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The Millionaires

The Millionaires

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great start goes off the tracks. Derailed by cliches
Review: This is fast paced, and easy to read. The story starts sharply and moves, keeping the pages turning as we follow the brothers in their perfect crime. However just as the perfect crime goes sour for them, so does the plot.

Once we get into the meat of the book, too many characters cause problems and the extra characters are predictable stock characters right out of central casting. We have a mixed ending. I give credit to the author for not making a happy ending, but it is also a bit maudlin and jarring in comparison to the rest of the book.

The positives are that it can be read quickly, it is fast-paced and readable and the beginning is dynamite. Soon though you'll get tired of the morass of the chase with the very bad evil secret service agents and the feisty private eye you know is going to side with the brothers. At this point only the fact it is very easy to read will keep you going as frankly the book goes on too long and the secret they find really doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense.

This was my first Meltzer book, I am unsure if I will pick up another.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Refreshingly Fun and Well Written...
Review: I really enjoyed this book and plan to read more of Meltzer's work. I enjoyed the humor and generally well drawn characters. The twists were good and the final one I did not see coming. Meltzer is a good writer. The climatic Disney World scene did go on too long and seem a bit too "neat," and I had a bit of trouble suspending my disbelief. Still, the ending, especially the epilogue was satisifying. Meltzer is a ton of fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: The book the Millionaires by Brad Meltzer was an incredible book. The characterization was unbelievable, by the end of the book you felt like you were best friends with the main characters. I am not a huge fan of reading, but this book was my best experience with reading yet. I was so involved with the plot and emotionally attached to the characters that I seriously could not put the book down. Brad Meltzer has a great flow when he writes, it was such an easy read but the plot was so deep that it did not seem like it at all. It was a great book with twists and turns; it really played with your emotions. You cared about the characters so much that you actually wanted to be in the book to help them out. It has a great ending that ties up everything so there are no cliffhangers leaving you wanting to know more. I would highly recommend this book to anybody wanting a good read. I would not suggest children or older folks read it, it seems rather involved for people who are not up to date with technology. The whole book is a manhunt and the technology they use would probably be to advanced for kids and too complex for the elderly. I cannot even say enough good things about the book; you are just going to have to read. I give this book an easy five out of five; it is unreal.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Grrreat Read!
Review: I just finished reading Brad Meltzer's book, and I can't believe how well-written it was. This is the first Meltzer book I've ever read. I discovered him one day while sitting on the train (I live in NYC) and I glanced up at the ads and saw The Millionaires with a brief synopsis. This was several months ago, but for some reason I never forgot the title and when I finished my latest book, I decided to check Meltzer out. At first I thought he was a wanna-be Grisham, but by the time I finished the first chapter I knew I had discovered something new and different. I would sit on the train going to school, reading, totally lost in Charlie and Ollie's world. Meltzer is an amazing writer who knows how to capture the imagination. Pick up the book and read it if you get a chance!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: THIS BOOK MADE ME A MELTZER FAN
Review: There is nothing like being at the airport "between books." You really take your chances when you buy something on impulse. That's what happened to me with Brad Melzter's THE MILLIONAIRES. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. A little cheesy at times and BM needs to edit out his use of ellipses (...) but I couldn't wait to buy the rest of his books once I'd finished. There is nothing as gratifying as finding a new author. I hope he keeps us in thrillers for years to come.

This book is about two brothers who find themselves in possession of several hundred million dollars. And you know someone wants that money back. I lost myself in this book from page one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rocco's review
Review: I have just recently read the book The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer. This is one of the best books that I have ever read. The book is about two brothers named Oliver and Charlie who work at an ultra exclusive bank. One day they stumble upon a client's account who is dead. They try to steal the three million dollars that is in the account but when the three million turns into three hundred million, they must run from the police. The whole time while they are hiding, they try and figure out how the money multiplied. This book mixes mystery with a lot of suspense. I recomend this book to anyone who is capable of reading it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book which was read by Scott Brick. While the book is fast-paced and keeps your interest up, the plot is extremely unrealistic and unlikely. In particular, as someone who has worked in finance, I found the banking scam extremely unbelievable. The details of the scam are glossed over in smoke-and-mirrors fashion. I found plenty to take the edge off my enjoyment (I can't say I totally hated it.) The violence was graphic and gratuitious. Other readers have noted the unlikely telepathy between the brothers. Why was the lady private eye constantly on the line reporting to her secretary, even in the middle of a risky break-in?? And the ending was most unsatisfying. To top it all off, I found the reader in the audio version irritating in the extreme with his overly dramatic style. If this was a first novel, I'd say it was a good start. Meltzer tells a story well but needs help with the dialogue. And he should do more research before coming up with something so thin on which to hang the entire plot. I have not read any other books by Meltzer but nonetheless am willing to give him another try.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very Good Thriller
Review: This is a thoroughly entertaining thriller in an area seldom plowed by mystery/thriller writers - high finance banking. Don't let that put you off, it is merely the setting for the thrills to follow. The writing is fast-paced and switches from first person to third. However, the switches fit and keep the book moving. The plot twists and turns and has all the surprises one would want from this genre.

Another point I appreciate is that the two main characters - two brothers with "normal" strengths and weaknesses - do well against a cast of "bad guys." What makes this work for me is that they do nothing super human or out of the realm of possibilities given their talents (and weaknesses) unlike, say, Grisham's characters who always outrun and out think the professional killers.

This is great entertainment. It won't make you a better person, but you sure will have fun reading it. I had difficulty putting it down. I will move on to Meltzer's others.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The "Improbable" Millionaires
Review: Starting a Brad Meltzer thriller is like taking a train ride that is sure to jump the tracks before you reach your destination. Usually, it's at least the first twenty or thirty pages that have my heart skipping a beat. In The Millionaires, I didn't come up for air until I was well into a hundred pages of the book. Like the main characters who were scared out of their wits in their attempt to steal millions of dollars, I too was frightened right along with them.

In the beginning, Meltzer has the main character talking about people who come into money and stating that once that happens, they lose their grasp on reality. This is exactly what will happen as brothers Oliver and Charlie Caruso, employees of the New York private banking firm of Greene and Greene, attempt to divert millions of dollars from an inactive/dead client's account. As with other similar novels I've read, whereby people try to become millionaires by secretly keeping other people's money (A Simple Plan, The Summons), this is no easy eask.

Even though the brothers are undertaking something illegal, the reader will feel empathy towards them. Their motives are purely genuine as they're hoping to reduce some exorbitant medical bills whose responsibility for payment lies with their mother Maggie.

A chase will ensue as the Secret Service gets involved in finding the money and, at one point, the reader will have no idea as to the identity of the good guys and the bad guys. I will admit that the premise gets a bit confusing trying to figure out this money transfer scheme but Meltzer tells you right at the beginning of this ride that money will make you lose your grasp on reality.

This is the third book I've read by Brad Meltzer (Dead Even and The First Counsel being the other two)and he has yet to disappoint me. I discovered him one day years ago on a morning talk show and I'm happy that I made his acquaintance because he has since brought me many hours of reading enjoyment.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Steal a [money amount], go to Disneyworld, get killed.
Review: David Metzler's latest is a departure from his usual legal thrillers. It is a banking thriller, if such a thing exists. Oliver Caruso and his brother Charlie are young turks, well down on the totem pole at Greene & Greene, a New York private bank that only opens accounts for millionaires. They figure out how to [remove] [money amount]in such a way that nobody even knows the money is gone.

That's when things go terribly wrong.
In trying to regain their own safety, the boys end up in, of all places, the tunnels below the Magic Kingdom of Disneyworld, where encounter some unexpected and dangerous surprises.

The novel moves well, and builds conflict in nearly every scene. The characters of Oliver and Charlie, despite being devoted brothers, could not be more opposite, and their opposites lead to much of the conflict, and a few laughs as well. The back story is elaborate, but not unnecessarily so. The bad guys are truly bad, and the plot does twist in unexpected ways.

There are a few problems. A side story that involves an insurance investigator with seemingly superhuman resourcefulness is uninteresting, although her character might be better as the subject of another novel. But as a side character in this one, she is a waste of time.

There is also a switch back and forth between Oliver's first-person point of view and a third person's point of view for scenes that Oliver doesn't participate in. Other reviewers found this distracting and diffcult to follow, but it didn't bother me.

All and all, I thought it was a well-told action thriller, not terribly creative, but a pleasant read nonetheless.


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