The Bankster
 |
| Courtesy : Goodreads |
About
the author
(courtesy :Goodreads)
Ravi is an alumnus of IIM-Bangalore, batch of 1993. In a banking career spanning close to 18 years, he has worked with various multinational banks (Citibank, ANZ Grindlays Bank and HSBC) and at present lives in Mumbai with his wife and nine year old daughter.
An author of five books, THE BANKSTER, If God was a Banker, The Incredible Banker, Devil in Pinstripes and I Bought the Monk's Ferrari, Ravi Subramanian’s maiden fiction venture, “If God Was a Banker” was published in 2007, establishing itself as a National Bestseller. The book also won the prestigious Golden Quill Award for Readers Choice for the year 2008. His second book, “I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari” followed shortly after also setting the bookshelves on fire and is a bestseller in its category. Devil in Pinstripes was his third book which released in 2009.
His last book, The Incredible Banker, which released in September 2011 has been on various bestseller lists ever since the launch. In fact it has been on the crossword book store best seller list for 40 weeks of the last 48 weeks.
As a result of his extensive background in foreign banks, writing about banking comes quite naturally to Ravi. Each one of his books thus far have been set in the backdrop of a foreign bank. The Wall Street journal has referred to Ravi Subramanian as the John Grisham of Banking.
My take on the Book
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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