Paul Erdman (1932–2007)

Paul Erdman is one of those authors that actually has substantial knowledge and experience with the subject of his novels (others being Frederick Forsyth or Robin Cook).

When someone who knows how things are done decides to write about it in form of thriller, you get so interested that even rather (I mean come on we are not kidding anyone :)) dry economic matter becomes very interesting and bursting with energy.

In this power ride we follow unscrupulous bankers and hustlers trying to make a show more substantial profit from the economic crisis in 1970s, fall of USD and rise of price of gold. It is always amazing to me how much things rely on a handshake and word of trust (ha!) so when rumors start to spread it takes a lot of effort on all sides to put back everything under control. And at the end, that is never rosy with authors like Mr. Erdman and novels like this, every action has a consequence and sometimes these consequences are the final ones. I especially liked very realistic reaction of the Swiss intelligence officer after he figures out that he was played.

Excellent novel, highly recommended. And after you read this treat yourself with Crash '79 from the same author. After that one sees that there is nothing new under the sun for the things that shake the planet. show less

I always enjoy financial thrillers and probably the best writer out there of them is Paul Erdman - I've never read one of his books and been disappointed and was keen to dive into another immersive tapestry from his imagination.

The Billion Dollar Sure Thing is set in the 1970s when the US Dollar has a fixed exchange rate and Gold has a fixed value set in US Dollars, the premise of the novel is the US has decided it will devalue it's dollar and change the value of gold. As such anyone show more holding US Dollars will end up with "less" money vs other currencies/commodities and anyone holding gold will be able to sell it for "more" US Dollars after the re-valuation/re-pricing.

So it's pretty important that the US Treasury keeps their plans a secret, oops, someone's copy has been stolen. Uh oh, Russia is shorting US Dollars hard, and postponing gold sales.... in comes a seedy financial broker and also collusion between Swiss & UK banks...

Entertaining read and karma has an unexpected hard bite at the closing of the narrative. show less

This was the second novel written by Paul Erdman, it was written after he fled Switzerland when he was released on bail. It is his first novel outside of jail (The Billion Dollar Killing was written whilst incarcerated).

The novel is well constructed, although having read some of his other works you can see a definite evolution in complexity and plots in the later novels.

Unlike some books where the author tries to bumble their way through knowledge gaps with generalisations it is clear the show more author has a good understanding of the topic at hand. One would presume so after all considering he did go to jail for his part in the collapse of Salik Bank after it took large losses speculating in the cocoa market.

The story basically covers a group of Americans who decide to open a Swiss bank to hide their money. They get drawn into a deal on an Iranian silver mine amidst a skyrocketing silver price which then makes their new bank a target for a shady corporate take over by a billionaire who is trying to corner the silver market.

An enjoyable read on the commodity markets with some international finance intrigue thrown in, if you enjoy this I'd highly recommend The Crash of '79, Last Days of America and The Panic of '89 - these are later Erdman books which are slightly more refined and very enjoyable. show less

This was a solid political/business thriller, not quite as good as Erdman's The Crash of '79, but nonetheless still a good solid read.

Whilst it was written in 1981 and therefore is now set in the past asides from their being East & West Germany and the Soviet Union the story does transfer well to our current times - in fact there was recently a similar scenario occurring with missile technology being provided to China. So in reality asides for a handful of country changes the story is still show more realistic and pertinent.

The story essentially revolves around an American defense contractor attempting to sell it's new fangled missiles to NATO. When the deal appears in jeopardy they attempt bribery which leads down a path they were not expecting and to the eventual down fall of American foreign policy. show less