The Account

Julia Lang, heiress to her late husband Robert's fortune, is devastated to hear that his Swiss bank has denied the existence of his account and in an effort to uncover the truth, hires an investigator to reveal her dead husband's past

A financial conspiracy reaching back to before WWII informs the premise of this exciting fourth novel from Mann (Foreign Body). When unwary Julia Lang, a chic young publicity director for an upscale London hotel, is courted by sexy, 60-something Robert Brand, one of the world's richest men, she is caught up in the intrigue of a global banking conspiracy. After impregnating Julia, Brand transfers $20 million in her name to a secret account in Geneva's prestigious Banque Eberhardt-but he dies before he can give her the account number. When Brand's vengeful widow learns of the transfer, she coerces the bank's founder, Paul Eberhardt, who has recently come under the suspicion of the Federal Banking Commission, to hide evidence of the money. In response, Julia employs a soldier of fortune, Guy Ravenel, to recover the funds. Blackmail, kidnapping and murder fill the subsequent pages as the action moves deftly back and forth among Geneva, London, New York, Paris and Acapulco. Despite no-frills prose that maintains a certain aloofness, the plot sustains a strong narrative pull and manages a semblance of romantic tension to its very end.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A limp romantic thriller filled with the pricey trivialities of the most upper of the upper social crust, by British-born TV celebrity journalist Mann. Julia Lang runs the publicity department of London's on-the-rise Burlington Hotel. Between bouts with the hotel's reptilian director--a man who raped her when she was 17 and has unpleasantly reentered her life--and fights with her boyfriend, she falls in with the dashing, obscenely wealthy Robert Brand, one of those husky prime-time soap-opera tycoons who exerts the same mesmerizing effect over his lovers as he does over currency markets. Brand is married, but his wife is crazy, holed up in the couple's lavish Acapulco estate. She has evidently arranged the murder of Brand's last mistress. Besides meddling in her husband's affaires de coeur, Grace Brand is also determined to keep her hands on the Brand fortune, which she does by terrorizing Robert's Swiss banker, a former Nazi sympathizer with several skeletons in his own closets. When Julia tells Robert that she's pregnant, he's overjoyed, to the tune of a $20 million transfer to her account. It never goes through. Then Robert, having made the birth-to-be announcement, immediately falls victim to a fatal postcoital heart attack. Enter Guy Ravenel, a swashbuckling American operator who, in league with a Swiss bank investigator, pokes into Julia's case. What follows is familiar globetrotting, jet-setty nonsense. The author knows aspects of this world, but it all comes off sounding like a cross between Robin Leach and third-string le Carr‚. Finally, a whole Nazi subplot is crammed, summary-style, into the last 50 pages. Overloaded with witless plot swerves and a welter of clich‚s. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Secrets, lies, and danger permeate this story of a young woman and a reclusive, married businessman. Julia Lang has a brief, intense affair with billionaire Robert Erand. Discovering she is pregnant, he opens a Swiss bank account for her but dies before signing any papers. When Julia tries to get the money, the bank denies the account exists. She hires a private investigator and sets in motion events that bring to light old crimes and trigger new ones. Mann (Foreign Bodies, LJ 5/1/75) writes in a somewhat cinematic style, jumping between several story lines and gradually drawing them together. Unfortunately, his plot resolutions are rushed and not altogether satisfactory. Similarly, even the major characters are poorly developed, so it is hard to care much about them. The action and mild suspense make the book a diverting read but it is not a necessary purchase.
Barbara E. Kemp, SUNY at Albany, Guilderland
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.