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Michael Cantella is a guy who's got it all. At the tender age of 35, he's recognized as a financial wizard at his Wall Street investment bank and has earned more money than he could ever hope to spend. He's got the great car, the beautiful second wife and a future with no limits. The only thing that has ever gone wrong for him is his first marriage, an impulsive match with a quixotic woman named Ivy Layton. Although they are soul mates, their time together is all too short; on the eve of their wedding, she disappears, with her remains later showing up in a shark's stomach. Well, as might be expected, the sun doesn't shine forever. On the eve of a surprise birthday party set up by his wife, Mallory, Michael takes a few moments to look at his online accounts. Much to his shock, each of them is showing "zero balance." In a matter of hours, his entire portfolio has been wiped out and his wife is seeking a divorce. He determines that he has been a victim of identity theft, but it's a hard sell to the members of his firm and the media. In fact, he is painted as a villain who has driven the company to the brink of bankruptcy. Whoever has set him up has done a devilishly clever job of it; there is no trace of the transactions, and information about the situation trickles out in ways that make him look worse and worse. In fact, Grippando piled it on a little too much; there was nothing in Michael's life that was working and more bad stuff kept being added to the mix. It didn't help that Michael would never follow good advice and just kept getting himself more tangled in his own downfall. And then there is the unexpected reappearance of his first wife, Ivy. She's been on the run after her attempted murder four years earlier and has only contacted Michael because of his precarious situation. She is a very resourceful woman, but I felt that Grippando gave short shrift to Ivy's back story. It would have added another dimension if he had devoted some time to exactly how she managed to elude her "murderer" and then a group of pursuers for four years. She had the potential to be a much more powerful character, but perhaps that would have stolen some of the thunder from Michael's story. There were a few times where the explanations about various financial transactions went over my head, and I found some of the plot twists and characters to be over the top. However, discovering the truth behind the situation that Michael found himself in kept the book moving along well. MONEY TO BURN is a financial thriller that feels like a true story right from the headlines. We all know about the ramifications of identity theft and how difficult it is to right that wrong. And the news of the past few years has been filled with the impact of decisions made by financial institutions that put the world's economy on its ear. Perhaps the scariest part of this book is that it is so true to life. The book is more of a horror story than any tale featuring vampires or ghouls. It's terrifying to believe that the identity theft of a person of influence can lead to the fall of giants, but all too believable.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, March 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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