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This has to be one of the worst books ever written. The author injects much experience into her character - perhaps too much. (like her heroine, author Linda Davies is a striking and apparently successful currency trader). The book is written not only for those who understand the dynamics of currency trades, but really care beyond the obvious implication that the millions at stake are really important. For the rest of us, Sarah is just a cardboard character, surrounded by jealous colleagues who desire her for her looks and envy her knack for amassing a lot of money in a short amount of time. The facets of the conspiracy are poorly defined. The novel really never starts at all - just cuts between various shadowy characters who stand to make or lose fortunes, and will stoop to anything. Davies spends much time on telling us how unsavory some of these types are, but doesn't really care about what they do. What really stands out is how seriously Davies takes not only the premise but her storytelling skills. This is just another example of the sort of thriller we can thank Grisham for inventing - the guy who discovers that his lucrative but humdrum job actually veils something dark and interesting. Instead of lawyers, we have currency speculators. I suppose accountants are next (hey - CPA's sent Capone to Alcatraz!!). As long as readers are willing to believe that an author's experience on any subject is adequate substitue for storytelling - willing to accept minutiae in place of narrative - there will always be writers ready with books so enwrapped in meaningless technicalities that we won't realize how bereft of plot they really are. Absurdly pedestrian prose don't help. If I were in the business, I'd say this book was pegged to some defunct former east-bloc currency.
I'd suggest something lighter, like Po Bronson's "Bombardiers", a sort of M*A*S*H set in a San Francisco bond house where the most certifiably crazy brokers are also the richest.
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