The Bankers Wife by Cristina Alger, Book Review

Here is a book that is bang up to date with the prevailing Zeitgeist, especially in the US. Three women become unwilling players in a game of high finance, corruption and murder. The author, Cristina Alger, never mentions the Trump family, but it’s not hard to see parallels with her presidential candidate and his son. The Banker’s Wife has a well-structured, pacey plot taking in the world of super rich (and corrupt) private bankers in Geneva and the political and financial machine of the American East Coast.

I personally am not interested in high fashion, luxury brands and ostentatious wealth, and the same probably goes for many of the crime readers and writers I’ve met in the UK, but for those who like to fantasize about the glamorous lives of the super-rich, then this is the book for you. Travelling with Louis Vuitton luggage, flying on private planes, collecting seriously expensive art for investment purposes, wearing ridiculously expensive watches …

Having said that, the plot deals with hot topics such as money laundering, tax evasion, corrupt political leaders, off shore accounts and the growing gulf between the super-rich and the rest of humanity. And all this expressed on a more human scale by the struggles of three women who unwittingly become both pawns and hammers of justice through sheer strength of character. The idea that what little justice is left in our world can only be brought to function via our journalists and media is scary. Lots to think about …

First released in the UK by Mulholland Books in January 2019 in paperback (£7.99) The television rights have been sold (mention of Rosamund Pike) and I reckon it would make a telegenic thriller.