Banker - Dick Francis

'Banker' is my favourite Dick Francis book, and I own and have read them all. Even the start of the book begins with a mystery - the bizarre behaviour of the boss of Tim Ekaterin, the protagionist. However the illness of his boss, as it appears to be, is soon explained to be part of a wider picture. Tim Ekaterin is soon caught up in a world of murder, violence and drugs and is forced to use all his skill and imagination to stop himself being cold-bloodedly murdered. I would never have thought that a novel set in the financing world would be interesting, but it is, and one part of the book is especially sad and makes the killer seem even more ...

This time it's merchant bankers. Francis always gives us an insight into a particular industry and this time we learn about the ins and outs of the financial world. Our hero is a merchant banker who decides to invest 5 million pounds of his bank's money into a stud farm which is predicted to be very successful as its first stallion is a winner. However, things go wrong when the foals are all born deformed. Our hero decides to find out what went wrong in order to preserve his bank's 5 million and this is when the intrigue really kicks off. This is one of Dick Francis' best offerings and is very exciting. ...

I have to admit that a thriller about a banker didn't sound very, er, thrilling! However, this book not only has an absorbing plot but even manages to make the main character's job in a merchant bank interesting: his career is important to the story and Francis makes his enjoyment of his work believable. The plot skilfully combines the worlds of finance and racing (giving insight into aspects of the race industry beyond the actual racetrack). It is moving in places as well as exciting. Altogether, a surprisingly enjoyable book. ...