Synopsis:

What makes a mobster, a gambler, a minister and some journalists' lifes come across each other? Power, ambition... and paper money.

Personal Opinion:

Written under one of the pseudonyms (Zachary Stone) used during the early career of the author, the book feels like an ironic approach to unleashed ambition and its possible consequences.

Set on the late 70's, Paper Money is the story of a single day, a day in which firstly unconnected people seem to interconnect by sheer chance. This day can make the difference for all of them, and through it the author builds an interesting plot in which the characters show their craziness for money. This one is the hot topic here; but there's also press influence, the difference between reality and deception or, why not, between winning and losing.

Without a primary character, the action is the most relevant part of the novel. However, there's a good exploration of people's limits when facing a bunch of notes, and a lot of "okay, if that's what it takes..." situations. Actually, I'd say that the whole story feels like a long fable, "be honest" being the moral.

I found myself perplexed about how the story reminded me somewhat of one of my last reads (in catalan: "El perquè de tot plegat", by Quim Monzó). The absurdity of the paths we decide to follow as humans is definitely described in a very similar way.

All in all, it's an enjoyable thriller. Don't expect a masterpiece, nor three-dimensional characters like Follett does in later works. Still, it's a fast and pleasant read. ( )

Jævn kedelig. Jeg forstår godt han udsendte denne under pseudonym i starten. ( )

A very quick easy page turner (286 pages but I easily read it within a single day). It lacks the depth of his later works, but as he says in the introduction to the 1987 edition, this is probably the best of his early less successful novels; for me, it's better than the Modigliani Scandal, anyway. ( )