All That Counts

by Georg M. Oswald

Thomas is out of depth and sinking fast. He is thirty-something, married to Marianne, bored and struggling with his job as a banker. When he finds himself single and unemployed he turns to the underworld and falls in with a cocaine-fuelled crowd of money-launderers who set out to exploit him.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Marc Trapp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Das Buch ist irgendwie unangenehm, was an dem total unsympathischen Protagonisten liegt. Irgendwie total aus der Zeit gefallen. Würde sagen eher ein Read für alte weiße Männer… Das Ende ist nicht schlecht, deshalb 2 Sterne, aber ehrlicherweise habe ich’s nur aufgrund der Kürze durchgelesen und weil ich es auf einem Flug dabei hatte. Keine Empfehlung.

[Kat · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thomas, a good-looking, semi-successful banker, is hungry for money and fame. He is obnoxious, ruthless, utterly twisted and just a complete asshole. One day, he gets fired and his marriage is starting to fall apart but he is too far gone to even care about it. All he thinks about is how to make more money and spend it faster.

Whilst the criminal intrigues he gets himself into are tantalising enough to keep you reading, the rest of the book feels almost insulting to the reader's intellect. The Protagonist is boring, completely unlikable and simply stupid. The sole purpose of the story seems to be to make the reader feel disgusted by him so they will cherish their own life more. It's like the author is screaming at you "Look what money makes you do!", wrapped in poorly-executed sarcasm and daft humour.

This might have been original about 300 years ago (although probably not even then) but in the 21st century feels like a pitiable affront to the reader. I physically cringed reading about how he takes a prostitute shopping because he doesn't know how to spend his money otherwise. Not because it is ridiculous - but because the fact that Oswald thinks he needs to write a book about it is.

I've read some pretty boring, silly books this year but this is the first time I've felt offended enough to give 1 star.