Another widereaching story from Hailey, this time dealing with banks.

As the day begins at First Mercantile American Bank, so do the high-stake risks, the public scandals, and the private affairs. It is the inside world where secret million-dollar deals are made, manipulated, and sweetened with sex by the men and women who play to win.

It's a little dated (written around 1975, and just after Watergate), but the underlying principles are still the same - the moving of money, the gold standard, the relationship of the bank managers to the tellers, investigations into wide fraud etc.

Hailey is showing his strengths in showing both the wider view, plus the small personal details. There's the security men, the Branch and the Bank Mangers, the tellers and enough background story to explain why they do what they do, and the principles they adhere too ( )

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I read this book a few decades ago. Thought the references to bank technology is dated, the storyline runs true even today. Greedy bank executives and Board vs. social conscious and customer oriented executive VP. Guess who wins, for a change? ( )