The Suicide Banker is the story of a young banker whose employers believe in the motto of turning conventional wisdom upside down. Against the backdrop of financial boom and subsequent meltdown during the first decade of this century. Sumit becomes an unfortunate witness, active participant and ill-fated victim in the affairs of Ind-Credit Bank. Over the course of life-altering events, the once blue-eyed boy is slowly but surely sucked into the dark abyss of financial world his dreams collapsing one by one in a heap, taking a heavy toll on his personal and professional life. Will he be able to survive?

Same in the spirit as Ravi Subramanian’s Banking trilogy, the book moves at a brisk pace and we are introduced to a range of characters from all the hierarchical levels in the bank. The mystery seems interesting to start with and you genuinely feel sympathetic towards the rigmarole of Sumit’s life. The language is crisp and there are quirky one-liners thrown in within the finance context. Even in personal relationships, there is a sincerity in Sumit’s relationship with a junior colleague but at some point in the narrative, that plot-point is conveniently side-tracked and loses momentum. Such kind of road-blocks make this book a difficult read after the initial momentum.

Problem is, there are very little nuances here, everything is sanitized and things get extremely preachy in the narrative. The author writes with a heavy hand, underlining every single point it makes while telling this story, leaving almost nothing to subtlety. As a result, the book is too long and rambles on and on when clearly a reader has run out of patience. If you’re unfamiliar with finance jargon, much of this book is going to sound like Greek to you. It could have been gritty and realistic, but it goes for a more populist tone instead. The conflict seems too simplistic in the end, and you’re pretty much bored for much of the second half. The personal life description of the main protagonist is too detailed specially including those scenes where his wife is hosting a TV show and invoking responses from audience. Almost 10 pages could have been simply edited out because it hardly makes a difference to the main narrative.

I am going with 2.5/5 for Puneet Gupta’s ‘The Suicide Banker’. It is not a bad book by any means; it is just too long, too preachy and too many characters sounding similar in the end analysis. A little restraint and light hand would have done this book a lot of good. Read it if you are from finance background, you may feel different about it.

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The theft of the precious mineral stone, the cavansite, from The Crystal Museum of Minerals has left everyone puzzled, more so because the modus operandi of the theft has uncanny similarities with an international bestseller, The Cavansite Conspiracy by Chris Carver. While the police and the curator of the museum are on the hunt, a spiritual group in Bangkok too is interested in acquiring it by any means.

Meanwhile, Koyal Karnik, a lecturer in communication studies working in Hamburg, Germany, arrives in Pune to attend her friend Jasrajs wedding. Little does she know that she will not only be implicated in the theft of the cavansite, but that her friend will be murdered, and she will be forced to become a fugitive on the run. The only person she can trust is her ex-boyfriend Neel, with whom she takes off on a journey of mystery and love from India to Hamburg, then to the Isle of Sylt and finally, a London television studio. But can she really trust anybody? And what is the connection between Jasraj and the cavansite? What is Jasrajs fiance hiding? Finally, who is Chris Carver and what is his role in the mystery?

It is fast-paced and thrilling and keeps you glued most of the time in the narrative. The twist in the end was unpredictable and it is highly unlikely many readers will be able to guess it before the climax. The story moves around various countries and a gamut of plot points which will keep you glued. I particularly liked the sensitive treatment with which the problem of left handed people in India is dealt with. Considering at one point of life, i seriously thought myself to be ambidextrous, i was able to relate to the dilemmas and social restrictions that come on the way.

The romance between the couple is fun to read and extremely relatable. Both of them have a back story to fall on and are constantly throwing repartee which make their conversations spicy and juicy. The only time the book slips up is when the author infuses a Bollywoodish feel to the narrative by concentrating too much into the romance between Koyal and Neel. Right under the nose of a death threat and conspiration to frame her, the couple play games on ice-dunes and make the romantic sparks flew. What was sorely missing was a song to be picturized on the couple in the Isle of Sylt! This acts as a deterrent to the pace of the story and intermittently takes away the focus from the murder mystery, diffusing a juveliness which is hard to fathom. But one should look beyond these nitpicking for an extremely rewarding read.

I am going with generous (3+0.5) = 3.5/5 for Manjiri Prabhu’s ‘The Cavansite Conspiracy’. Barring a few glitches in the end and a sagging middle portion, it is a tight thriller which delivers what it promises. It starts briskly and will keep you engaged most of the time. I recommend you make time to read it.

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Achet, the lead protagonist hails from a small town. Having excelled at whatever the world threw at him, he is set to climb the tallest corporate ladders around. But he doesn’t know what he wants from life. Both, his desire to explore life and his work take him to Singapore. And thus begins the journey of self-discovery. Despite the hectic schedule at work he finds the time to cynically size up those around him, experiment with drugs, lie for cheap thrills, display a complete disregard for professional ethics, almost commits career-suicide and a cold-blooded murder. Is there salvation for Achet? If so, is the price too high?

Resident Dormitus is a polarizing book. There is so much to like in this young adult fiction, but still it fails to keep the momentum going. During the middle portions of the book, the screenplay goes in circles without achieving anything. The book is so caught up in being self-congratulatory that it doesn’t even realize where it has been slipping up. It inflicts seriously and sincerely on each of the characters but when all of them are portrayed as lazy, inactive and obsessed with booze, babes and drugs; it all becomes repetitive and to a point boring.

However, the author delves into small nuggets of life that is all so endearing. Read how Achet decides to explore the personalities of people sending official mails by observing the title and font colour. Or that scene in which a funny situation turns poignant when his friend decides to reveal about his childhood and a brooding, silent father. Even the portions when he gets drunk first time and has passed out is hilarious and keep you in spirits.

But all this does not quite fit in the scheme of things coherently. There are snake-like plot movements which do not work in taking the story forward. All the inactivity of Achet and his group of friends are likeable to start with but when the constant references of going to pubs, drinking heavily, finding girls and reflecting on their past misadventures, it all soon become all so familiar and predictable. The triggers which come off as twists in lives of the protagonist are abrupt and contrived, not investing enough in the metamorphosis for each of them.

I am going with a heavy-hearted 2.5/5 for Vikas Rathi’s ‘Resident Dormitus’. It is a book you want to desperately like because it brings those subtle nuances so effortlessly. Unfortunately, it cannot rise above its flawed script and become a sum of all its parts. Still not a bad Sunday read as it will make you think about yourself and for those moments when you have doubted your own abilities. Otherwise it is a clunky book which takes itself far too seriously for its own good. It flys, but never soars. It swells, but never bursts.

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The Incredible Banker is a story set in ‘Greater Boston Global Bank’ (GB2), an American Bank struggling to grow in India. It’s business is usual – until one day the CEO for the bank, Ronald McCain is quickly summoned out of his morning meeting to the RBI headquarters to meet the Governor. On his arrival, the Governor reprimanded Ronald McCain catching him totally off guard. How could something as catastrophic transpire in an organization considered to be the ultimate in banking? Ronald has no answers and numerous questions to answer.

On an another plot point, when the CBI lands up at Deepak Sarups doors trailing the scent of a the same scandal, Ronald decides to distance the bank leaving Deepak, a senior executive, to fight his own battles. Will Karan, Deepak’s one time adversary and now a Journo, bail him out? Will Savitha, his girlfriend, stand by him? And will his family; the CBI and more importantly the country believe what he says? With the media and CBI in hot pursuit, Ronald can’t help but wonder what his fate has in store for him an intriguing tale of love, politics, unbridled aggression and money laundering.

The story in itself is intrigue and complex, and with a brisk pace it provides a worthy weekend reading. The attention to detail about the banking operations is commendable and the author brings in interesting plot points ranging from Naxalities of Chattisgarh to the top management predicament about retail operations of the bank in Singapore. There are characters introduced in every 20-30 pages which introduces to an array of diverse personalities from the hierarchy of retail banking. I particularly liked the character of the CEO, Ronald who is probably etched with utmost sincerity and provides bouts of anxiety, success and anguish throughout the book. Some of the characters are under-developed (For instance the wife of a corporate head in the bank totally unaware of an extra-marital affair of his husband ); but still things move at such a hefty pace, you won’t probably notice these things. The language is simple and even though banking jargon are used abundantly, you won’t feel like suffocated in a boring corporate strategy meeting.

The only glitch i found in the book was the length, which could have been shorter by around 40 odd pages. There are long portions of back stabbing and corporate politics, reoccurring so many times in the book that it takes sucks away from the fun you are having while reading the main story. Ultimately, the author paints all the characters in broad strokes with grey shades, giving readers very little chance to feel sympathetic towards any of the them. No doubt, there are ample incidents of served imaginings telling us how cut-throat the competition is in banks where you are as good as the last target you have achieved. But how much of these corrupt measures you can take in one single book? It goes overboard while portraying the office politics and at times, stalls momentum of an other otherwise brisk narrative.

I am going with 3/5 for Ravi Subramanian’s ‘The Incredible Banker’. I quite disliked the author’s only non-fiction attempt, ‘I bought the Monk’s Ferrari’. In an email conversation, he was candid enough to admit that he want to stick to fiction genre for a while even when his only non-fiction book had sold 60k+ copies. I believe every author should try different, but ultimately find his forte. Ravi, with his latest attempt takes a right step in that direction. For all other readers out there, go ahead and get engrossed in the world of banking and politics therein.

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