Arthur Hailey was born in Lutton, Bedford-shire, England. He served in the Royal Air force as a pilot in World War II. He migrated to Canada and has written best sellers like Airport, Wheels and Hotel. He moved to the Bahamas with his writer wife Sheila. Arthur Hailey died on November, 2004 leaving a legacy of best sellers and over 170 million books in print.
Moneychangers is not only about money, it is about all the effects of money i.e. power, greed, affairs, isolation, loneliness etc. In Money Changers, Hailey tries to present the dynamics of banking. As usual a detailed prelude emerges about the principles of banking, the economics, ethics and above all the operations. He even makes the reader familiar with fake currencies, fraud credit cards and the risk of investment. Towards the end of the book he even explains about the advantages of investments in bullion.
The first Mercantile bank (FMA) is a family run bank and the current chairman Ben Roselli is fatally ill. He is grooming two vice-presidents of the company, Alex Vandervoot and Roscoe Hayward, as his successors. Alex Vandervoot is an honest, principled albeit easy-going person. But his banking fundamentals are strong and he feels that the future of banking lies in retail banking. He believes in giving back to the society and does not believe in risking the banks credibility to bring in the gains.

What is Hailey’s book without a love and personal angle? Alex Vandervoot’s personal life is in shambles. His once lovely wife is confined to a psychiatric facility and he himself fees very guilty about it. He chances upon Margot Bracken, a hard nosed activist lawyer who works for the underprivileged community. To compound matters, the First Mercantile American withdraws financial assistance from some of the projects of the community. Margot’s spirited non-violent protest becomes a success, but Alex’s detractors pin him down to the wall. They feel that Alex has been assisting Margot to pressurize the bank.
Roscoe Hayward, on the other hand, is a very religious, rigid person. He believes that the future profits of the bank lie with big business lending. He does not believe in charity and community projects. Roscoe teams up with a corrupt businessman and undertakes to lend big loans to him. In return for this, he strikes alliances with politicians and is treated to all the pleasure in the world.
But as the businessman defaults and flees the country, Roscoe is left with a huge crisis. This financial crisis threatens to engulf the whole system, setting up a panic reaction among the shareholders, stakeholders, employees and the stock market. Roscoe Hayward faced with criminal offenses commits suicide, paving the way for Alex Vandervoot to take over the ruined financial institution.
Money Changers is a book about the power struggle between two individuals, but Hailey’s research gives the lowdown on the other operatives like mafia, currency rackets and fraudsters who at every stage try to undermine the system. Money Changers is a book for a banking student and a simple layman who does not understand numbers. It is an engrossing tale about the institution which determines the fate of millions in the world – the bank.

Arthur Hailey, a best selling author was born in Lutton, Bedfordshire, England. He emigrated to Canada after actively serving in the Royalk Airforce as a pilot in the World War II. He started his literary career with Flight Into Danger and later came up with amazing titles like Hotel, Wheels, Final Diagnosis tec. He moved to the Bahamas with his writer wife Sheila, and continued to churn out best sellers. He died in November, 2004.
Overload is about the dynamics of power generation. It tells the readers about the difficulty in serving a state like California and how a simple outage can cripple the lives and economy of a nation. Nimrod or Nim Goldman is the Vice President of Golden State Power and Light, who predicts that there is a great possibility a blackout in the future. He feels the need of developing 2 or 3 electricity generating units to combat the electric famine looming alarmingly near. His company has identified sites for developing two power projects and Nim is supporting it through various channels. But critics consider these as ravings of a power hungry, greedy capitalist. Green activists and NGS’s are up in arms agtainst his company and accuse them of pillaging the environment and natural resources. Apart from this the upcoming power projects are opposed by rivals and regulatory bodies.

This book has great significance even today because the hunger for power has not diminished. With lot of other Asian countries developing at a faster rate the need for power has reached its pinnacle. Hailey also takes up the case of power theft by the people. In Overload there is a special drive by the company to catch the culprits which also involves detective agencies. Hailey also refers to the problems various life saving agencies like hospitals face when there is an outage because majority of their equipmentrs like ventilators, X rays etc rely on power. Handicapped people and small businesses thrive on power. These messages are totally put across to the reader along with enviromental concerns.
Ultimately a series of controlled explosions shuts the power and California is plunged into darkness. How the citizens and the company cope with the crisis forms the bulwark of the story. Nim Goldman’s personal life is woven into the story and I feel is an unnecessary distraction. Nim, a modern Don Juan, beds many women or falls in and out of love. He even has an affair with a quadriplegic woman who is totally dependent on the electric power his company generates. His womanizing attitude continues throughout the book in spite of his wife being diagnosed with cancer.
But Hailey ultimately lifts this book with good research about electric theft, shortage, environmental concerns and the effects of a power outage. Even though it was written in the late 70′s the technology and concerns sound even true to this day. Overload gives us a pointer to the future as we are completely dependent on electricity for our needs. Hailey is a visionary indeed !!!

Arthur Hailey was born in Lutton, Bedford-shire, England and served in the royal air force during world war II. He emigrated to Canada and got his first break through as a writer through his book ‘Flight to Danger’. After this he never looked back with his novels like Wheels, Airport, Hotel and Final Diagnosis becoming best sellers. He moved to the Bahamas to continue his writing career until his death on November, 2004.
Airport is one of the best selling novels of Arthur Hailey and has gone on to become a well known motion picture of the same name. It portrays the working of a fictional airport, Lincoln international in Chicago. The main protagonist include Mel Bakersfield who is the general manager of Lincoln International Airport who is working hard to keep the airport in working condition during the worst snow storms of the decade. The Chicago airport is blanketed with snow which had to be cleared at all times to keep air traffic under control. But things get worse with a plane careening of the adjacent runway and getting stuck on the crucial runway three zero. So the runway two five is used frequently and it troubles the Meneawood community which ultimately pickets the airport to stop the flights.

Meanwhile in the air the Golden Argosy, Trans America Flight two is piloted by Vernon Demerest who is the brother in law of Mel Bakersfield. Both have a very tenuous relationship and are at the throats of each other. D.O Guerrero, a bankrupt businessman boards the flight with a bomb to blow himself up to enable his wife to collect the insurance benefits. Vernon Demerest is having an affair with the in flight stewardess Gwen who is pregnant with his child, but does not yet know about it. Aboard this flight is Ada Quonset, a frequent stowaway who sneaks into the flight to visit her daughter in New York. Amidst all this action the drama unfolds with Vernon trying to take away the bomb from D.O Guerrero,who inadvertently detonates it blowing a big hole in the plane. Now Demerest has the unenviable task of landing the Golden Argosy in Lincoln international Airport with out any delay.
At the airport Mel Bakersfield need to get the stuck plane off the run way to clear the path for the Golden Argosy. Mel’s wife Cindy is a social climber and socialite who is unhappy with her husband because he does not attend many functions in her social calender. She warns him of ending their marriage if he fails to attend this particular event tonight. Amidst all this chaos Mel also discovers the soft corner he has for Tonya Livingston, the passenger relations executive.
The other characters involve Keith Bakersfield who is in charge of the radar control who has his own demons to slay. He is tormented by a mid air collision and feels guilty for the fateful accident and is contemplating suicide. But this sudden turn of events brings everybody together to save the passengers trapped in the plane. In the end a high octane finish happens with Joe Patroni the chief mechanic managing to clear the runway to enable the smooth landing and Vernon Demerest and Harry, his copilot make the unthinkable happen.
If you want to have a high adrenaline rush in your veins you can pick up Arthur Hailey’s Airport. It will sure liven up your mundane days and you will never look at the airplane surging up overhead without wondering at the men and women who make it all happen.

Arthur Hailey is a British/ Canadian novelist who is said to have guaranteed his publishers a best seller. His novels were a product of considerable research and therefore very realistic and gripping. Critics say that his style was of a typical potboiler in which he took many different types of crisis and connected them to encompass all the characters.
Hotel is one of Arthur Hailey’s most successful works and to research he had read over 20 books on the hotel industry to convey a realistic feeling for this gripping tale. When you check yourself into a hotel you hardly notice the effort that goes in to making your stay the most pleasant experience ever. The door keeper to the housekeeper and the innumerable invisible background staff work like the spokes in a wheel to keep the whole edifice of a hotel standing and profitable. Arthur Hailey brilliantly portrays the behind the scene actions and intrigues which goes into the working of this business. At the centre of this gripping tale is Peter McDermott, the efficient assistant general manager who has had a checkered past, striving to keep the hotel afloat. The Hotel “St Gregory’s” has fallen on bad times and its aging proprietor Warren Trent has no means to keep it going. He has exhausted all avenues to get credit, and cannot keep the staff and corruption under check. Trying to stave off a take over bid from Charles O’ Keete he resists the changes proposed by Peter McDermott. His old timers are either inefficient or amoral which is bringing the profits down.

So Peter McDermott has to valiantly fight racial segregation, a rape attempt, robbery and a hit and run case which threatens to be bad publicity in the press. Helping him are Christine Francis and a hand full of other staff who many times have their back to the wall. One can see the master stroke of Hailey when an insignificant character like the hotel incinerator operator Booker T, happens to unearth significant evidence to nail the obnoxious Duchess and Duke of Croydon. Booker T, rummages through the garbage and retrieves lost valuables of guests, cutlery and other items. Hailey also draws attention to the fact that such background characters are so significant to the hotel to make its operations profitable.
At the heart of the story is the love affair between the beautiful Christine Francis and Peter McDermott. Both of them have suffered losses and have unenviable pasts. But due to their indomitable spirit and kindness they change the destiny of the hotel. A chance kindness shown to a seemingly destitute Albert Wells who actually owns a gold mine, enables them to stave off the take over battle and preserve the grandeur of St Gregory’s. Peter McDermott has ushered in the change with De-segregation and a freak elevator accident helps him to reconstitute the entire staff.
Hailey’s attempt at humor with Keycase Milne and the playacting Marsha Preyscott also tugs our heart. Al-together “Hotel” is a gripping tale of love, human spirit and business battles.