City of Thieves

by Cyrus Moore

Niccolo Lamparelli travaille, à Londres, pour une grande banque d’affaires américaine. Partant du bas de l’échelle, il grimpe rapidement tous les échelons pour atteindre le sommet dans sa profession. Malgré sa réussite, il veut rester fidèle à ses principes, tandis qu’ils voient tous ses collègues abandonner les leurs. Et c’est cette exigence qui le distingue des autres. Bientôt il a tout ce dont un golden boy peut rêver : une jolie compagne, une belle carrière à la City et beaucoup d’argent. Le voilà devenu l’un des analystes vedettes de la banque.Mais un jour, tout bascule. Et la chute est rapide. Jack, son ami d’enfance, lui aussi une star à la City, découvre un complot visant à impliquer Niccolo dans une manipulation frauduleuse de marché. Et ce n’est que le début de la fin. En quelques jours, tout ce que Niccolo a édifié s’écroule : sa relation amoureuse, sa carrière, sa réputation.Va-t-il pouvoir rester fidèle à ses principes dans l’adversité ? Ou va-t-il succomber, comme tant d’autres, aux chimères de la compromission ?Un suspense haletant écrit juste avant que n’éclate la crise bancaire des subprimes. Escroc City nous révèle la face cachée du monde de la finance.

Genres: Crime

407 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2009

Reviews

[Chris Klitzing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look me a good 100 pages to get into this novel but wow after that I could not put it down!!
Great lessons in life here
what does principles and integrity mean?? And the story is a classic good v evil ie Nicco sticking to his principles and Larry throwing his away for $$$.
I ask myself who was richer?? 😊😊
I loved this story and recommend it to everyone

[Kate Glynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

In desperate need of a good editor. Too long by half, and they misogyny is hard to take.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story lacked killer final punch for killer ending.Interesting insight into how rating agents work tomorrow.

[Abhijeet Bharate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent story. It has suspense but not much. You will somewhat get an idea of how bulge bracket banks are. Overall it was good.

[Gavin Felgate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was keen for a while to read a thriller set in the world of business, so took an interest in this title.

The book revolves around Niccolo Lamparelli, who joins a banking firm within London's Square Mile. As you might imagine, the book revolves heavily around characters being corrupt, and the bank's chief executive is shown to be a very shady and unpleasant character.

The book starts off with Niccolo impressing his bosses, but you can tell that behind the scenes some very dodgy characters are monitoring him, and after his climb up the firm's hierarchy, things start going wrong.

The pivotal moment comes around half way through the story, with a murder taking place, and this heavily influences the rest of the plot.

Overall, I thought this was a bit predictable but overall very well told, although a lot of the first half of the book seemed to be sleazy male characters making perverted comments about female colleagues and obsessing with casual sex.

Also, while I was a little annoyed the characters seemed to take far too long to prove the killer in a murder, where it was obvious to the reader who was guilty, there were much more good bits than bad bits. Niccolo is a character that you will mostly side with (although he proves to be slightly frustrating at times), and I loved the fact that he and his best friend Jack were given a backstory set around them meeting a Japanese sensei when they were children. The significance is explained later on, too.

There were some chillingly realistic moments too, particularly a scene where hundreds of bank employees get suddenly told their are redundant and escorted out of their workplace. Apparently that isn't too far from the truth at all.

The other good thing about the book was that the end, which was a little different to what I'd expected, did not disappoint.

[Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

It showed that the author had good understanding of the financial world, (especially investment industry) was an interesting read. Started the book with well-balanced between thriller and sequence of events but the wrap up was not properly managed.
His understanding around the subject was excellent, talking about how the investment bankers think and the industry norms, the way an investment banker portray his/herself. However the way he handled the investigation around the story was lacking the expertise and there were missing parts here and there.
Overall the book was fast moving and for sure anyone in the industry would love it. If you ask me.. I would say it’s a good read and would recommend this book but by giving my feedback.

[Skye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, lighthearted read. Lovable characters, rootable main leads and hatable villains and dumb wives. Don't know much about the stock market world but it was fun having a peep! Some parts were underdeveloped though: *spoiler alert*
niccolo could should have shown more grief. Also Doctor Picton could have been sassier to match his mysterious, dangerous entrance at the start of the book. Overall I enjoyed the book though some parts could be elaborated on (ie. Lucy turned out to be kind of a superfluous character...) Mizuno parts were sometimes cheesy as well. But I loved all the Charlie parts!

[Diwita Mathivanan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book about honour, friendship and sacrifice. Though the themes are strong, I found the writing too pale in comparison. The abrupt change in the scenarios keeps the reader alert but too much of it caused frustration at certain points. One needs a basic understanding of the stock market to follow certain portions. Some characters remained superfluous. The sass and emotions that were present in the beginning were not sustained throughout.

Personally, I would call it an average read.

[Balakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard look at the sell side research. Really enjoyed this book. Every serious investor should read this. Having worked on the sell side, I can vouch that every scenario in the book is realistic and shows how honesty and sell side equity research are two opposite side.

[Elna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining story

[Roger Short · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story, fast read and very much a story of our times. Greed and decent in the financial sector. Recommend for good light reading!!