Montecristo

This is an interesting thriller set in the opaque world of banking in Switzerland and makes use of the contemporary global banking failures. It is set primarily in Zurich, where a 40 year old, divorced Jonas Brand lives, working as a video journalist. He works for the lower end of the commercial sector that revolves around stories of celebrities, but occasionally flirts with the idea of being a more serious news journalist. He happens to be travelling on a train where a man appears to have jumped off and died, he begins to video the aftermath of the suicide on the passengers and the train. It later emerges the man who died is a banker. He moves on from the train footage, and dramatically finds himself with two banknotes with the exact same serial numbers, which theoretically should have been impossible.

The banknotes are identified as legal tender and neither are fakes according to Herr Weber, Jonas's bank manager. Jonas decides to follow the story with the invaluable help of his friend Max Gantmann, only to find his home burgled and he is mugged. As Jonas digs deeper, the story unexpectedly connects with the banker's suicide on the train, and indeed, suspicions as to whether what occured was a suicide. Jonas's personal life begins to flourish as he connects with Marina, a woman he becomes serious about. The title of the novel, Montecristo, refers to a pet project of Jonas's, he dreams of becoming a film director, and has the idea of a reinterpretation of the Count of Monte Cristo. However, his idea has been panned by the arts funding groups when right out of the blue, he secures funding. With his attention firmly on directing his film, he makes a decision to forget his other investigation until events take an ever more sinister turn with echoes from the plot of Montecristo.

This novel extrapolates on banking being too big to fail when governments came to their rescue at the expense of the rest of society in recent times. Jonas makes an amiable, at times bumbling, central character, working in the humdrum sector of celebrity lives whilst aspiring to be so much more. Well, he gets his wish for a more exciting if much more dangerous life as he pursues his important and serious story, only to be taken aback by murders, betrayal and the threats to his life. A story of the real politick behind the banking industry and the forces in government who are prepared to support the industry no matter what. An entertaining and fast paced read which I enjoyed. Many thanks to Oldcastle books for an ARC.

Suter's books are always interesting and different to anything else. I really enjoy his writing and this translation was very well done!