The Banker's Wife

Glad I discovered this new author. I'm only a few chapters into the book, but hate to put it down when I have to work. Very interesting, plots unfold quickly.

I can’t believe how much I loved this book and that I’ve never heard of this author! This is a very well-structured and intricately-crafted novel. So many people die! It’s a tale about financial subterfuge and numbered money accounts of dictators, terrorists, CEOs and the like but reads like espionage. The majority of the book is told from the perspective of two women who, interestingly enough, never meet. But they are both equally at risk when the entangled web of illicit banking practices and shell corporations of powerful billionaires begin to unravel as the result of a bank mole and the cooperation of multiple international intelligence agencies. Trusting the wrong person could just get them killed. Marina is a journalist about to retire because she is engaged to be married to the son of a powerful billionaire who is on the precipice of announcing his candidacy for president of the Unites States of America. Marina receives a thumb drive of bank information meant for her editor-in-chief, who meets his untimely demise before he can leak the information. Now it’s up to Marina to reveal the scandalous underworld connections and activities to the rest of the world before she ends up dead, too. Annabel is the American banker’s wife living in Geneva, Switzerland with her husband and feeling like a fish out of water. Is Annabel smart enough to figure out the clues her husband left her before his plane was intentionally crashed near Mount Trélod in the Bauges Mountains of France as he was returning from a suspicious business trip she knew nothing about? Or will the creepy head of the bank dispose of her for safety reasons without discovering what she knows. Finally, we get to hear from the bank mole and learn about the acts she was intimidated into before resolving to leak information on her employer and the sanctions list clients of the bank. Parts of the book reminded me of Daniel Silva because of its international intrigue. Cristina Alger efficiently crafted this thriller with NONE of the useless filler we too often see! So, kudos to her editor, too, although I did find about three typos. This is a great read worthy of rereading and I hope we see much more of this author in the future.