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Thursday, November 22, 2012

The Bankster


The Bankster

Courtesy : Goodreads



When I saw the book, the first thing that caught my attention was a line out of the Wall Street Journal saying “Meet the John Grisham of banking”. Intrigued and with loads of expectation, I flipped on to read the Bankster.


Oscillating with three different parallels spanning continents and various characters, the Author slowly unwraps a mystery in the African country of Angola with Joseph Bragnanza, a CIA covert agent involved in blood diamonds and arms dealing. From there it smoothly switches to a budding protest against a nuclear plant in Kerala, though it appears to be out of context it is brilliantly linked at the end, and finally the GB2(Greater Boston Global Bank) where manipulations and power struggle brings out the various shades of the corporate world.

What possibly could be the connecting point of an international CIA agent and events happening in Kerala and the tragic deaths of Greater Boston Global bank employees becomes the main plot of the story. The author manages to hold your interest. Usually when there are three different plots, authors tend to not handle it well, however Ravi Subramanian has handled that responsibility with ease
The case presented as a local happening unfolds as an international crime scene. Similarly, the death of some bank employees which initially looks like suicides later proves to be planned cold-blooded murders.
It’s only when a media person (Karan Panjab) and ex-banker suspects that something is amiss. That he decides to investigate it. With very less time in hand, he manages to expose the real culprits.
Yes I do know it’s a piece of fiction, however, personally I found it a little too vague, inspite of Karan’s background being presented by the author, that a media personnel, would within a limited time frame, unravel this complex mystery.
Karan is supported by some trusted colleagues and his girlfriend, However at times the author did bring in unnecessary elements of romance in the nail biting, time restricted  plot.

The author’s  style of writing is decent and not much difficult. The author has simplified many banking terms thus making it 
an easy read for a person belonging to a non-finance sector.

The only factor that was a let down for me was the unwanted length and dialogues at certain places the book seemed to drag on without an aim. However, if we overlook all of that, I must say that the Bankster is definitely worth a read.

And about whether agree with the Wall Street Journal about him being the “john Grisham of banking” … hmmm .. not yet… But too soon ..yes


My rating : 7/10


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