How Pa Salt made his fortune + timeline! Could this be the connection to Kreeg Eszu as well?

One of the most asked questions about Pa Salt is: how did he make his fortune? If the below timeline of Pa Salt throughout the books is correct, then he only made his fortune at the second half of his life. I have previously written about how I believe he might have gotten into intelligence work during WW2 HERE. Mr and Mrs Tanit left High Weald, England in the spring of 1944. We do not know where they go, but 3 years later, we meet them in New York. I think Pa Salt started building his fortune then. Maybe just enough to live and travel with Elle, as I do not think they married. They travelled back to England in 1947, and then we lose sight again until Pa Salt is believed to be the man boarding the ship to Australia in 1949, desperately searching for Elle. I think this was when (and where) he really accelerated his fortune. But what was he doing? I am looking into the following in this post:

• What did he do for work?
• How did he get so rich?
• Was Pa Salt’s work related to Kreeg Eszu?
• How is Ace’s story is related to Pa Salt…and the Eszu’s?
• Could Kreeg Eszu’s character be loosely inspired by Robert Maxwell?

TIMELINE PA SALT

OK, SO WHAT DID HE DO FOR WORK? IS THERE A LINK TO KREEG ESZU’S WORK? WHAT ABOUT ACE?

I believe Pa Salt made his fortune in multiple ways. Let’s say he worked in intelligence during WW2 and potentially during the Cold War. What if he then moved on to the financial world somehow? In the first book, he tells Maia something that could indicate that he has a certain degree of expertise on the matter:

in the next 30 years, the worlds economic power is going to radically shift.

Pa Salt, The Seven Sisters

• We also read about the impact the 1929 Wall Street crash had on Maia’s forefathers in Brazil.
• In CeCe’s story, we read about Ace, and how he broke a UK bank with his illegal trading in 2007.
• In Pa Salt’s office, we find sophisticated communication equipment and computers.
• His lawyer also informs Maia that Pa Salt had business interests in Brazil, but that he had similar interests around the world.

What if Pa Salt, in addition to working in intelligence, was an expert on trading, stocks, and economics? Just like Ace was, in CeCe’s story?

In book 4, we learn about Ace and what happened to him:

For New Years in 2006-2007, he had been at a party in St Tropez. He had come in with a boat. He also states that he “did some really stupid things whilst boozing”. When he meets CeCe in Thailand, in December 2007, he has not been drinking for 2,5 months. In these past months he did lose everything. Ace was hiding there since the truth was discovered. Many had their pensions invested in the bank, and had now lost their funds.

He cannot tell anyone what happened, due to various reasons, including legal ones. Only Linda, his caretaker and his father’s (the CEO of the bank he broke) old secretary, knows the truth. I really get the impression that he was tricked into doing something illegal.

Intelligence services all over the world were looking for him.

Could Pa Salt have been collecting intelligence on Kreeg + Zed Eszu and their media companies?

What if Ace was involved with the Eszu’s? What if Zed was at the same party as Ace in St Tropez in 2006-2007? We know his boat is often moored there. Kreeg Eszu was described as not having a good track record at his company, and that most people in the company regarded him as a crook. Zed is described to be even worse, a spoilt rich kid that thinks he can get away with anything.

THEORY: I think Ace, David Rutter (from the bank), Zed and potentially Kreeg did something illegal, it was found out, potentially by Pa Salt, and then Kreeg committed suicide before it got out. Maybe Pa Salt has not yet passed on the intelligence, and so Zed is looking for him to make sure he does not share it? Pa Salt then pretended to be dead, so that it would go away?

I can’t help getting flashbacks to the Robert Maxwell, the super-rich UK media mogul that gambled away his employee’s pensions before dying mysteriously, whilst on his yacht close to the Canary Islands… Read more about the fraud HERE

Robert Maxwell was born Jan Ludvik Hoch in modern day Ukraine (then part of Czechoslovakia) in 1923. He escaped to France during World War II and made his way to Britain, where he joined the British Army. He also spoke multiple languages. This could also fit well (if adjusting the years slightly) with where Kreeg came from. Pa Salt too actually.

• Harry Whittaker has mentioned that part of the 8th book (Atlas the story of Pa Salt) will take place in a new country, of which he could not visit. We all believe this could be either Russia and or Ukraine.
• He also mentioned that we will not see Ace back in the story of Pa Salt, but something related to him. Which is why I think this scam is absolutely relevant to the story.
• Kreeg Eszu is described to have “come from nothing” which could work well if his character is loosely based on that of Robert Maxwell.

What do you think?