Too many flashbacks to an irrelevant military past. No explantion as to why the main character takes 17 years to investigate his fathers death. Frequent references to a stellar Wall Street career but the guy was joining Morgan Stanley as a junior grunt? The sudden re-appearance of the love of his life in Chapter 57 is ridiculous. Full of stereo-typical Arab & Commie characters. Zurich is not the worlds most exciting City in which to set a novel. The experienced financial thriller reader will immediately know a bad book from the author bio which mentions that he worked in an "acqusitions and mergers department!" - everyone on the Street knows that it's "mergers and acquisitions" in the biz ie M&A - the first mistake of so so many.

Rating:
Summary: Financial Thriller Kept me Interested
Review: Swiss locale, unfolding mystery and banking kept me reading, and I enjoyed this book. The main character might have been fleshed out a little more.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, gallant thriller
Review: I enjoyed the ways in which Mr. Reich conveys his sense of place. He brought the Swiss banking industry alive for me, and by the end of the book I was satisfied with what I had gleaned. One seeks many answers from a book. From Numbered Account I expected a certain level of information, and got it. That in itself is a predominant portion of the thrill of a thriller, and for my money I was satiated.

Rating:
Summary: Very slow moving-hard to keep awake in the mid sections.
Review: I read about 25 books a year and rarely have I found a book to be as tedious as this one. The character development is slow, the writing uninspired. It is hard to believe that the author received $2 million for this novel. I have no idea what the publisher was thinking. If you want to read it, get it from the library--and hope that they give you at least a three week check out period to get through it.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe the worst book I've ever read
Review: The publishers of this book should be embarassed and ashamed of themselves. It was worse than bad - it was ludicrously inept. I could tell that the author was trying really hard, but he didn't seem to have a clue of what really makes a good book - or he had barely a clue, and seemed to think that was enough. In the hands of a better writer, I suppose this could have been an entertaining story - in the hands of this writer, it was just relentlessly boring. I just kept feeling sad for all of the really good writers out there who can't get published, while dreck like this is unleashed instead.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother.
Review: The first chapter, provided online, is so abysmally bad, who could bear to read on? Your rating system needs a `0'.

Rating:
Summary: AWFUL
Review: The only book this year that I couldn't finish. It just drags on and on. By page 150 you almost wish that the main character gets killed.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I was loaned this book by a friend whose taste I respect, and I started it with every expectation that it would be a fast-moving, entertaining read. By the end of the first page, however, I was brought up short by the clumsy, amateurish writing. I kept thinking that it had to get better, but it never did. I finished it, though I'm not really sure why, as it never stirred my interest at all. The characters are not likable or well-developed, and the plot didn't hold me either. I kept forgetting things like the fact that I was supposed to wonder about what had happened to Nick's father - that was more or less the central mystery of the book, and the author just never made me care about it. I never understood Silvia's motivations either, and I suspect that's because the author never really knew either. She was just a plot device he needed; not a person. This was generally true of all the characters. I tried hard to think of any reason I could give this book even a score of 2, but I couldn't. (I was relieved to find out that the friend I respect hadn't like it either.)

Rating:
Summary: A very promising first book.
Review: Having worked extensively with Swiss-German financial records, I can say Mr. Reich did an excellent job with a dry subject. Is it any wonder he turned to writing? One character, Peter Sprecher, reminded me of a Swiss national I worked with who is one of the wittiest and cosmopolitan people I've ever met. The book rings true.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping!!!!
Review: This book was absolutely phenonmenal. I couldn't put it down! It is a great page turner. The plot is masterfully researched and written well. I felt like I was actually there witnessing the entire story unfolding. Mr. Reich possesses an amazing talent, that pulls the reader into the novel. I cannot wait for his next book. Nick Neumann is my kind of guy. Full of guts and intutition, not to mention sexy in those expensively well-pressed suits. ( I am a sucker for yuppies) Numbered Account is an excellent excellent first novel by Christopher Reich.