Paper Money

Three seemingly unrelated events ocur on a single morning in one of the world's largest cities: An MP wakes up after spending the night with a beautiful young woman he has met in a bar; a tycoon meets a leading Bank of England official for breakfast; an underworld gang boss briefs his new crew. None of these events appear newsworthy in themselves, until ambitious young reporter Kevin Hart uncovers his first promising link and reveals each of the characters as integral parts of a much larger conspiracy... Set in the world of London that Ken Follett knew as a young journalist in the 1970s, Paper Money is a classic crime and adventure story that is sure to appeal to all Follett fans.


A politician wakes with a beautiful girl; a criminal briefs his team; a tycoon breakfasts with a Bank official. Then three stories break: an attempted suicide, a hijack, and a takeover bid. They seem unrelated – until Evening Post reporters ask questions. Why is a Jamaican bank in trouble? Who drove the Rolls-Royce seen near the raid? Who was the man with gunshot wounds? As the day wears on, new questions arise – about paper money.

Ken Follett’s view
I was almost good when I wrote The Modigliani Scandal and Paper Money. They were the last two novels before I found success with Eye of the Needle, and were written under the name ‘Zachary Stone’. By this time my storytelling skills had improved, and these books have more depth than my earlier efforts. They are too short, however, the characters have no past and the action often moves too quickly for the reader to enjoy.

For hard-core fans, I have allowed these two to be republished in most countries, but included a preface for each emphasising that they were early works. I was afraid I might get a lot of mail from disappointed readers, but in the event I didn’t get any. People seem to enjoy them, so they can’t be too bad.