I have never
been a great fan of James Bond movies, X-Men, and suspense thriller books. I am
an avid reader of self-help books, motivational stuff, love stories, and romantic
movies. But there are two people, who kindled my love for Hollywood movies and thriller
books, one being my hubby and the other Ravi Subramanian.

I worked in
the banking sector for 2 years; I was also a part of the Concurrent and
Internal audit team. This was the main reason, why I had picked up the book ‘If God was a Banker’ in 2009. To say that I liked the book would be an
understatement. I simply loved every bit of it. The way Ravi dealt with the
characters made his books stand out. One gets a glimpse of the corporate
politics, the banking industry, how things go undercover and much more.

Impressed by his style I read his
next book, ‘I Bought the Monk’s Ferrari’, but to be frank, I couldn’t
connect with it. Ravi is not meant to be a self-help instructor, a guru kind
of, he is here for unveiling the financial crime, creating thriller plots and
leaving us with no nails to bite off. He came with a bang and his next two
books ‘Devil in Pinstripes’ and ‘The Incredible Banker’, but then as
an ardent fan, I craved for more.

2012 saw the rise of ‘The
Bankster’, one of a kind, griping thriller, a script fit to be a
Hollywood movie. The front cover itself steals the show.

‘The
Bankster’, starts with three parallel stories, one of a CIA agent in Angola, an
elderly man in Kerala and the lives of employees in Greater Boston Global Bank
(GB2). The blurb of the book will make you wonder, ‘what this book is about’
and the first few chapters will leave you confused, as you will try to connect
the three parallel stories.

But once you
get the drift, you will simply refuse to keep the book the down. The corporate
politics, the banking jargon’s, the Relationship Managers, greed, lust, and the
aggressive ways to achieve sales targets, all these will leave you enthralled. Each
chapter in the book will leave you with a question, ‘Now what?’ The way Ravi
has handled the different locations and weaved a story out of the strikingly
different characters; simply impressed me. The use of Hindi words, gives the
plot a realistic approach (however some feel this  was not necessary)

The best
part is, Ravi has maintained the suspense until the end, and the climax is
unexpected, with a twist that will surely leave you numb. I don’t wish to kill
the suspense, by diving deep into the story, instead I would just say, all the
lovers of thrillers, go grab a copy. I seriously wish this movie were made into
a movie, just as ‘Three Idiots’. I bet it will rock the box-office.

Hats off to
Ravi Subramanian, he surely is the ‘John
Grisham of banking’ and when it’s about financial crimes and banking
stories, Ravi is the only man one can think of…!