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    A Dangerous Fortune
    A Dangerous Fortune
    A Dangerous Fortune
    Audiobook16 hours

    A Dangerous Fortune

    Written by Ken Follett

    Narrated by Michael Page

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A breathtaking thriller featuring “political and amorous intrigues, cold-blooded murder, and financial crises” (San Francisco Chronicle), from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Column of Fire

    In 1866, tragedy strikes the exclusive Windfield School when a young student drowns in a mysterious accident. His death and its aftermath initiate a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many lives.

    From the exclusive men’s clubs and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London’s upper class to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world’s wealth, one family is splintered by a shared legacy. But greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy’s death, must be stopped, or the dreams of a nation will die.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateMay 16, 2017
    ISBN9781543612905
    A Dangerous Fortune
    Author

    Ken Follett

    Ken Follett was born in Cardiff, Wales. Barred from watching films and television by his parents, he developed an early interest in reading thanks to a local library. After studying philosophy at University College London, he became involved in centre-left politics, entering into journalism soon after. His first thriller, the wartime spy drama Eye of the Needle, became an international bestseller and has sold over 10 million copies. He then astonished everyone with his first historical novel, The Pillars of the Earth, the story of the building of a medieval cathedral, which went on to become one of the most beloved books of the twentieth century. One of the most popular authors in the world, his many books including the Kingsbridge series and the Century trilogy - a body of work which together chronicles over a thousand years of history - and his latest novel Never - which envisages how World War III could happen - have sold more than 188 million copies. A father and husband, Ken lives with his wife in England and enjoys travelling the world when he can.

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    Reviews for A Dangerous Fortune

    4.5/5

    207 ratings28 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      fast and fun; I listened every spare minute that I could find .

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Great characters loved Mazey and all the women in the book
    • 4/5
      Excellent, captivating stories with in depth portrayal of the characters. However, I do believe that there is too much sexual contention this book. Unnecessary.
    • 5/5
      It was such a pleasure to listen to this novel! Ken Follett is a genius!
    • 5/5
      This book has the distinction of being the first book that I purchased and read on my Sony e-reader. The first thing I noticed was that the e-reader must condense the pages as there were less screens than the book copy of A Dangerous Fortune- a good thing in my opinion as Mr Follett tends to write chunky pageturners.A Dangerous Fortune is another one of those page turners, focusing on an English banking family, the Pilasters, in the late 1800s. There is Edward, the rich banking heir and Hugh, who has been disgraced due to the bankruptcy and suicide of his father. We meet these cousins at their boarding school, where a schoolmate has mysteriously drowned. Enter Edward’s friend, Cordovan Micky Miranda and fellow Cordovian and Hugh’s friend, Tonio. This event will plague them for the rest of their lives.The rest of the book is played out as a gripping family saga. There’s the domineering mother, Augusta, who will stop at virtually nothing to see that Edward becomes senior partner of the bank and that Hugh’s position is weakened. There’s the villain in Micky (some of his exploits will blow you away) but there’s the good friend of Hugh in Solly and Tonio. Maisie, whose life was changed when Hugh’s father went bankrupt, will also have you cheering at her rags to riches story.Although this book is about banking, it’s never boring. The Pilasters and friends never cease to be thinking about plotting the rise or fall of someone. The possible exception to this is Hugh, who is honest (sometimes too much) and hardworking. He is a central character as a lot of the plotting revolves around his success and failure.There is less focus on the history and more on the plot, which moves at a speedy pace. A great book to start ereading with!
    • 5/5
      Couldn’t put it down! Thrilling, exciting, elating , recommend it!!!
    • 5/5
      My favorite Ken Follett book! After reading pillars of the earth, I really appreciated the detail he puts into his book. This one was set in a different time period, but still had lots of detail and really kept me engaged. An excellent book, I would recommend it to anyone!!
    • 5/5
      Delightful novel. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would.
    • 4/5
      relentlessy suspenseful, sassy and unscrupulous characters
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book, it gives a great insight to London in the 1800s.
    • 5/5
      Follett is fantastic in A Dangerous Fortune. The author introduces us to a family business and a couple of corrupt characters. As the reader you not only get to see the inner workings of the Victorian era banking house known as Pilaster's but you also get to see the making of a man in Hugh Pilaster. The book is fun, fast paced and if your a Follett fan then you will like this one. If you have never read Follett before this is a good book to start with. Enjoy!
    • 2/5
      not very good - kept hoping it would get better - mickey miranda is the bad guy dating back to school days and gets involved in all sorts of just evil conniving. No real characters that I liked.
    • 4/5
      Started interesting ?. From the middle onwards could not stop listening/ couldn’t put the book down… so it gets more and more interesting as the story evolves…
    • 2/5
      my first Ken Follett and disappointed; unlikable characters; I didn't care what happened to anyone.
    • 3/5
      This is a quite unremarkable, moderately entertaining work of fiction set in late 19th century England. As with another of Follett's works, A Place Called Freedom, it has little to recommend it over dozens of other similar novels set in the period. The plot revolves around the Pilasters, a wealthy and contentious banking family, whose various branches struggle for control of the family business. Subplots involving a fictitious South American country and members of the British "underclass" bring some spice into the history. However, as with A Place Called Freedom, the most striking aspect of the novel is its utter predictability. Twists in the story become strikingly obvious scores of pages in advance. I would rate this novel slightly above the aforementioned A Place Called Freedom, but both pale in comparison to Follett's two novels Pillars of the Earth and World Without End. Readers familiar with those works will likely be disappointed with this effort.
    • 5/5
      One of the two best books I have read from Ken Follett. Always Ken Follett is a marvelous writer and never disappoints me!
    • 5/5
      Loved it. This was a nice change from the WWII era Follett that I've read. However, there's one thing that ties all of his books together for me ... his characters. They are always captivating and complex and interesting. The banking stuff is even written in a way that I can understand! The book covers 26 years in the life of a family, and in the end, the good and the bad both get what they're due ... just the way it should be!
    • 4/5
      Solid historical fiction. I enjoyed reading this from start to finish. There is nothing that special about it, but it did the job.
    • 4/5
      I always enjoy Ken Follett - a great story teller.
    • 5/5
      Ken Follett is brilliant as always. His books have a familiar structure that works very well. His characters are intricately fleshed out and the story takes many intriguing turns. This book is actually less vulgar than his other books (the Century trilogy and some of his others are overly explicit in some aspects). Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      A Fascinating tale from beginning to end a very informative
    • 1/5
      I liked Pillars much better; which I read first. Follett is an excellent writer but I could of done without this depressing story of corruption,murder, unnecessary sex, oh yes and don't forget to add a gay character because there were gays back then also! It seemed contrived. In general, I don't like a story that has no redeeming or complicated characters. Would make a decent made for TV movie with some B rate washed up actors.
    • 4/5
      This book is a wonderful page turner. It is both perfectly plotted, and contains rich and believable characters. I also found there to be an underlying humor to the book that tempered the darkness of some of the characters. Once I started it, I resented having to put it down, and finished it in nearly 24 hours.
    • 5/5
      I keep coming back to this book because of the connection between homophobia and crime which Follett develops in the relationships among Micky Mirnada, Augusta Pilaster (the family matriarch) and Edward Pilaster. I have always felt that Follett presents realistic characters, and this book is no exception.Follett is also a master at portraying the era whenever he writes historical fiction, and Dangerous Fortune does not disappoint in this regard.Dangerous Fortune is also a work I would call Economic Fiction and Follett does an excellent job of portraying the financial and banking industries of Victorian England.
    • 3/5
      Prep school relationships between a Mexican boy and a rich society boy leads to murder, financial chicanery that goes on for years, sexual exploitation. The hero also was ruined by members of his greedy family but love and fortune ultimately prevail. We listened to the audio version while driving from Detroit to Maine with my daughter's 1 year old son and dog. It kept us going all three days!
    • 4/5
      Well-done and a captivating read. Unlike many authors, Follett knows how to write an ending that does not seem contrived, disjointed, forced, lacking in credulity, or otherwise disappointing.
    • 2/5
      This was like watching a soap-opera on BBC. Illegitimate children, loveless marriages, evil, scheming women and men, murders, white knights and bad girls with hearts of gold. All of this is in this book and more. It does go ON quite a bit and everything ties up neatly in the end. All in all, I'd say it was entertaining, but , after finishing it, I felt like I always do after eating an entire pan of brownies. Why in the world did I do that?
    • 2/5
      Good historical detail, gratuitous sexual detail. Just a romance novel.

      1 person found this helpful