Product Description

It is difficult to say which was the first step towards the distant cataclysm. Looking back, Tim Ekaterin sees it as the day his boss stepped into a fountain. From there he is drawn into events and meets people as yet unconnected, but which, when woven together by time and chance, lead to violent action and the threat of death. Set in the world of merchant banking and thoroughbred racing, Banker is a terrific story which grows from seemingly harmless seeds to a wholly horrific harvest.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6571209 in Books
• Published on: 1983-10
• Format: Large Print
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover

From the Inside Flap
When young investment banker Tim Ekaterin becomes involved in the cutthroat world of thoroughbred racing, he finds his life in business blown to smithereens. For suddenly the multimillion dollar loan he arranges to finance the purchase of a champion racehorse is threatened by an apparent defect in the animal. Then, as Tim desperately searches for answers, he falls headlong into a deadly deal of violence and murder. . . .

From the Back Cover
"The best thriller writer going."
--Atlantic Monthly

"FRANCIS CAPTURES OUR ATTENTION AND HOLDS US SPELLBOUND. . . . BREATHLESS PACE."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Everything brightens when a new Dick Francis walks in."
--The Washington Post Book World

"Excitingly thunders down the homestretch."
--Associated Press

About the Author
Dick Francis has written thirty-eight international bestsellers novels and is widely acclaimed as one of the world's finest thriller writers, having first been a champion National Hunt jockey. His awards include the Crime Writers Association's Gold Dagger for the best novel, and he has been given three Edgar Allen Poe awards for the best novel of the year. In 2000, he was awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Customer Reviews

The "drug of choice" for Dick Francis fans!
"Banker" is a wonderfully ingenious mixture of horse-breeding, investment banking, and gene-altering drugs. The thoroughness of Francis' research into his storyline left me breathless. A definite "must-have" for his fans! One can almost feel the grief for the hapless victims, and the villian (as true to Francis form) comes straight out of nowhere to shock and surprise the reader. Malicious greed is the motive behind the villian's actions; the reader is motivated to keep reading!

A good investment for mystery & suspense fans!
Dick Francis is a formulaic writer, which is to say that one has a pretty good idea of the shape of the novel before one even cracks open the cover. While this would be a death knell for longevity for many, it hasn't been for Francis. This arises from the fact that his characters are so memorable and the milieu in which he casts his tales so rich and well defined that we totally forget that some of the plot mechanisms feel familiar.

Banker is a tale of a young British investment banker involved in a syndicate financing the stud career of a well know champion race horse. After the deal is sealed there arises a problem--it appears the horse is genetically defective. Our Banker suspects this is not entirely a natural phenomenon and starts investigating. As always with Francis, this leads to intrigue, violence and murder.

Francis' ability to skillfully enter into a wide array of worlds in his novels is another strength--the world of investment banking is brought into sharp focus in a way that makes it interesting--not terminally boring, as one would imagine.

Banker is one of Francis' very best works--the characters are vivid and compelling, the mystery here is more refined than usual, the suspense builds very nicely.

If you haven't yet tried Francis, this would be a great book to start with. It will set you on the path to a lot of great reading!

One of the best
Dick Francis has a winning formula: take a youngish man of about 30, who holds a job that most people would think is boring; have him solve a mystery and prove that he is far more observant, more intelligent, and cleverer than anybody expected. Along the way, have his family, who doesn't appreciate him and takes him for granted, find out that he is more important to them than they to him. And an intelligent, middle-aged woman who recognizes his value and will help him in his future career. Stated in a formula like this, it doesn't sound like that much, but the details Francis gives in each book make it fascinating.

Some people might hesitate to read a Francis book, as I did for years- I thought they were just about horse racing and jockeys, and as that wasn't a particular interest of mine, I didn't bother. However, in most of his books written in the last 25 years, although horse-racing is always a part of the plot, the main characters are in all walks and fields of life, and one does not have to love horses and jockeys to read these books.

In this case, our hero's career is investment banking. Some people would start to doze off at the thought of banking, but Francis provides us with details of the job that show the exciting parts of it, the skills required, and the variety that can enter into it.

When the banking firm finds itself asked to invest in a race horse, Tim Ekaterin, the poor relation of the family, turns out to have the knowledge needed for this risk. He also knows enough to recognize that when something goes wrong, it may not be due to natural causes. We meet veterinarians, chemists, and other researchers, all of whose work is described accurately enough to make one suspect that Francis has a friend or relative in every field mentioned and has pried every detail of their daily lives out of them.

The ending is good; the bad guys get their come-uppance, and greed is punished, while our hero is finally rewarded with some recognition in both his personal and work lives.