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Jump to navigationJump to searchTrading Down by Stephen Norman (view source)
Revision as of 14:06, 3 November 2017
, 14:06, 3 November 2017no edit summary
Was it that he wasn't up to the job, though? Was it just the sort of accidents which happen to anyone, to any organisation? Or was there something more sinister happening? His bosses think that Chris is blowing this up out of all proportion, that he's trying to play Sherlock Holmes, but the near meltdown of of US datacentre (saved by hairdryers - no, I'm not going to explain - read the book) proves to him that the bank is under attack. And gradually he comes to realise that the threat is very close to home, that it must be someone within the bank. Then there's the tragic story of what's been happening in Yemen and it's one which reaches back for years.
I thought I wasn't going to like this book, with and some fairly explicit (and to my mind, unnecessary) sex just over thirty pages in made me wonder if it was going to be one of those books. You know, heavy on sex because it's light on plot. But the curse (and sometimes the blessing) of being a book reviewer is that once you start a book, you have to finish it and I'm glad that I did, because it ranks highly as a thriller. Once we get onto the trading floors and how the bank actually works then the plot gets hold of you and doesn't let go until you get to the last page. I gave up television and read through meals just to find out what was going to happen next - and then to find out who was behind it all. I did actually work out who the baddie was, but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book, particularly as it wasn't just a case of finding the name, but stopping them. The plot is good and very well constructed.
You warm to Chris Peters: a decent man in an industry which doesn't breed too many of them. I was willing him to succeed. All the men came off the page well, but I was less convinced by the women - Olivia, in particular, felt a little two dimensional, but I'm being very picky there. It was a good read and I'd be interested to see where Stephen Norman goes next. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
