Book titles are a bit deceiving. I received Cristina Alger’s third novel, The Banker’s Wife, and figured it would literally be a thriller about a banker’s wife. And it is – to a point. But I came away from it excited about the story of a female journalist, Marina Tourneau, who is far more interesting and pivotal than the title character. I want to go on ride-alongs with that reporter, who was Maggie Haberman, Andrea Mitchell and Nicolle Wallace all rolled up in one. This is a terrific work of continent-hopping fiction and I love the way the character of Marina comes to dominate the narrative and never becomes a victim, never plays the “woman card,” and never needs to turn to a man to fix things for her. CRISTINA ALGER podcast excerpt: "One of the things that struck me when I was researching The Panama Papers was it was such an heroic and noble effort on the part of all these journalists who realized the story was too big for any one person ... I was so impressed by that; so many of these people risked their lives to do this." Screw that. I understand that The Banker’s Wife is a sequel of sorts to Cristina’s first novel, The Darlings, which I probably would not have been interested in based on the title alone, but now I want to go back and read it for a deeper understanding of the characters in The Banker’s Wife. Cristina Alger • • • • •