The Bankster

Before I get down to review the book let me at the very onset make it amply clear that by terming Ravi Subramanian as the John Grisham of banking The Wall Street Journal is falling way short in the praise that Mr. Subramanian richly deserves. I state this due to the fact that this novel being substantially set in India required to be perfect in research as the readership being mostly from the subcontinent would not have taken ambiguity lightly.

The story unfolds around various locations namely Angola, Kerala, Mumbai and Vienna. In Angola, South Africa a covert CIA agent exchanges weapons in lieu of blood diamonds. In Devikulum, Kerala, a septuagenarian resort owner would go to any extent to keep a promise made to his dying son ages back. In Mumbai and its suburbs, the main subject of the story revolves around employees of the Greater Boston Global Bank (GB2) posted at its headquarters and various branches. In Vienna the plot starts after twin murders and deals mostly with members of the Wien Police Headquarters and their challenge to ‘statistically’ keep the city the safest in the world. When a series of murders take place which though seem unconnected at first, later begin to collate as the protagonist Karan Panjabi, a press reporter with the Times of India, digs deeper and realizes that he has stumbled upon a global conspiracy with far reaching ramifications and consequences.

Having had firsthand knowledge of the banking industry, Ravi Subramanian has deftly and in a very lucid manner explained the functioning of a financial institution / bank and its various departments to the reader, without which it would have been impossible to follow the incidents and realize their gravity. He has also provided in depth insight into the corporate functioning and nexus that the heads of the various departments indulge in. The outcry against the setting up and commissioning of a nuclear power plant in Trikakulum displays that in present day India protests and public outcry is no longer in black and white but is as varied and colourful as the rainbow.  An angle in the plot showcases how some NGOs misuse their purpose and stoop to heinous ends.

I found the book to be unique for quite a number of reasons. Primarily, the plot though set in financial circles and dealing with money laundering and fraud (quite a boring topic in terms of a thriller) has been portrayed brilliantly. Not even once was I bored and feel the urge to skip pages. The plot unfolded at a pace that was both griping as well as digestible. The climax was refreshing and one could not have guessed it. That was a stunner! It was both educative as well as entertaining.

I think the moral behind this novel can be summed up borrowing Edmund Burke’s famous lines – “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

P.S. –  Some typos and suggestions:-  

1) In the last Para on Page 158 the ACP has twice mistakenly been referred to as the DGP.

2) In Chapter 39 Page 271, the anchor introduces the third guest as Mr. Moinuddin, retired DGP of Devikulum District. It should be either SP of the district or a DGP who once had been the SP of the district early in his career. DGP is the highest IPS rank in the state.   

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