The Moneychangers by Arthur Hailey
A Review
Arthur Hailey’s The Moneychangers, published in 1975, is a novel about the machinations and internal politics of a large regional bank upon the death of its founder. I read it in a couple of days because Stephen King mentions Hailey’s writing style in King’s book On Writing.
Detailed subject matter(?)
King asserts Hailey scrutinizes the details of his subjects and then injects those details in such a way that it can seem like you’re reading an instructional manual more than pure fiction. That wasn’t my experience with my first Hailey novel. It’s possible I picked a different one than what King had in mind.
As a long-time reader of the late Tom Clancy’s novels, I’m used to the techno-thriller, or spy genre being loaded with arcane details. I like that. Those details can make you feel like an insider, and lend realism to the reading experience, building a credible world for your imagination.
(King suspects readers who like this level of verisimilitude harbor secret reservations about reading fiction. The degree of detail convinces them the author has educated as well as entertained—thus justifying their guilty pleasure. Who knows?)
The Moneychangers is not The Cardinal of the Kremlin, though I suspect Hailey hoped his minor…
