Former Reserve Bank governor epublishes a thriller

Economic pragmatism by day, thriller-writing by night

Alan Bollard, novelist

Back in September 2010 I warmly reviewed an account of the economic crisis from a top-man-in-a-small-country point of view.  Called Crisis, it was co-written by Alan Bollard, who was governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank, and the very expert author and oral historian, Sarah Gaitanos (also see my review of her terrific biography, The Violinist).

Crisis, unsurprisingly, went on to become a bestseller.

As the pages reveal, during the stress of the near-collapse of economies, Alan Bollard watched cricket to relax.  Well, that's what he told Sarah Gaitanos.  Now it turns out that he was penning a novel as well.  He enjoyed the publication process, it seems, because he made sure that the novel made it into ... well not exactly print, but as close as a self-published Kindle book can be.

The Amazon blurb for the book says Bollard “wrote this novel while he was Governor of The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, struggling through the Global Financial Crisis by day, and novel-writing by night”.

The synopsis:

It is wartime. Adam has been shot down on a bombing raid and incarcerated. He may be a quiet and unassuming man, but he is a technical wizard and he isn’t going to let the barbed wire hold him back. After liberation, he and his crew find themselves caught up in the early days of the Cold War: hunting Nazi sympathisers, confronting threatening Soviet forces, enjoying seedy Berlin night clubs, and meeting a mysterious German woman.

 

Back in London, Adam and his new bride May try to rebuild their lives after war. But it is grey and cold, and life is rationed. However Adam has some very big ideas, and they take him through crises in Whitehall, a rocky marriage, a return to Berlin, and an evolving spy drama.

One would think that the man who is the soon-to-be chief of the APEC secretariat would be busy enough -- but there it is, and with his name on it, too.  And all Indie authors should be celebrating.  If an economic genius sees a promising future in the booming world of ebook publishing, then he is confirming how they all feel.