From Publishers Weekly
When Verity (True) Banks was 22, she was the highest-ranking woman executive at the world's largest bank. Now, 10 years later, she is contemplating a caper that will reveal the bank's security to be inadequate, and that will surely earn her a position at the Federal Reserve. Before she can carry out her plan to break into the bank's electronic security system, her erstwhile mentor, Dr. Zoltan Tor, reappears with a challenge: Which of them can steal $1 billion, and invest it to earn $30 million in only three months? (Of course, the money will be returned, and no one will be injured.) In the process, Tor and True, with help from a crew of brilliant eccentrics, stumble on a plan by members of the Vagabond Club CEOs of major corporations-,to take over the Bank of the World, possibly sending the U.S. economy into a tailspin. Alternately sounding like a romance novel ( . . . he was tanned and golden, his coppery hair tumbling to the collar of his white silk shirt) and a text on banking (All federally chartered banks must be members of the Fed, and are required to maintain insurance deposits there. . . ), True's story proceeds haltingly, disrupted by frequent recaps and descriptions of her emotional states (my mood progressed from real fury-to intense determination-to righteous indignation-to helpless frustration-to miserable desperation-at last to hopeless exhaustion). Although Neville (The Eight) obviously knows a great deal about the world of finance, she fails to deliver the goods as a novelist. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Neville's popular first novel, The Eight ( LJ 3/1/89), featured dual story lines, one historical and one contemporary. Neville uses the same contrivance in these interspersed stories about schemes to amass great wealth: a clever tale about the early Rothschild banking dynasty and a much longer present-day story about bank executive Verity Banks's efforts to steal funds from her own institution in order to make a point about flawed computer security. The stakes are raised sky high, however, when Verity's charismatic mentor from years past shows up and challenges her to a bet that involves stealing and investing a billion dollars. Romance and riches ensue for these fetching characters in a farfetched plot. Good escapist fare.- Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From the Inside Flap
"A dizzying, enjoyable caper...After reading this hard-to-put down thriller, you may put all your money in your mattress."
LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
When financial executive Verity Banks' latest proposal is axed by her boss, she decides to show how easy it is to break through automated security, hide money, and then show senior management where it is. Then her former mentor, financial wizard, Dr. Zooltan Tor ups the ante, and dares her to steal a billion dollars, invest it to earn thirty million in three months, then put the original billion back before anyone notices. To heighten the challenge, Tor and Verity will compete against each other, though Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a computer for her theft, but he cannot....
A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH-CLUB ALTERNATE SELECTION

ANNOTATION

Financial executive Verity Banks' plot to heist corporate funds begins as a vengeful joke on her bosses. But when her former mentor, financial wizard Dr. Zoltan Tor, steps in with a proposition, the gag becomes a dangerous billion dollar gambit. . . . A New York Times Notable Book.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The Washington Post Book World called Katherine Neville's bestselling novel The Eight "a feminist answer to Raiders of the Lost Ark." Now, Neville remakes the rules of adventure fiction again with a gripping tale of financial intrigue and mesmerizing romance that whirls from the high-power money centers of New York and San Francisco to Paris and a breathtaking Greek island. Verity Banks is the senior woman executive at the Bank of the World, a prestigious financial institution with offices around the globe. Head of Electronic Funds Transfer - and supervisor of some of the bank's most dedicated computer geniuses - Verity lives and breathes the world of big money. But when her power-hungry boss, Kislick Willingly III, axes her proposal to step up the bank's computer security, Verity finds herself thinking some remarkably treacherous thoughts. Her plan is simple. She'll break through automated security and hide some money in a place no one will find it - inside the bank's own computer system. She'll then point out to senior management how easy such a theft really is. It's a perfect caper (and perfectly harmless) until the reappearance of Dr. Zoltan Tor. Tor is the financial wizard who, twelve years earlier, taught his protege Verity everything about technology, commerce, and the fine art of sensual living. Now Tor is back with a challenge: Which of them can steal a billion dollars and invest it to earn thirty million in three months? To tempt her to take such an enormous risk, Tor gives Verity an edge: she can use a computer for her theft, but he cannot... A fascinating insider's look into the world of high-stakes banking, A Calculated Risk is also an immensely enjoyable thriller of the ultimate scam, in which the players jet around the world, team up with bankers and baronesses, and, along the way, discover each other fully for the first time.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

When Verity (True) Banks was 22, she was the highest-ranking woman executive at the world's largest bank. Now, 10 years later, she is contemplating a caper that will reveal the bank's security to be inadequate, and that will surely earn her a position at the Federal Reserve. Before she can carry out her plan to break into the bank's electronic security system, her erstwhile mentor, Dr. Zoltan Tor, reappears with a challenge: Which of them can steal $1 billion, and invest it to earn $30 million in only three months? (Of course, the money will be returned, and no one will be injured.) In the process, Tor and True, with help from a crew of brilliant eccentrics, stumble on a plan by members of the Vagabond Club CEOs of major corporations-,to take over the Bank of the World, possibly sending the U.S. economy into a tailspin. Alternately sounding like a romance novel ( . . . he was tanned and golden, his coppery hair tumbling to the collar of his white silk shirt) and a text on banking (All federally chartered banks must be members of the Fed, and are required to maintain insurance deposits there. . . ), True's story proceeds haltingly, disrupted by frequent recaps and descriptions of her emotional states (my mood progressed from real fury-to intense determination-to righteous indignation-to helpless frustration-to miserable desperation-at last to hopeless exhaustion). Although Neville (The Eight) obviously knows a great deal about the world of finance, she fails to deliver the goods as a novelist. (Nov.)

Library Journal

Neville's popular first novel, The Eight ( LJ 3/1/89), featured dual story lines, one historical and one contemporary. Neville uses the same contrivance in these interspersed stories about schemes to amass great wealth: a clever tale about the early Rothschild banking dynasty and a much longer present-day story about bank executive Verity Banks's efforts to steal funds from her own institution in order to make a point about flawed computer security. The stakes are raised sky high, however, when Verity's charismatic mentor from years past shows up and challenges her to a bet that involves stealing and investing a billion dollars. Romance and riches ensue for these fetching characters in a farfetched plot. Good escapist fare.-- Will Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.

BookList - Mary Carroll