The Exchange-Rate Between Love and Money

A cast of aimless thirtysomethings vying for love and cash inhabit Leveritt's Bosnian war romance. Best friends Bannerman and Frito decamp to Sarajevo in 2003 to make their fortunes in a city flooded with redevelopment funds. No sooner are they settled than Bannerman falls in love with Frito's girlfriend, Clare, a Swiss war crimes investigator. Frito, who's a little bit crazy, becomes obsessed with the local beer and later draws Bannerman into a pharmacy scheme with a black marketer. Clare eventually warms to Bannerman, and her preoccupation with finding war criminal Petar Rankovic draws Bannerman into her professional life-and into cahoots with a crew of Anglo-American ""security consultants."" The novel's multiple plotlines and chronologies, choppy text and Balkan sensibilities create a unique reading experience, though the characters' moral and emotional poverty beg for a more nuanced treatment. So many characters ""hanging onto decades-long adolescences"" are wearying, and the intrigue angles are more confusing than they should be (there's a glossary). It's a noble effort, but this brew of lad lit and Le Carré is very much an acquired taste.