The Millionaires

November 26, 2001
This giddy fourth thriller by Meltzer (The First Counsel) mixes up banking, cyber-theft and Disney World in a fast-paced, fresh-scrubbed tale of financial adventure. Oliver Caruso is sweating out some scut work for Henry Lapidus, bigwig at Greene & Greene, a private bank so exclusive clients require $2 million just to open an account. When Oliver and his younger brother, Charlie, find proof that Lapidus has been sabotaging Oliver's career plans, the brothers conspire to rip off the lingering balance from a deceased client's account. Silly boys! Not only is the local security goon Shep (formerly Secret Service) already chiseling in on their scam, the real Secret Service thugs are on the case almost immediately. The $3 million the Carusos swiped has somehow cybernetically blossomed overnight to over $300 million. Desperate to clear their names, the boys escape to Florida, following the money to the daughter of the deceased millionaire, a former tech wizard for Disney with a secret invention everyone in this book would happily kill for. The ins and outs of how to steal money that isn't really there makes for an interesting premise if you don't think about it too much, but two flaws detract from the action. First, the narrative POV jumps too often from one character to the next and from present tense to past, making for a choppy read. Second, the novel's juvenile flavor—from the PI who bluffs her way into a building by claiming to be searching for her mother's favorite sock to the hapless schoolboy dialogue ("You touched her cookies, didn't you?")—loudly proclaims its Hardy Boys heritage. (Jan. 8)Forecast:Meltzer's legion of fans will jump-start sales of his latest, prompted by massive television, print, radio and transit advertising campaigns and a 12-city author tour.

September 15, 2001
When the exclusive bank they've established founders, Charlie and Oliver Caruso abscond with $3 million from an abandoned account and soon find bad guys and good guys on their tail.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2001
Sometimes it's fun to root for the bad guys, especially if they're not all that bad. Meltzer gives us two brothers playing Robin Hood, taking from the rich (a bank) and giving to the poor (their mother). Oliver Caruso is the successful one, working for one of the most exclusive private banks in all of Manhattan. Charlie Caruso is the wayward one, the guy who can't seem to hold down a job but is having too much fun to care. Against his better judgment, Oliver agrees to participate in a convoluted but seemingly foolproof scheme to transfer the $3 million in an abandoned account to their own offshore bank. Thing is, about a hundred times that amount gets transferred, and a colleague winds up dead for it. Oliver and Charlie are on the run now, not because the law is after them but because there were apparently a few others at the bank with plans of their own for that account. Meltzer, often called the Grisham of financial thrillers, has a knack for keeping a story moving while still throwing in plenty of insider information (here about the latest techniques in financial investigation). Long on plot, short on subtlety of character, but good fun for the pin-striped crowd.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)