by Christopher Reich
Page-Turner of the Week
FOR MOST YOUNG BANKERS, BEING named as the personal assistant to the head of the fictional United Swiss Bank would be a fantastic coup. But for California-raised Nicholas Neumann, it is the beginning of a waking nightmare. Seventeen years earlier, Neumann's father, head of USB's Los Angeles office, was killed under suspicious circumstances. Now his son has given up a promising Wall Street career to secretly investigate the mystery from inside USB's fortress-like Zurich headquarters. Neumann uncovers financial deceit, money laundering and macroeconomic machinations as he nears the truth of his father's death, and soon enough his own life is in danger. While the tension crackles like crisp new banknotes, author Reich, a former Swiss banker who now lives in Texas, presents a fascinating view of the super-secret Swiss banking establishment, from takeover attempts by conniving rivals to moral wafflings over drug money. Numbered Account is an insider's take readers can bank on. (Delacorte, $24.95)
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