#allthebookreviews: The Banker's Wife by Cristina Alger @PutnamBooks @cristinaalger
The Banker's Wife
by Cristina Alger
Thanks so much to Putnam Books for these copies!
A compulsive thriller you're sure to need in your TBR pile.
Publisher: G.P. Putnams' Sons
Publish Date: July 3, 2018
Hardcover
352 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Thriller, International Thriller, Suspense
On an early morning in November, a couple boards a private plane bound for Geneva, flying into a storm. Soon after, it simply drops off the radar, and its wreckage is later uncovered in the Alps. Among the disappeared is Matthew Lerner, a banking insider at Swiss United, a powerful offshore bank. His young widow, Annabel, is left grappling with the secrets he left behind, including an encrypted laptop and a shady client list. As she begins a desperate search for answers, she determines that Matthew's death was no accident, and that she is now in the crosshairs of his powerful enemies.
Meanwhile, ambitious society journalist Marina Tourneau has finally landed at the top. Now that she's engaged to Grant Ellis, she will stop writing about powerful families and finally be a part of one. Her entry into the upper echelons of New York's social scene is more appealing than any article could ever be, but, after the death of her mentor, she agrees to dig into one more story. While looking into Swiss United, Marina uncovers information that implicates some of the most powerful men in the financial world, including some who are too close to home. The story could also be the answer to Annabel's heartbreaking search—if Marina chooses to publish it.
My Review:
You know what's great about this type of thriller? Is that it's not completely centered around a death and who-dun-it type of feel. Ok, so it DOES, but it also DOESN'T. Am I making any sense yet? While deaths DO happen (sidebar: I can't remember reading a book in the past few years where death doesn't happen - whether to people, relationships, animals or sanity!), the focus is on this huge potential scandal involving high powered people, a LOT of money and choosing between what's easier (wrong) and what's harder (right). Why, oh why, does doing the right thing always the harder choice?!
The author tells us this story in alternating chapters and has us traveling around the world - Geneva, London, Paris, Cayman Islands and New York. We get jettisoned along with Marina and Annabel as their lives intersect without them even relatively aware that it's happening. This is fast paced, features strong female characters and is probably way more relevant to the world today than I would like to believe.
I did get a little confused on which of the women I was reading about at certain moments belonged to which of the men. But that's probably due to my own befuddled head than the book itself. I will say that I was more engaged with Annabel's story than Marina's so was thinking 'this could've been titled "The Journalist's Wife" for all I cared' - and then realized Annabel IS The Banker's Wife and see? I'M CONFUSED AGAIN. Ha!
Honestly you guys, I really did enjoy this book a lot! I highly recommend.
★★★★
Jessica's Review:
Jessica's Review:
This was my introduction to Cristina Alger and it will not be my last time reading her work! THE BANKER'S WIFE is a thriller focused on financial gains and the role it plays in the lives of many. Alger takes us all over the world trying to put the pieces together until the very end.
We follow two perspectives in this novel. That of Mariana, a journalist out of New York, and Annabel, the wife of a wealthy businessman living in Geneva. What do their lives have in common? How are they connected? The less I say about any of that the better for the reading experience!
I have to say, I really enjoyed the part about when Annabel was reading a book - some psychological thriller with "girl" in the title, with an unreliable narrator, that was like all the others. That made me laugh a little. Don't let this one fool you, it stands out from the others with girl/wife/woman in the title. Alger has a uniquely woven and well-written thriller that will have you flying through the chapters to see what will happen to Mariana and Annabel!
If you're looking for a great new thriller with a couple of strong female leads, then I would highly recommend picking up THE BANKER'S WIFE.
I give this 4/5 stars
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