Montecristo by Martin Suter

Montecristo

By Martin Suter

When Jonas Brand finds himself on a train from Zurich to Basel from which a stock trader appears to have thrown himself to his death, he gets caught up in a series of events that will ultimately place him in grave danger. Jonas is a film maker. He is mainly engaged in making short pieces for a celebrity lifestyle channel, but he wants more. He wants to pursue serious investigatory journalism, and also make his own film.

So when, having temporarily shelved the material on the train incident, he finds himself investigating what looks like a case of banking fraud he sees it as a chance to take his work more seriously.

He is helped by a colleague Max, a widower who has let his life go off the rails since his wife died, who urges him to follow up his investigation into bank notes with identical serial numbers. Max’s knowledge of banking tells him there is something serious going on and he helps Jonas find out more. But their joint interest in the case leads them both into danger.

I found this thriller interesting in that it gave glimpses into the worlds of both banking and film making and introduced some intriguing characters, of which Max was probably my favourite.

The plot is complex and involved and I found it a real page turner. The ending was somewhat low key for a thriller, but it left me thinking which I always think is a good thing in a book.

I recommend this book to thriller lovers.

Thanks very much to the publishers for a review copy of this book.

You can find out more here. 

Montecristo was translated into English by Jamie Bulloch.