A young Swiss-American, Nicholas Neumann, begins work for a large Swiss bank in Zurich. His father used to work there until he was murdered. His son wants to know what happened.

The author has worked in a real Swiss bank and he describes the state of the banking industry during the merger between the two largest banks in the country in 1996. Around the same time, banking self-regulating rules were being introduced so that bankers would now have a duty to report accounts they suspected to be linked to criminal activity.

The hero works in the Middle East and Southern Europe desk which manages 700 accounts with 2 billion dollars. The account officers do not actually usually know their clients' names, which is kept in a separate section, the Dokumentation Zentrale. Clients identify themselves with pseudonyms and code words. Privacy. Silence. Confidentiality. Our holy vows.

The bank's general manager tells the new employee about the big picture:

”Remember that first and foremost we are a Swiss bank. We've served our community and our country for over a hundred and twenty-five years. Before there was a unified Germany, our headquarters stood on this very spot. Before the Suez Canal was completed, even before a tunnel had been built through the Alps, we were open for business. The world has changed tremendously since that time, and we're still open for business. Continuity, Nicholas. That's what we stand for.“

 A DEA agent lectures Swiss bankers and conveys a different image of Swiss banks than in some other books we reviewed.

”Ninety-five percent of your clients are law-abiding citizens. Another four percent are your small-time tax evaders, bribe takers, lower-level arms traffickers, and bottom-feeding drug dealers.“

The book is a good thriller, well written and cannot be better researched. It is a real pleasure to see foreign writers can have such a good understanding of the Swiss banking world.