I’ve heard and read a lot of good reviews about Ravi
Subramanian’s ‘If God was a banker’ and ‘The Devil in pinstripes’ but never
managed to get my hands on either of the books.
So when an email from Blog Adda asked if I would like to
review ‘The Bankster’, I was more than willing to do so.
What worked!
Many a time, authors tend to include too many sub plots
which somehow never are in sync with the main plot, resulting in a reader
losing track of what is actually going on and making you want to leave the book
midway. The plot, narration and the suspense build up are excellent and given
to you in just the right amount of doses for you to go “aah” and “oooh who is X
character talking to now?”
The build up to the climax does get your heart racing and
you want to pause for a moment only to let a quick replay of previous events happen
inside your head. What I absolutely loved is how well he has chosen to explain
the basic human emotions which one goes through in everyday corporate life –
Greed, the thirst for power, lust & betrayal.
Having worked in the corporate sector, one definitely
identifies with the characters Ravi Subramanian has created in his book. So
there are always these moments when you read a particular para and in your head
a name crops up and you think, “Sala chamcha” or “yup, this character is
definitely XYZ Boss”
The best part about this book is it isn’t a let down. You
want to get done with reading it because of the little details which scream for
your attention. Yes, it does have a lot of banking parlance as a part of it,
but the author has done a fantastic job at keeping the language simple and easy
to understand.
What didn’t work.
As much as I applaud
Ravi Subramanian for paying attention to the intricate details that the story
demanded, I wasn’t very impressed with one of the sub plots – The Devikulam
story. It is probably the only plot in the book which will slow you down while
reading ‘The Bankster’.
The story about the corrupt banking corporate poultry as
well as the story about the illegal trading of blood diamonds still seemed to
be in sync. However, the whole nuclear power plant issue seemed way out of the
line for me. The book is intense and the devikulam story doesn’t serve as a
breather.
The extremely detailed functioning of the iPad and how
iCloud functions was a bit of a drab too.
There are a few characters which should not have been
neglected given that they held roles of importance to the main plot.
All read and done, Ravi Subramanian does justice to his
title as the ‘John Grisham of banking’, but maybe, just maybe he should stick
to that and not delve into other political spheres.
This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com . 
Ravi Subramanian has got an expertise to connect to his readers, create a magnetic theme and get his readers absorbed deep into each page of his thriller. The Bankster is as absorbing as his earlier four thrillers. He drives his story quite exhaustively and beautifully with full command on the subject and clarity in concept. That probably has come due to Author's extensive experience in banking sector for years. It seems for all those years of his career in banking, he drank and ate all the core processes of banking so well and hence has been able to bring out such a fantastic piece of work.
ReplyDeleteThis is his first work that I have read and decided to review, such was the charismatic story of BANKSTER. Karan Panjabi, who enters into the story of The Bankster quite late but has been characterized in a very strong manner, probably is the replica of Ravi Subramanian himself in real life, so sharp and quick in resolving a series of murders mystery. Not all murders happen in same manner, neither happened in the same place of country. But there was a deep connect in all serial killings that happened in various countries and that is where the expertise of Karan Panjabi comes into picture who gets hardly 48 hours to resolve this case. Author takes you to various cities around the globe - Angola, Vienna, Mumbai and Devikulam to get you acquainted with various characters of the story and get you engaged in the plot well woven.
Basically, the story is about a multinational bank that is doing quite well in terms of business in its various branches all across India after entering the country. Greater Boston Global Bank or GB2 is operative in all major cities of India and has its country headquarter in one of its branches in Mumbai. GB2 in quite professional in its approach and focuses on hiring best of the breed available in market. It boasts of best practices in HR, Operations, Marketing, Financing and Sales. Somehow among all good things there is a chain of wrong people who are spoiling the show by having connections with high level of international mafia/ gang and thus do not hesitate in getting down to any level of wrongdoing. These wrongdoing culprits are not only weakening the roots of GB2 bank but also getting involved into some extreme crimes.
This interesting story hints on quite a few guys as culprits in the network but who turn out to be innocent and otherwise. Overall it is quite neatly woven and engrossing read that will keep you hooked throughout.