Mr. Hailey, the institutional keypuncher of hotels and airports, won't do much for your pulse points this time but then he's working at a disadvantage. Banks, for all their velvet cordons and wall-to-wall carpeting, are not very exciting places - certainly not the First Mercantile American even if it's up against many problems besides the "syphilis of inflation." Its fine old president has died and who will succeed him: forward-looking, intuitive Alex Vandervoort even if personally handicapped by an institutionalized wife (and a young liberated lawyer as a mistress); or yea-saying Roscoe Heyward who just goes along with the directors in their catastrophic investment in a shaky enterprise, not listening to Alex who is pushing a savings program expansion and stresses frugality in these times. On the side, there's an ancillary plot involving a vulnerable teller, Juanita, a missing six thousand in cash, and the fraudulent replication of Keycharge cards. . . . All quite dull even if the Hailey name assures the fact that this is as negotiable as any commercial paper - so think clink. (Kirkus Reviews)