A USA Today Bestseller“Immersive, satisfying, tense–and timely: This is probably happening for real right now.”–Lee Child“First-rate…Slick, heart-hammering entertainment.”–The New York Times Book ReviewOn 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 … radar, and its wreckage is later uncovered in the Alps. Among the disappeared is Matthew Werner, 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 a few who are too close to home. The story could also be the answer to Annabel’s heartbreaking search–if Marina chooses to publish it.
The Banker’s Wife is both a high-stakes thriller and an inside look at the personal lives in the intriguing world of finance, introducing Cristina Alger as a powerful new voice in the genre.
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Immersive, satisfying, tense — and timely: This is probably happening for real right now.
The Banker’s Wife is a page-turning, plot-twisting international thriller of the first order. Cristina Alger’s writing is as sophisticated and self-assured as the characters she’s created. A remarkable and intriguing journey into the rarefied world of power and money. A perfect blend of mystery, suspense, and betrayal.
Cristina Alger takes an inside look at the lucrative, high-stakes — and sometimes murderous — world of private banking in this stunning masterpiece. Whip smart and fraught with tension, The Banker’s Wife packs a punch that doesn’t let up. Brilliant.
Behind every great fortune, there’s a crime… and a bank. From Geneva to London to New York, Cristina Alger takes us inside the secretive and corrupt world of the super-rich — and three women who struggle to survive its deadly undertow.
In Cristina Alger’s expert hands, the world of complex international finance is the perfect setting for a gripping, twisty thriller that asks how well we really know the people closest to us. The Banker’s Wife is smart, savvy, and beautifully written. It grabs the reader by the gut and doesn’t let go until the last page.
The Banker’s Wife is the best kind of thriller: break-neck pace, gutsy women characters who are their own heroes — and if the action in dazzling locales doesn’t take your breath away, the twisty surprises will.
Cristina Alger’s ripped-from-the-headlines thriller is a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious world of billionaire banking, and kept me guessing until the very last page. I couldn’t tear myself away.
If you enjoyed The Darlings like I did, you’ll LOVE The Banker’s Wife. International intrigue, glitz, and glamour all tangled in an intricately crafted plot. Both Annabel and Marina are smart, strong female leads who make bold choices — my favorite kind of characters. This is Alger’s best book yet!
A knockout of an international thriller, with glamorous lives on collision courses with high-stakes crime and high-level politics through the corridors of power in Europe and America. Plus, Alger accomplishes the remarkable in making even Geneva seem exciting.
Get ready for a great paced, twisting and turning thriller! I was hooked from the start, having no idea where the story was going to take me.
This book is filled with strong female characters, all of whom kick butt. I couldn’t find a negative thing about them. They are smart, strong-willed, and take no crap from anyone. Their brilliance and perseverance left me in awe.
The plot of this book kept me on my toes from the very beginning. I couldn’t put it down. It is full of twists and turns I definitely didn’t see coming. As the plot thickened, the action picked up and left my heart pounding.
I was worried about the main subject of this book. I am not familiar with banking and financing, but the author did a fantastic job at keeping the reader informed without being boring. I found myself intrigued and curious. This was definitely a thriller I wasn’t expecting to be so entertaining.
Well written, sharply plotted international financial thriller.
A great thiller…timely and riveting!
This is my first book by Cristina Alger and won’t be my last. It kept me up late at night and procrastinating about things that needed to be done. I was in the mood for a totally engrossing book and it delivered.
*****
“There’s a whole world offshore, Ms. Tourneau.. A world of dirty money, hidden away in shadow accounts, and it belongs to some very powerful and dangerous people.”
*****
I thoroughly enjoyed this one… The double-focus tale, with the story developing through the parallel eyes of the investigative journalist breaking the story of her career and the widow trying to survive (literally) the death of her husband, offered a perfect point-counterpoint that kept me engaged and furiously flipping pages from the opening until the ending.
Marina and Annabel were great female characters, well-rounded and fascinating as they navigated their separate ways through the increasingly dangerous waters they found themselves in because of the actions of the men in their respective lives. Alger’s writing style was exceptionally well-paced, blending just the right amount of detail and backstory into the unfolding drama.
The supporting cast offered a marvelous set of contrasts and added just the right amount of suspenseful motive questioning to keep me guessing. Even after I had guessed on where a couple of the characters’ true motivations (and loyalties) lay, I was still engrossed in the way things played out right up until the very last pages.
I did not know much about the world of private banking (or any other kind of large-scale money handling, really) prior to this book. I have, however, been to Geneva – and one of the first things I noticed (it’s difficult not to) was the preponderance of vast, gorgeous, palatial buildings with discreet yet still noticeable names on them. Private banks are one thing to think about, and another to actually see. While I never went inside of one, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the scope and scale of the grandeur their buildings represented – even within the larger expansive context of a gorgeous city like Geneva. It was obvious there must be epic money represented by these companies; there’s no way the numerous multi-story castle-like edifices could exist in a European capital where real estate is at a premium if there was not. That imagery really fed my interest in and engagement with this novel, and made the trillions at issue seem not only possible but plausible.
This was a fascinating look behind the (even if fictionalized) curtain, and I loved it. I will definitely be on the lookout for more from Cristina Alger!
My review copy was provided by the Penguin First to Read program.
An absolute page-turner! Strong female characters, a heart-racing well paced plot, twists and turns. Highly recommend!
This novel is an intense thrilling ride that connects people with no knowledge of each other, seemingly from different worlds, in the biggest of ways. The writing is unique, powerful, and fast paced, with more than one narrator.One of our narrators, Annabel, is left in a world brimming with devastation, secretative motivations, huge betrayals, and cruel intentions! It becomes apparent that there is no clear path and she struggles every step of the way to unravel the never ending array of secrets left behind by her husband and every character throughout these pages.This novel has a depth and detail that is astounding.It calls for undivided attention, and sucks you deep into a vortex you couldn’t possibly have anticipated! Cristina Alger’s ‘The Banker’s Wife’ is a high stakes brilliant look at a devilishly thrilling, secretive, and twisted world and to miss it would be tragic!
My gratitude to Penguin First to Read for an advanced opportunity to read this novel! I have shared my honest and un-biased opinion in return.
I so love it when I can say, I did not see that coming! This book is a wonderful fast paced thriller! A must read during the lazy hazy days of summer!
Looking for a book that will keep you up all night, make you put aside your chores, and pretty much ignore everything that’s going on around you? Then this book right here is the one you need. I love a book that pulls me from the very first page and doesn’t let go until the end. THE BANKER’S WIFE is a very well-written, fast-paced book with some amazing, strong female characters. And considering what’s happening in current events, the storyline seemed so incredibly real. Money laundering, corruption, murder, it’s all in there. I can totally see this being made into a movie. And the twist at the end really caught me by surprise. Very well done. I highly recommend this book.
The Banker’s Wife is full of suspense, mystery, and intrigue, all of my favorites! I enjoyed all of the characters so much, as well as the settings that were so vividly described I felt like I was there. The plot twists were unexpected and amazing. I will definitely read more books by this author!
This is the story of people who uncover a huge story about money being hidden in Swiss bank accounts. I struggled a bit with it but then this is not my normal choice of books. Great for those who like suspense.