Greed - How Far Would You Go?

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Greed - How Far Would You Go? is a novel by the Austrian author Marc Elsberg , the first edition of which was published by Blanvalet Verlag in 2019 . At the center of the plot are the nurse Jan Wutte and the professional player Fitzroy Peel , who are trying to solve the murder of a Nobel Prize winner and his assistant. Little by little they unravel the background of the murder and at the same time decipher the message that the Nobel Prize winner left behind.

action

An impending economic crisis is causing unrest in Berlin. People take to the streets and demonstrate. During a summit meeting, a lecture by the renowned Nobel Prize winner Herbert Thompson is planned to change the world. On the way to the lecture, there is a car accident in which the Nobel Prize winner is killed alongside his assistant Will Cantor . A coincidental witness of the accident is nurse Jan Wutte , who observes how hooded figures set fire to the car and thereby kill the accident victims.

Before the car explodes, Jan manages to get some clues from the injured assistant. When the murderers followed him afterwards, the arrival of the police saved him. Since the latter takes up his testimony, but does not believe him, he escapes from the crime scene and unceremoniously sets out to decipher Will Cantor's clues himself. First they take him to a Berlin bar, to the gambler Fitzroy Peel , who turns out to be a friend of the murdered man. The killers appear again. When they try to kill Jan and Fitzroy, the two escape together.

Meanwhile pursued by both the police and the killers, Jan and Fitzroy set about deciphering the further clues of the murdered. In Will Cantor's hotel room they find evidence of a new economic theory he developed. On their escape from the hotel room they meet squatters who help them with the cell phone number of their former Will Cantor colleague Jeanne Dalli.

Jeanne Dalli finally manages to steal the entire stolen documents from her boss, who turns out to be the mastermind behind the murder. Together with Fitzroy Peel, she succeeds in recapitulating the economic theory of the Nobel Laureate and presenting it to the public at the summit in an improvised lecture. The message of the lecture is that an economic system that is not based on competition but on cooperation has proven to generate higher yields and thus offers the prospect of a new, more profitable economic system. This could prove to be the solution to the looming economic crisis.

background

In his thesis of the inefficiency of the neoliberal economic model, the author refers to publications by physicists at the London Mathematical Laboratory (LML).

literature

reception

“As profitable as Elsberg's economic explanations may be for the interested reader, the tension and the pace of the plot sometimes suffer as a result. One has the feeling that Elsberg's idea of ​​a world formula for the prosperity of all is more in the foreground than the murder of the Nobel Prize winner Thompson. Elsberg fans will get their money's worth as well as readers who are interested in economic or socio-political topics. Those who expect a fast-paced and captivating thriller, on the other hand, may be disappointed. Too often you have the feeling of holding a non-fiction book in your hands. "

- Thomas Gisbertz : www.krimi-couch.de

“Elsberg skillfully breaks down economic terms for the reader - that's the difficult part of the book. Sometimes the dialogues read like a set of theses - Elsberg is in good company from Frank Schätzing to Daniel Suarez. Elsberg focuses on main characters and big theses, secondary characters such as police officers, billionaire Ted Holden or hedge fund manager Jeanne Dalli remain rather vague. "

- Stefan Maelck : MDR culture

In general, the reviewers of the novel judge that Elsberg neglected the quality of the literary means in his novel in order to provide an understandable presentation of the complex economic facts . This is how Katja Sembritzki feels the dialogues are constructed on N-tv , Ernst Corinth in the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung speaks of clichéd characters and Peter Huber in Die Presse would have preferred the presentation of the topic in a non-fiction book .

The business thriller achieved a rating of 64 ° among the readers of the online portal Krimi-Couch . The author's 3 science thrillers previously published were each rated with at least 80 °. On the mirror - seller list , the could hardcover issue of the Romans put on the 3rd place in the spring of 2019.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Renate Graber: People are not hungry enough to make a revolution. Der Standard , March 17, 2019, accessed March 30, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Florian Gasser: The noisemaker. Die Zeit , January 27, 2020, accessed on March 30, 2020 .
  3. ^ A b Thomas Gisbertz: Critique of the Capitalist World. In: www.krimi-couch.de. March 1, 2019, accessed in 2020 .
  4. ↑ Stefan Maelck: "Greed" - In Marc Elsberg's thriller, society is heading for collapse. In: www.mdr.de. April 29, 2019, accessed 2020 .
  5. ↑ Katja Sembritzki: Prosperity formula calls murderers on the scene. N-tv , March 10, 2019, accessed March 30, 2020 .
  6. ^ Ernst Corinth : Marc Elsberg Thriller 'Greed'. Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung , March 19, 2019, accessed on March 30, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Peter Huber: The world economy as a leaning tower. Die Presse , February 23, 2019, accessed March 30, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Book report bestseller. Book report , accessed March 30, 2020 .