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Bankerupt

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A university is an institution for higher education and research. It can also be a place where academic brilliance leads to overinflated egos, bitter politics and finally, murder. Cirisha Narayanan, a professor at MIT Boston, who has risen meteorically, stumbles upon a cryptic message. Aditya Raisinghania, her banker husband, sets up a highly innovative financial hoax. Her profiteering father harvests Australia's largest bird, the emu in India. The US elections are on and the debate on gun control has reached a fever pitch. Set in Mumbai, Coimbatore and Boston, Ravi Subramanian creates an impeccably researched world where everyone has a motive to kill. Nothing is as it seems in this cunningly vicious thriller where the plot turns on a dime.

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 19, 2013

47 people are currently reading
864 people want to read

About the author

Ravi Subramanian

27 books802 followers
Ravi Subramanian's latest book - IN THE NAME OF GOD - a thriller, releases on June 26, 2017

Ravi Subramanian, an alumnus of IIM Bengaluru, has spent two decades working his way up the ladder of power in the amazingly exciting and adrenaline-pumping world of global banks in India.
​​
He is the award winning author of eight bestselling books :

If God was a Banker (2007),
I Bought the Monks Ferrari (2007),
Devil in Pinstripes (2009),
The Incredible Banker (2011),
The Bankster (2012),
Bankerupt (2013).
God is a Gamer (2014)
The Bestseller She Wrote (2015)

His 9th book IN THE NAME OF GOD will release in 2017

If God was a Banker won him the Golden Quill readers choice award in 2008. He also won the Economist Crossword Book Award for The Incredible Banker in 2012. "The Bankster", released in 2012 won him the Crossword Book Award in 2013. In 2014 he won the Raymond Crossword book award for Bankerupt. His books have been translated into Hindi and Latvian. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, Dharini, and daughter, Anusha.

To connect with him, log on to Facebook at www.facebook.com/authorravisubramanian or tweet to @subramanianravi or email him at info@ravisubramanian.in

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
Profile Image for Pooja Jeevagan.
150 reviews112 followers
April 13, 2014
I have really loved some work by Ravi Subramanian such as 'If God was a Banker' and 'The Incredible Banker'...and then was sorely disappointed by 'Bankster' and hence, I did know that I really have to read 'Bankerupt' but I wasn't expecting much from it...after all that's what usually happen..people write some wonderful stuff and then come up with few books that would sell because of the author's name rather than real good efforts put in by author in writing...

But this book was no where the laid back, lazy attempt by the author...for one, I am glad he let go off Karan Punjabi (he was good but overused in his books), and then hats off to Ravi for maintaining the fast pace of the book even when it is no thin one...I remember starting it and thinking that this book would go in parallel with many others that I have concurrently on at the moment...but no, this one pulled me in..so much that I had to finish it before I went back to others that were in progress...

And although, the book lacks in human emotions...and you kind of can guess the end at least 50-60 pages before the end..this one is something you should read...if for nothing than to understand what all sects corruption and greed of man can enter...A real good read per me!
Profile Image for Shilpa Garg.
142 reviews88 followers
October 9, 2019
A university is an institution for higher education and research. It can also be a place where academic brilliance leads to overinflated egos, bitter politics and finally, murder. Cirisha Narayanan, a professor who has risen meteorically stumbles upon a cryptic message. Aditya Raisinghania, her banker husband, sets up a highly innovative financial hoax. Her profiteering father harvests Australia’s largest bird—the emu—in India. The US elections are on and the debate on gun control has reached a fever pitch.

Set in Mumbai, Coimbatore and Boston, Ravi Subramanian creates an impeccably researched world where everyone has a motive to kill. Nothing is as it seems in this cunningly vicious thriller where the plot turns on a dime.

I have read Ravi’s earlier book, Bankster and I simply loved it. So with great expectations, I started reading Bankerupt and let me tell you that I had trouble putting it down. Towards the end, as I moved from one page to the other, I had this ‘fear in my heart and excitement in the head’, as the storyline had more twists and turns than a corkscrew!

The author succeeded in keeping me on my tenterhooks with a succinct narration that has achieved a beautiful blend despite 5 different narratives in the story. The information on the banking systems and how books are cooked in organizations; the rise and fall of emu farming in India; politics in a premier educational institution, the power struggle and the funding and grants for research; the gun culture and the strong arms lobby in America is pretty interesting.

All these varied plots converge in the end so beautifully to culminate into something that is totally unexpected and simply thrilling!

I was expecting Cirisha’s showdown with her father, but that never happened in the book. Knowing about Aditya’s involvement in the scam had devastated her, wonder what would be her reaction on knowing about her father’s business processes. Also some of the characters and their stories could have been developed more. I believe, Richard’s story could have been promising and also the relationship between Cirisha and Aditya could have been explored a bit more.

Bankerupt would be a fabulous watch on the big screen too, as it has all the ingredients of a Bollywood crime thriller– murders, lies, deceit and treachery.

Bankerupt is highly recommended if you are looking for a racy pacy thriller.

Rating : 4.5/5

https://shilpaagarg.com/2013/12/banke...
Profile Image for Gita Madhu.
143 reviews39 followers
December 9, 2014
A well designed cover instantly plunges the reader into the world of this racy thriller. Although the author has taken detail to an almost academic level, the plot blazes through with gripping narration.
The English is sometimes a little quaint, a loveable failing of most Indian authors in English but that only lends a charm all its own, especially since most of the protagonists are Indian.
I look forwards to the denouement and the many twists and turns which promise to unfold with each passing page.
This is definitely a give-away I'm happy I won!
Profile Image for Selva.
369 reviews60 followers
August 23, 2016
It is a first rate thriller. I haven't read any Ashwin Sangvi, having said that I must say this should rank among the best thrillers written by a Indian author. It read like the better ones of John Grisham. I suppose this was the debut for Ravi Subramanian. So he has brought in all his knowledge and expertise and created something really good. I had read his The Incredible Banker prior to this and that was no match to this either story-wise or the quality of writing. Writing is pretty decent. Recommended to anybody who likes thrillers.
Profile Image for Raja Subramanian.
128 reviews14 followers
February 27, 2014
I have read all the other novels of Ravi Subramanian and loved them all. But when I was about to get hold of Bankerupt, some friends of mine tried to dissuade me by saying that it is a rehash of his previous ones and fairly predictable. I did read a few reviews that spoke highly of the book while others disparagingly put it down as worthless.

As I started reading this, I realized that this book is a veritable page turner. Bankerupt is the story of Aditya - an ambitious and greedy banker who does not mind going around the law to get things done. While helping a businessman, Narayanan, to raise funding for the Emu farming business, Aditya also falls in love with Cirisha Narayanan (the businessman's daughter) and marries her within a year. Aditya also gets involved in a huge corporate scam along with the CEO of a mid-sized Indian footwear company that is acquired by a MNC.

The story involves two main parts. One deals with the banking, business and corporate scams involving Aditya and Cirisha's father, Narayanan. The other deals with the gun lobby in the USA and the shenanigans involving the faculty and researchers at MIT. The author deftly moves between the two parts getting us really hooked onto the story.

I loved the story. I loved the development of the characters. I loved the style of writing. I hope that Ravi Subramanian comes up with more!
38 reviews3 followers
June 23, 2016
I was thoroughly frustrated after reading 'If God was a banker' by Ravi Subramanian but this book shows that he has improved a lot as a writer. The reader is kept guessing right from the beginning and three different tracks are introduced. The characters and the setting was definitely of great interest. The plot begins quite slowly but as the events unfold, the interest grows drastically. It's evident that the writer has improved in connecting the plot points. The issue of gun control in USA was described pretty well. The book also included a scandal based on the Reebok scandal in India.

But there were a few letdowns in the book as well. The three tracks were not given equal weightage. Many twists were predictable and the cops' portrayal weren't realistic. Overall, fans of conspiracy thrillers will definitely enjoy the book. Also, the book sends out several messages on ethics and morals.
Profile Image for Bharat.
44 reviews
June 19, 2015
March 2008. Placement time for seniors in Campus. Someone in my operations team was reading a blue coloured book with some “banker” written on it. I initially dismissed it off as some book on finance and did not find much interest.

During one of the frequent late nights, sitting alone in the operations tent I happened to give the first chapter of the book a cursory glance and it got me hooked. I still remember completing the entire book in one go that very night.

The book was” If God was a Banker” by Ravi Subramanian. Since then, I have been following the authors subsequent books and I have not been disappointed.

The author’s latest BANKERUPT is an addition to the list. I had immediately pre-ordered the book when I had heard about its release (through a mailer list).

Like Ravi’s earlier books, this premise of this story too is Banking filled with multitude of layers from diverse fields – Gun control Act in US, Academic world in Boston, Emu farming in Coimbatore, Slum Manufacturer in Dharavi, etc.. and how they all tie in seamlessly.

The book begins with the US split on the Gun Control act and the elections being fought on its premise. From there, the book continues in three parallel tracks

Boston – an Indian MIT asst. professor and the academic world involved with the Gun lobbying,

Mumbai – the MIT professor’s banker husband and his involvement with a shoe manufacturer which very much sounds like Reebok

Coimbatore – the MIT professor’s father who runs a business of bird farming.

The three parallel tracks set the premise for the second half where the scene shifts to Boston. The author manages to keep the reader guessing till the very end and then reveals out a totally unobvious climax. No wonder he is known as the “John Grisham of Banking.. ” by a famous international newspaper.

Giving any further information plot details might let the spoiler out and thus I would refrain from doing so.

Overall, a light read for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

The review was first published at: http://bharatjhurani.com/2013/10/bank...
Profile Image for Aruna Kumar Gadepalli.
2,870 reviews116 followers
September 23, 2013
Those who enjoy conspiracy theories, will definitely like this book. So far I read books by the author on banking related fiction. But this one really made me enjoy immensely. To what an extent an individual go to get what he/she wants to gain fame. Starting from the banking to the ruthless murders with the backdrop of academic dishonesty to power politics the author takes you to the world of human greed. Truly as the cover page mentions he is "John Grisham of banking".
Profile Image for Shrivathsan V.
9 reviews
May 17, 2014
Masterpiece of R.Subramanian! Provides deep-insights to life of academicians in USA. Also, highlights the greedy nature of human, who is willing to go to any extent to earn money to satisfy his greediness and save him, if trouble arrives! Plot filled with lots of surprises , twists and betrayals! Briefly, a perfect thriller!! Climax is simply indescribable!
21 reviews4 followers
January 3, 2014
Great and a quick read once u start u can't put the book down its addictive the characters of cirisha aditya n Richard have been excellent n will stay with me for long great book
Profile Image for Vikrant Pawar.
5 reviews
August 6, 2016
Nice book, language is really good, sub plots are unnecessary added.
Profile Image for Abhilash Ruhela.
643 reviews64 followers
October 30, 2013

If ever I will remember the day 30th October, 2013, I would say that it has been a complete day for me. Because generally what happens is- I spend all my day only in reading a novel if its 320 pages+ because I feel that I am wasting time if I am doing some other chores. But today, I did all my routine yet completed this book which is of 320 pages. The book is so interesting that even when I read it for only 5-6 hours, I managed to complete it because I was reading as speedily as possible because of the book being a perfect page-turner. It's none other than the latest book of Mr. Ravi Subramanian- "Bankerupt" which released a month ago on 20th September, 2013. The book's tagline screams three topics "Desire. Greed. Murder". And I am happy that unlike Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020 where all the three subjects that has been mentioned on the cover page is been left incomplete, this novel of Mr. Subramanian takes these topics seriously in his story and gives a finishing end to all of them. Well, I would also like to bring into notice of all that the author has moved from Rupa publications to the India's biggest, Penguin with this book.

About the Book:-
A university is an institution for higher education and research. It can also be a place where academic brilliance leads to overinflated egos, bitter politics and finally, murder. Cirisha Narayanan, a professor at MIT Boston, who has risen meteorically, stumbles upon a cryptic message. Aditya Raisinghania, her banker husband, sets up a highly innovative financial hoax. Her profiteering father harvests Australia's largest bird, the emu in India. The US elections are on and the debate on gun control has reached a fever pitch. Set in Mumbai, Coimbatore and Boston, Ravi Subramanian creates an impeccably researched world where everyone has a motive to kill. Nothing is as it seems in this cunningly vicious thriller where the plot turns on a dime.

About the Author:-
Ravi Subramanian an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, has spent two decades working his way up the ladder of power in the amazingly exciting and adrenaline-pumping world of global banks in India. It is but natural that his stories are set against the backdrop of the financial services industry. He lives in Mumbai with his wife Dharini and daughter Anusha. In 2008, he won the Golden Quill Readers Choice award for his debut novel, If God was a Banker.


Coming to the author, I would like to tell that I have only read his second last release before this i.e. Bankster. It was of 364 pages and I loved that tale too. It had many characters while this book manages to treat character better than Bankster. Even though few characters keep on coming unexpectedly in between but still you manage to remember who they were as the plot isn't much confusing. But the narration and writing style of the author is something that makes it easy for us to read the book in one go even when its quite long. The kind of name the author has, he can use difficult words from his great vocabulary and show how excellent he is in the language but still he keeps his language easy-going which makes it possible to keep us interested in it. For the whole period of time, I wanted the book to finish and the moment it finished, I wanted to read from the author on the same story itself. Haha!

While reading the book, at many places I wanted the video of the story to be with me so that I can fast-forward the CD and see what's going to happen after 5 minutes from the scene because I lost my patience at many places to know as to what exactly happened after this particular incident. :-) There are many scenarios which can give you goosebumps, heart-attack, panic-attack and I don't know what-what. This has been my first such experience where I found a book so interesting even when its written on an off-topic. Amazing! The great thing about the book is that even after the death of many characters one after another, story still keeps them alive and it seems as if they are not dead in the book still as they play the equivalent part in the story. As the whole story is written in chain with all the chapters connected to the previous ones, I can't share my favorite parts as it might act as spoilers. But I must say that a movie can't handle the kind of long and perfect story this is, a series like "24" should be made on this book and it should continue for a quarter of year. Wow!

You can not believe while reading that how a parallel scam of Aditya gets into the way of his wife who is into a different country all together. The Dharawi of Mumbai is connected to the Boston which is connected to gun laws which is again associated with Coimbatore. I was like "How can Mr. Ravi Subramanian create such a plot and that too in such a short period of time while other authors take 2-3 years to come up with something like this!" The research work of the author is completely visible and also his knowledge in miscellaneous fields is evidently pellucid. The certain investigation that keeps on taking place and the kind of facts that keeps on coming out thrills out almost every astonishment you have in you as a reader. The very first WOW moment for me in the book was when Cirisha sees the tag of Snuggles in Dharawi. And since then, the book has over-served me. :-) If someone from Wall Street Journal can call him "The John Grisham of banking", I, as a small portal can undoubtedly call Mr. Ravi Subramanian, "The Abbas-Mustan of Banking Thrillers". Please don't miss it if you have been excited for reading books that keeps on giving you surprises on every alternate page. :-) Looking forward to reading all the previous works of The Ravi Subramanian because missing them is as foolish as choosing Pizza over Chchole-batoore. :-)

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!
Profile Image for Satyajit Lele.
30 reviews6 followers
September 5, 2022
What's this novel all about? A corrupt banker? An upright professor? Money Laundering? Gun control in the US? How corrupt are US universities? Fraudulent practices in India or in Investment Banking? Exactly what?

And do you really want us to believe that a professor and a fraudulent banker have more brains than the Boston police department? A case involving multiple murders resolved by an investment banker who was a photocopier technician erstwhile?

The plot is completely unbelievable and has too many coincidences, convenient events, and is built on a seriously questionable assumption that Boston police is dumb.

It feels like a script of a dumb Bollywood movie, where a hero takes it all and police are just to complete formalities of arresting the culprits.

Forget the plot. Look at the language, it seems as if the novel was first written in an Indian language and then transliterated. Who constructs a sentence like this? :

The kitchen platform ran about 4 feet and then deserted Aditya?

Is it a person to desert someone else?

And what is his obsession with apple products and nooks and corners of each and every road in the US? We get it, you must be living in the US and know it in and out, but do these details help in taking the story ahead? A big No. Then why feed a reader with these unnecessary details? Please spare us and get to the point.

I can just go on like this but don't want to. In a nutshell give it a pass...save money, save time and save yourself from the agony of reading the novel...

I'm done, no more Ravi Subramanian novels.
Profile Image for Rachit.
1 review
November 25, 2013

This novel will take you to a roller coaster ride full of suspense and excitement marked by the abrupt changes of circumstances and events. Once started, reader will be glued to it like anything due to uncanny ability of the author and his amazing crafting abilities. Story moves very fast and at no pint of time, one can feel that story is dragged. The best thing is that the chapters are kept very short about 3-4 pages and the plot keep switching itself among the 3 parallel sections. Also, I must say that Ravi is a great storyteller and with his crisp and to the point writing, avoids any confusion among readers about 3 parallel plots.


First section is about the Cirisha Narayanan who is very hardworking, ideal and epitome of perfection and honesty. If you watch Hindi movies, you can assume her the actress of the movie "Damini."She values her self esteem and integrity more than anything else in life and even threaten his husband to expose him in front of police for all his frauds to grow quickly. This is the biggest section and the other 2 sections also converges here in the end.

Section 2 talks about the Aditya Raisinghania, husband of the Cirisha, who is a high-flying corrupt banker, too much ambitious who loves risks. Using his knowledge and contacts, he sets up a scam to help his career, however, when caught, he was fired by the bank. When he was accused of the Murder of his wife as they have some serious arguments last night before the murder, he has no option but to uncover the real culprits who were very powerful and gradually killing all the evidences and people. The guilt of last interaction with his wife makes him a reformed person and when he comes out of Jail after accepting him involvement in scams, he rejected the banking career and opt for the career in police with the people whom he helped to unleash the real culprits before going to jail and accepting his crime.

Section 3 talks about Narayanan, father of Cirisha, who is a shrewd businessman, dreams of becoming the rich and thus employ immoral practices as advised by his son-in-law without the knowledge of his daughter.



The beauty of this masterpiece is that story progresses in such a way that all the parallel plots began to converge at the end and the ending is the most unexpected. The story will take you to lot of turns and twists like you are travelling in some hill station.

Overall, i feel it is very good read and everyone should read it.

Believe me , as soon as you pick up this novel, it would be very difficult to suspend it. The problem with me was that I started it on Monday after coming to office and thus have to stop 2 times in between and finally completed it on Wednesday morning before going to office. It is a an easy read that you can carry in trains, buses, flights and i don't think it will take more than 5-6 hours to complete. You can plan it accordingly.

Looking forward to read other works of this John Grisham of Banking Industry.

Anybody who wants to read this book can share his address to courier this book in the comments section on my blog. Please do not mail me and the first one to share his address in the comment section will get the book. As I have also received it, so I thin it is better to give away this book to encourage reading as habit.
123 reviews
November 17, 2013
Congratulations to the author for bringing in another spine chilling crime thriller in tune with expectations of his ever growing fan club across the world.
A perfect spine chilling narration of how businesses across the world can change the lives of people, in the thirst for power, prestige, money and ego and finally end up destroying so many lives of individuals and their families, forever.
Continuing the saga of the author’s banking background, Aditya Rajsinghania, the head of investment banking wing of an MNC bank Greater Boston Global Bank, along with his batchmate in college, Shivinder, enter into a dubious deal of funding a local shoe company, initially, by jacking up the profitability illegally and later facilitate a take over by an MNC shoe manufacturer, Snuggles at an astronomical price, with the help of Aditya’s father-in-law, based at Coimbatore, a shrewd businessman involved in Emu birds farming. These two guys take their own cuts for the deal.
Aditya’s wife Cirisha Narayanan, a research scholar in MIT, Boston in USA is a highly ethical and ambitious individual who mistook her husband’s motives in career before marriage but chooses to live her life through her own career in Social Psychology, with the help of her guide and mentor Michael Cardoza. In one of her research projects in India, she accidentally discovers a fact that child labor is rampant in one of the shoe manufacturing factories of Snuggles Inc, which she escalates to their Head Office in USA, that pulls of the trigger to unveil the entire money laundering activities of Aditya and his friend Shivender, as a result of which both of them lose their jobs and Aditya is forced to join her in USA, as a dependent.
Meanwhile, Michael Cardoza is in tussle with his counterpart James Deaehl, both senior academicians in MIT for the post of the Dean of the College and oppose each other in a State subject of Gun Availability and its Control in USA which is becoming a serious social problem in the country of late, backed and financed by many dangerous National agencies, MNC banks and Investment Funds. In this scuffle Cirisha, her co-research scholar Richard and Aditya get entangled, resulting Cirisha and Richard getting murdered brutally. And later Shivender. Finally, Aditya solves the murder mystery with the help of the local police with his intelligence only to escape life sentence for a highly punishable economic fraud case and lives on a sober and painful life after having lost his dear wife and a buzzing career in banking.

The author is once again successful in creating a great reading experience through logical linking of events in two far off countries with wide cultural and economic differences. However, the reader somewhere gets disconnected with the flow of events in India and suddenly pushed into a totally different social problem about Gun Control of USA.
The story finally ends with a fact depicting that even an advanced country like USA is no better than a Third World country like India when it comes to problems like crime, homicide, cheating, money laundering, black money, insecurity, Constitutional loopholes, political interference, economic frauds, scams, social injustice and discrimination across all strata of their society.
Profile Image for Amit Si.
19 reviews3 followers
March 30, 2014
I don't think the eulogy of "John Grisham " suits Ravi Subramanian anymore.He has grown beyond that. For me Ravi is an author par excellence in his own light and accord. I have never read John Grisham and won't compare; I can only say that I thoroughly enjoyed every single book of his and that is a good enough reason for me to sing paeans of his writings.

Bankerupt is simply another addition to his excellence in imagination and his ability to mould that into a simple and beautiful composition.

The story, set mostly in Boston and to some extent in India, again takes up his pet theme (that is what I think now) of bankers, their avarice and the resultant outcomes. He does not hinge onto emotions and ruthlessly kills the characters, the meaning of which you may not be able to comprehend till the very last revelation.

The story follows Aditya Raisinghania -- a banker with high ambitions who does not blink once before cutting into short cuts, Cirisha Narayanan -- his wife, who pledges principles and values over everything and mysterious murders sprawling over the Boston MIT campus in the background of the gun debate, ongoing in USA.

The story has been crafted in such a way, that one cannot reveal anything. I felt it drew inspiration from the frauds concerning Reebok India and its top executives as well as the murkier ways in which researches are conducted in universities.

The book has the thrills at all the right corners and manages to keep you going till the last few pages where the climax unfolds and you are just left gaping, appreciating the sheer brilliance of the composition and the climax.

However, unlike Bankster, this book did have its low moments. There were moments when I felt that the details of working of banking were unnecessary and I skimmed through those pages.

Also, I am not usually fond of too much negativity in the story, but herein he turned the cards and personalities just right and at the right time to not turn away the reader. And I must reiterate, he does it with sheer brilliance.

But, these would merely resemble the sweat upon the brow of a hard working laborer which you would easily overlook while appreciating the magnificence of the edifice.

Ravi Subramainian you have just raised the bar !!!!

http://freakychakra.wordpress.com/201...
83 reviews5 followers
November 23, 2013
Bankerupt by Ravi Subramanian is an amazingly gripping book. And I thought bankers were boring!
The first half of the book is a bit about banking and then it shoots of literally into the murky world of politics and gun licencing in the USA. It also shows how educational institutes are used by politicians and lobbyists to further their interests.
The book is all about greed and how fallible humans are when it comes to money and power, irrespective of the country they are from. Human foibles are universal.
The plot is woven beautifully with an intricacy that would make a designer proud!
It brings to fore the roles that a banker in the modern era has to play, apart from figures in the ledger. His role as an advisor, friend and philosopher in the realm of investment is fleshed out beautifully in the character of Aditya who will leave no stone unturned to ensure success for all concerned!
Cirisha is the perfect foil as Aditya’s wife who is the angel in the tale.
The devil Luci(f)er who lures the willing in the academic field to produce research papers supporting the booming business of guns, makes his appearance now and then, lurking in the shadows always.
The book is divided into bite sized chapters that make it an easy read while chewing your nails to know what happened next.
This is a book that has an international flavour and is a must read for all. Satisfaction guaranteed!
Profile Image for Prity Malhotra.
140 reviews52 followers
January 19, 2014
After going through bucketloads of crappy over-rated novels, my love for Novels was about to dissolve, just then I picked this book...From a Ravi Subramanian book, I expect hot & sexy banking Interns in pinstripe shirts, Banking Rats, A Dance of Money, Luxury, Sex & Seduction at Breakneck Speeds..However this time, I rather got a much less Cliched Plot at a leisure speed with plots & sub-plots which may put John Grisham books to Shame. The Main Plot deals with Aditya, his wife Cirisha, his friend Shivinder & his Father in law & their COmplex Individual lives. The Sub-plots are too many to explain & not too much fun to read in such a plain way. The Narrations boils you down with Suspence & the Slow Pace will kill you with Antisepation..This book is a staggering 400 pages long yet never even once I got bored or snapped out of the plot.. Engrossing readers for more then 300 pages without diluting their attention is a feat even master story-tellers don't achieve..so hats off to Ravi. The only hiccup for me in this Brilliant book was that the Boston Police Department is shown to be to Dumb & Idiotic. Their Incompetency to Connect the dots looks unfathomable. Plus, just to justify that the Lead Character of this Novel has gone from bad to good, he is given a lot of footage by the End Pages, which was not Required. Having said that, This Book is a Masterpiece with its weight in Gold.
Profile Image for Pavithra S.
2 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2017
This is my first book of the author. The plot was very nice and the narration of the story is good. I found this book hooked me up.Since the author is from financial industry, the backdrop of the story is of investment banking and the fraudulent activities inside those companies.
Death of the female protagonist in this book was little disappointing but that's the way the story is.
Profile Image for Dipesh Mehta.
31 reviews1 follower
November 4, 2013
Catchy and Racy. This is how I would describe the book shortly. Catchy - the title leads u to believe in that it would be a finance and economic book, but it's a complete thriller as u would expect from the author with linkages to the financial world set as the backdrop. Racy - the plot is racy with three different stories (Mumbai to Boston) running in the backdrop and culminating into one. The book definitely holds your attention until the end, with the events unfolding page by page. However in the midst of the reading I found the story of Boston having more weightage then the other two stories, the author could have given some more justice to the other stories as well like done in the past (read Bankster). Having said that you cannot take away the fact that the author knows how to hold readers attention. My verdict of the book...definitely a weekend read!!!
Profile Image for William Moses Jr..
437 reviews30 followers
January 9, 2014
This book is pretty good. It was fast-paced, well-written and thrilling. My only crib is that some of the motives behind what some people did weren't quite so believable to me. Still, the author's ability to write from multiple viewpoints, weave together several stories and tie things up nicely is to be commended.

Also, on a side note, I found one thing slightly irritating. I grew up in the States, and so I was sometimes slightly put off by some of the conversations that were supposed to be taking place between people based there. There are certain things related to speaking English that are local to only those in India, and I would never expect an American not from India to say those things.
Profile Image for Naveen Verma.
54 reviews10 followers
June 4, 2016
What an excellent book by Ravi Subramanian. The book starts with a brutual murder and then the story unravels itself beautifully.
I liked the story because it has many stories running parallel that spans across countries and different cities like Bombay, Coimbatore and Boston with that many sub-plots.
Story is divided into small chapeters which good and keeps reader fully engrossed. The book starts slow and gradually picks up pace, and Oh! What a pace it takes with twists, turns and surprises! I absolutely loved the smooth writing style of the author, easy language, easy flow - mindblowing. And the title justify the story. Highly recommended for those who love the thrills, this book is for you!
Profile Image for Mitul.
2 reviews1 follower
September 23, 2013
Was quite excited before the launch of the book, and that could be understood by the fact that read the book within a day of it's release.. To keep it short n simple, I'd say that on the whole, it's an okay-ish book.. Though fast paced it is, with lucid writing, it's not the "most adrenaline rush bla bla" kind of book, as claimed on the cover page.. Linking tge various true events, and joining them to the world of investment banking aint an easy task.. Probably why the author is known as "John Grisham of the Banking World".. The book was a perfect combination of all the desired things, but somehow fell short of attaining a 4 star level, which I've always gvn for the author's other works..

Profile Image for Nalini.
4 reviews4 followers
October 18, 2013
At my place someone was lecturing on ‘Strings’ in programming that went.......” In C, a string of characters is stored in successive elements of an array. Common operations include breaking them, joining them together or replacing parts of them with other strings and so on ....”

This put an instant smile on my face because that’s when I had just completed reading Ravi Subramanian’s latest book “Bankrupt” and could’nt help noticing the underlying metaphor.

His book is like a good program - Takes a string of characters, handles them deftly and boxes them perfectly. Ravi’s latest book is a breeze with no bugs.

Good read-Definitely.

/nk
Profile Image for Ravikumar.
7 reviews1 follower
April 2, 2014
My first read of Ravi subramanian was good. His narrative skills and language are impressive and the places he used in different cities are not imaginary. Few incidents were left unexplained such as the attack on his FIL and also the arrest of Aditya's ex boss didn't seem to have solid justification. I didn't imagine that transferring money from a 2 tier city to Swiss bank was so easy and the commission paid for money laundering would be so high.

A good book, and now I have started the next one (almost complete) from him - Bankster
Profile Image for Sagar Pande.
3 reviews
May 26, 2014
Ravi Subramanian is someone who started with something different when everyone choose to debut with a teenage iit romance.. And I loved his first novel to the core..
What's good about this one is that it's breezy and the frequent twist and turns will keep you hooked up till the end..
But what doesn't work is that the human emotion is almost zero and if you are someone who cannot deal with pure business then you might end up getting disappointed..
Though not a classy which you will remember years later, but still a fresh read if your done with a iit romance
Profile Image for Sriram KS.
9 reviews3 followers
July 13, 2014
Clearly better than Bankster. Though this book talk less technicality of bank compared to MIT its a good thriller. Its not heavy on subject. Its another catchy crime novel which starts attractively, opens the plot in the middle pages and ends with explanations. Cirisha and Aditya are the only two complete characters in this book. Other characters just fills in. The plot is "who did it and for what?" . overall i enjoyed reading this book . It just suited my need of the hour, not too heavy on subject but fill in the time with nice to read.
Profile Image for Kalliath.
13 reviews
March 3, 2016
After reading Ravi Subramanian's "Bankster", I promised myself to buy his next book which was "Bankerupt" when I got to Hyderabad. Though it took around two months to open the book, the wait was worth it or else I would have said it was a bad book. Ravi Subramanian has made a name among the authors by weaving Banking and thriller to create a new set of books. In this book, I noticed a writing style where he goes through two stories simultaneously. That appeared to be a new one.
Well, I am waiting for the next book from John Grisham of Banking, "God is a Gamer".
Profile Image for Vinod Jayachandran.
252 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2014
Another must read from India's John Grisham of banking industry.

The author knows exactly what readers expect from a suspense thriller.Has a very good pace. All his novel s are based on banking scams but for a change its based on academicians and the politics involved in universities.

What I didn't like is the homosexuality, which was kinda deliberate. The ideal title for this book shoukd have been "Staring down the barrels"
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