"Wild financial crime tale"

Brothers Oliver and Charlie Caruso work at the exclusive banking firm of Greene and Greene where client entry begins at two million dollars. However, the siblings soon learn that a boss Henry Lapidus is destroying Oliver's career. Already in major debt, The Caruso brothers decide to embezzle a three million-dollar inactive account owned by a dead client that no one in the firm or the deceased's family seems to realize exists.

However, the smooth felony fails as hidden strings attached to the loot ring alarms to various players. To the sibling's fear and bewilderment, the cash abruptly multiplies one hundred times. The Secret Service, the Disney Corporation, and a thug or two chase after the lads. Desperate Oliver and Caruso flee to Florida in an attempt to get out of this mess by following up on the only lead available, the dead client's daughter.

THE MILLIONAIRES is a wild financial thriller that takes the audience on a strange but interesting trip into the world of not so real but somehow spending money. The story line is fast-paced though marred from the seesawing between past and present tense that at times jars the reader out of the plot. The Caruso brothers gain fan empathy as their one attempt at crime ends up as a Mad Hatter ride leading to the audience singing Brad Meltzer's praise for an enlightening, exciting, and entertaining story.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 13, 2002

Summary

Two brothers. Three secret service agents. And millions for the taking. Charlie and Oliver Caruso are brothers who work at Greene and Greene, a private bank so exclusive there's a $2 million minimum to be a client. But when the door of success slams in their faces, the brothers are presented with an offer they can't refuse: $3 million in an abandoned account that can't be traced. It's the perfect victimless crime. Charlie and Oliver opt to take the money, but get much more than they bargained for. Now, with a lot of extra zeroes in their pockets and a friend found dead, the Secret Service and a female private investigator are closing in. Whose money did they take? How will they stay alive? And why is the Secret Service trying to kill them? Both Charlie and Oliver quickly realize it's not easy being The Millionaires.