09-09-2022, 07:13 AM
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
This book is tied in with The Paper Conspiracy in the fact Benjamin Weaver's Father, Michael stars in this book. And there is an Easter Egg where Michael Lienzo uses the name Benjamin Weaver as an alias to do trades.
The story take place in Amsterdam many years before the events in The Paper Conspiracy. Michael is struggling under a mountain of debt after some bad commodity trades in Sugar and Brandy. He is in trouble with his brother, the local Jewish ruling committee and another trader Michael hurt in the past. Into this comes Michael's chance to earn it all back by trading in coffee, a relativity unknown product at this time in Amsterdam. But bad things keep happening to Michael as he tries to keep his plan a secret while be hounded by outside forces. There is a lot of minutia about 17th century stock trading and for me it got a bit tedious.
But the big problem is Michael is a bad guy. He cheats as much as everyone around him. He has ruined many people. He takes out a hit on a guy that is bothering him. A lot of times I felt that his misfortunes were warranted. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for him.
This book is tied in with The Paper Conspiracy in the fact Benjamin Weaver's Father, Michael stars in this book. And there is an Easter Egg where Michael Lienzo uses the name Benjamin Weaver as an alias to do trades.
The story take place in Amsterdam many years before the events in The Paper Conspiracy. Michael is struggling under a mountain of debt after some bad commodity trades in Sugar and Brandy. He is in trouble with his brother, the local Jewish ruling committee and another trader Michael hurt in the past. Into this comes Michael's chance to earn it all back by trading in coffee, a relativity unknown product at this time in Amsterdam. But bad things keep happening to Michael as he tries to keep his plan a secret while be hounded by outside forces. There is a lot of minutia about 17th century stock trading and for me it got a bit tedious.
But the big problem is Michael is a bad guy. He cheats as much as everyone around him. He has ruined many people. He takes out a hit on a guy that is bothering him. A lot of times I felt that his misfortunes were warranted. I didn't have a lot of sympathy for him.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm