A Calculated Risk (1992) has often been credited as the first true “insider” computer caper novel, with a plot that proves the adage “Information is Power.” Verity Banks — angered that her bosses refuse to beef up bank security — decides to knock over the world’s largest bank, along with the international money transfer systems, and (with a little challenge from a friend) the world’s stock exchanges, to boot! A tale of corruption, greed, and duplicity within the corporate financial arena, this breathtaking ride through world money markets set the pace for today’s financial thriller. A Calculated Risk had a fabulous reception — not only in the literary section, but in the financial media and in university business courses. Recently, during the financial meltdown of 2009, perhaps as an “exemplary tale,” it has suddenly reappeared on many independent bestseller lists!
A Book-of-the-Month Club Alternate Selection
A New York Times notable book
The Washington Post Book World called Katherine Neville’s bestselling novel The Eight “a feminist answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Now, Neville remakes the rules of adventure fiction again with a gripping tale of financial intrigue and mesmerizing romance that whirls from the high-power money centers of New York and San Francisco to Paris and a breathtaking Greek island.
Synopsis
Verity Banks is the senior woman executive at the Bank of the World, a prestigious financial institution with offices around the globe. Head of Electronic Funds Transfer – and supervisor of some of the bank’s most dedicated computer geniuses – Verity lives and breathes the world of big money. But when her power-hungry boss, Kislick Willingly III, axes her proposal to step up the bank’s computer security, Verity finds herself thinking some remarkably treacherous thoughts.
Her plan is simple. She’ll break through the automated security and hide some money in a place no one will find it – inside the bank’s own security system. She’ll then point out to her senior management how easy such a theft really is. It’s a perfect caper (and perfectly harmless) until the reappearance of Dr. Zoltan Tor.
Tor is the financial wizard who, twelve years earlier, taught his protégé Verity everything about technology, commerce and the fine art of sensual living. Now Tor is back with a challenge: Which of them can steal a billion dollars and invest it to earn thirty million in three months? To tempt her to take such an enormous risk, Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a computer for her theft, but he cannot…
A fascinating insider’s look into the world of high-stakes banking, A Calculated Risk is also an immensely enjoyable thriller of the ultimate scam, in which the players jet around the world, team up with bankers and baronesses, and, along the way discover each other fully for the first time.
