Summary and Reviews of The Month of The Leopard by James Harland

The Month of The Leopard by James Harland

The Month of The Leopard

by James Harland
  • Critics' Consensus (8):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Paperback:
  • Jun 2002, 352 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

An economist with one of London's leading investment banks finds himself unraveling a mystery which dates back over half a century - all clues lead to the Leopard Fund led by a cold, ruthlessly calculating financial kingpin.

Tom Bracewell is an economist with one of London's leading investment banks. When his Estonian wife vanishes, leaving only a brief note, Tom gradually comes to realize he knows very little about the woman he'd married.

In Tom's search for an explanation, all clues seem to lead to the Leopard Fund, one of the world's most powerful financial predators, headed by the charismatic Jean-Pierre Telmont. Somehow, Tom's wife, Tatyana, and Telmont are linked.

Joining forces with Sarah, a recent employee at the Fund, Tom unwittingly finds himself drawn into the biggest financial story of the millennium as he and Sarah start to unravel a mystery which dates back over half a century. And in order to stay alive before they finally discover the truth, the two of them must remain one jump ahead of one of the world's keenest financial - and criminal - minds.

Chapter One

Sarah looked up at the numbers on the screen, a hard, impersonal row of pixels, each of them coloured red. The figures started to streak into each other as her vision blurred. I've just lost one million dollars, she told herself, the words sinking through her brain and stabbing at her chest. Not a great start to my first day in this job.

The clocks on the wall, displayed the time in London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and Frankfurt. Just after 10.00, she noted. I have been an employee of the Leopard Fund for precisely one hour, and I have begun losing more money than most people make in a lifetime.

This, she told herself, can only get better.

Sarah had arrived at its gleaming modern offices of the Fund at 7.45 that morning, precisely on time. Before stepping inside she had walked around the block twice to steady her nerves. The badge on the label the security guard gave her said Miss S. Turnbull, and it was from that the man who met her at the lobby had identified...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Coventry Evening Telegraph (UK)
The Month of the Leopard is a modern thriller, with all the suspense of a John Buchan or John Le Carre yarn. If you like an old-fashioned thriller, Ian Fleming's original James Bond books and are intrigued by global finance and changes in the former USSR, then this is for you.

Daily Mail (UK)
An excellent thriller.

London Financial News (UK)
Harland has pulled off a rare treat - a story about the financial markets that is, for once, riveting and filled with characters that are instantly recognisable.

Newcastle Journal (UK)
In The Month Of The Leopard, the chief villain of the piece is Jean-Pierre Telmont, a cold, ruthlessly calculating financial kingpin with a serious Napoleon complex and a mission to collapse the economies of Eastern Europe by rigging the markets. He is a superbly drawn villain.

Sunday Business
A fabulous novel about a financial trader searching for his missing wife and uncovering mysterious secrets about her along the way.

The Observer
A cracking good read. James Harland is obviously set to take the world of literature by storm.

Kirkus Reviews
Tension, pitifully lacking in the first two thirds of this grand adventure for MBAs, finally arrives, but nonbankers will probably have bailed out by then.

Publishers Weekly
Flat characterizations, gratuitous violence, unconvincing motivation for Telmont and a too-hasty denouement. But the book is a page-turner for anyone interested in high-stakes financial shenanigans.

Reader Reviews

Davina - BookBrowse.com

Although some of the plot twists somewhat stretched credibility, the story as a whole moved at a good clip, keeping me engrossed until the end. The Month of The Leopard delivers action and adventure in a setting that few thriller writers have the ...   Read More

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