UK: BOOKS - TAKEN FOR A RIDE - Black Cabs, by John McLaren, Simon & Schuster, £9.99. Anthony Hilton enjoys ...

BOOKS - TAKEN FOR A RIDE - Black Cabs, by John McLaren, Simon & Schuster, £9.99. Anthony Hilton enjoys this pacy thriller, a scathing portrayal of corruption in the City.

An American visiting London's financial district in the 1980s famously remarked that the sound of the City was the sound of a thousand backs being scratched. The hierarchy was rigid, and everyone knew their place.