Rating: 
Summary: Not so Good
Review:
"Devil's Banker" is the Christopher Reich book I was afraid of--it is not up to the standard of "Numbered Account" and "First Billion."
It's a perfectly workmanlike book--it's just not up to Reich's standard. The plot is overly complicated in that because he gets more ambitious in this book & tries to develop a more complex plot, there's a lot that is unsatisfactorily developed. It's irritating & abrupt sometimes to jump from one story line to another so much.
Adam Chapel is well drawn. In what seems to be a Reich trait, other characters are not, especially Sarah Churchill, who just never resolves & comes into focus as a person for me.
Reich's up-to-the-minute plots & settings are great, playing off current events.
But, while this book is mildly entertaining, I found it really sort of an annoying read with its stops & starts & underdeveloped characters whose names confused me because I didn't know enough about them to keep them separate. Start with Reich's other books first.
Rating: 
Summary: A Devilish Thrill Ride!!!
Review: A fantastic, thrilling ride straight into the hornets nest of today's most threatening and nebulous menance -- terrorists and the money that keeps the threat alive and well. This is fiction that seems more real than imagined. What I like most about it, beyond Reich's compelling characters and terrific plotting, is that I felt like I was right there with Adam Chapel on the money trail, learning more than I ever could otherwise. And Sarah Churchill's one of those characters you hope reappears in the future. This isn't NUMBERED ACCOUNT or THE FIRST BILLION. It's his best yet! You won't be able to put it down. And it'll forever change your understanding of the global terror fight. Can't wait to see where he takes us next!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Reads about as exciting as an accountant's spreadsheet
Review: Adam Chapel is a CIA agent who is actually a forensic accountant. He follows trails of money. There is an apparent plot for another terrorist attack in the US. To determine the source of the plot and to stop it, the CIA uses Adam Chapel to follow a trail of money which presumably would lead to the terrorists. Teaming with Chapel is British agent Sarah Churchill. They must race with time to prevent another disaster of at least equal proportion to 9/11.
A forensic accountant! Good G-d what will they think of next? Riech, a former banker, has written several previous novels concerning international high finance. All of them are considerably more successful thrillers than this one. There are many moments in this very long book that it reads about as exciting as an accountant's spreadsheet. The plot is highly predictable and the characters are, like this book, quite forgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Wish rating system allowed 1/2 stars as this is 3 1/2
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great thriller! Loved it! Accountants rejoice!
Review: As an accountant, it is wonderful to read an excellent thriller where the hero of the story is an accountant. (We get such a bum rap most of the time in novels!)
I love Chris Reich's books and would recommend every one of them. This one is a very fast read with a ingenious plot-it would make a terrific movie. I thought the insights provided were extremely interesting related to terrorists and their activities. I've seen where he is called the "John Grisham of Wall Street". He's a much better author than Grisham, in my opinion. Merry Christmas C,S,N,K
Rating:
Summary: Great thriller! Loved it! Accountants rejoice!
Review: As an accountant, it is wonderful to read an excellent thriller where the hero of the story is an accountant. (We get such a bum rap most of the time in novels!)
I love Chris Reich's books and would recommend every one of them. This one is a very fast read with a ingenious plot-it would make a terrific movie. I thought the insights provided were extremely interesting related to terrorists and their activities. I've seen where he is called the "John Grisham of Wall Street". He's a much better author than Grisham, in my opinion. Merry Christmas C,S,N,K
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner From Reich!
Review: Christopher Reich has once again managed to write an exciting
financial thriller.Adam Chapel and three of his team members
chase a suspected terrorist into an apartment. Three of the team members are killed in an explosion.A half million dollars vanishes but a tape is left behind. On it a threat of a terrorist
attack is revealed.A strike force called Blood Money is assembled
to track down the money trail of the terrorits organization the is called Hijira.Chapel teams uo with Sarah Churchill. The mastermind of the financial network is named Mark Gabriel.They
chase the money trail from Paris to Munich to the deserts of Saudi Arabia.Gabriel is near impossible to capture.The true
identity of Gabriel comes as a surprise.The plan to attack America is frightening as well.This is an excellent book that you
will enjoy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Familiar and Cliché
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Reich Scores Again
Review: Christopher Reich's latest effort, The Devil's Banker recaptures the magic of his first work, Numbered Account. The plot races along at breakneck speed, and Reich's historical research is so exacting and vivid that the reader feels they are watching rather than reading the book. Reich's timely tale is captivating and highly entertaining, a thriller, and page turner you don't want to miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't he do simple research?
Review: Did I read the same book as others? The first few pages showed me that the author had no knowledge of the place he was writing about. Some Slipups: (The following can be considered spoilers by some people)
--- Indian woman in peshawar????
--- Indians doing businees there?????
The reason is simple. The fanatics the author describes, hate India and Indians. A cursory glance at the newspapers from the subcontinent is enough to know that. --- Karachi is not on the banks of Bay of Bengal. It is on the banks of the Arabian Sea. There is about 1000 miles of landmass between karachi and bay of bengal. All u need is an atlas or a world map to check that. With such slip ups, my enjoyment of the book was drastically reduced in the initial pages itself. I cannot respect an author who cannot show some respect towards his readers by doing some simple/easy research to get his facts right. I could have tried to forget such things if he atleast wrote a fantastic tale. Sadly, though the book is OK, it is not good enough for such flaws to be forgotten. If he is really is all he is hyped up to be, he better start doing some reasearch. Atleast, he should go take a look at a map of the place he is describing.
|
