I have been writing for many years, and my main preference is writing political thrillers with criminal overtones inspired by everyday media headlines that expose worldwide government security leaks and corruption. I spent fifteen years in Washington State looking at a questionable political system. With a further eight years living in Cyprus, I studied the existing political divide of the population before meeting a successful whistle-blower, a banker, who went public about the fraudulent activity orchestrated by Russia to steal billions from a Latvian bank. My book mirrors his success wrapped up in fiction.
I love this thriller based on real events several years ago when a whistleblower, later to become my friend, exposed a plot by Russian mafia and KGB elements to defraud a Latvian bank of billions of dollars. When the book was published, I expected an expose type of book but what surprised me was the facts from the real case were intertwined with a story that had me turning page after page.
John Christmas is a banker and what I found fascinating was the way his knowledge of the financial world is explained for the reader to understand. Moving from one country to another with characters involved in dangerous situations, this book is an excellent read for thriller connoisseurs.
A return trip to the land of his ancestors is about to turn deadly for one whistleblowing Chicago banker.
When financial executive Bob Vanags takes a job at ominous Turaida Bank in Latvia, he hopes to learn of his heritage and to fight economic fraud in Eastern Europe. Instead, Bob finds himself pulled into a world of political intrigue, blackmail, and murder.
Aided by his son David, his beautiful colleague Agnese, and a fearless Latvian journalist named Santa Ezeriņa, Bob begins to unravel his employer’s darkest secrets, discovering their sins and conspiracies beyond his wildest fears. Secrets that Turaida wants…
I found this an amazing story that started with one billionaire who almost got away with insider trading had it not been for the FBI, who would not let go of a long investigation. I was drawn in as soon as the book started to reveal not only the methods used to expand a hedge fund into billions of dollars from stock trading but how the multi billionaire Steven Cohen paid a record fine but was never charged with a criminal offence.
I give this author a high five for making the reader aware of what is going on in the financial world. Although I found this book more of a factual story/report, I highly recommend it as a fascinating look at ‘How the other half live.’
Nominated for the FT/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Amazon Top 5 Business Books of 2017
'A prodigious feat of reporting' - Malcolm Gladwell
'Black Edge has the grip of a thriller ... Everyone should read this book' - David Grann, New York Times bestselling author of THE LOST CITY OF Z
How do super-rich bankers get away with it?
There is a powerful new class of billionaire financiers in the world, who use their phenomenal wealth to write their own rules and laws. Chief among them is Steven Cohen, a…
I rate this as one of the most psychologically tension packed books that give an insight into the mind of an up-and-coming trader on the stock exchange who cannot stop making money. I liked the way the author, an experienced trader himself, portrays the mindset of the trader before and after things start going wrong.
I am asked the question–do I stop now or bet everything I have got on things getting better? This is one book I loved for the way the author, I am pretty sure, modelled the main character on himself.
'An unforgettable story of greed, financial madness and moral decay' Rory Stewart 'Hilarious, shocking and deeply sad - often in the same sentence' Sunday Times 'The Wolf of Wall Street with a moral compass' Irvine Welsh
An outrageous, white-knuckle journey to the dark heart of an intoxicating world - from someone who survived the trading game and then blew it all wide open
'If you were gonna rob a bank, and you saw the vault door there, left open, what would you do? Would you wait around?
Ever since he was a kid, kicking broken footballs…
I love it when a book tells a true story that turns out to be a real thriller. As I read this account of Dan McCrum’s investigation into a new technology company for his newspaper, which was growing very fast, I could almost feel and smell the corruption and nightmare position he gets into.
As this real-life plot got darker and darker I admired the man for his courage in fighting the establishment together with some criminal elements and political figures in Westminster. I loved the book and the author. Sometimes, nonfiction stories like this are streets ahead of the make-believe. I vote this book is a must-read.
'The financial investigation of the decade... Money Men instantly enters the canon of great financial crime books' Bradley Hope, author of The Billion Dollar Whale
'A rip-roaring ride into the underworld of the global economy' Tom Burgis, author of Kleptopia
'Required reading' The Economist
'A cross between the Enron scandal and Rosemary's Baby' John Lanchester, London Review of Books
'Reads like a crime drama' New Statesman
'The culmination of years of careful investigative work... Gripping' Evening Standard
'A thrilling, head-spinning book' Irish Times
'A rollercoaster read that reveals everything that's wrong with our financial system' Catherine Belton
I love this great thriller that bears the bones behind a financial system that is on a high. The author, a political journalist, writes a plot that could almost be ripped from the headlines.
The plot covers everything from corruption to murder and a love angle. I thought this was cleverly written and, in places, left me guessing. I was on the main character’s side as he uncovers layers of wrongdoings while being harassed and accused as the powers that be try to knock him off course. A good read for thriller lovers.
THE BRAND NEW THRILLER FROM BRITAIN'S TOP POLITICAL JOURNALIST. ______________________
London, 2007. It's summer in the City: the economy is booming, profits are up and the stock market sits near record highs.
But journalist Gil Peck is a lone voice worrying it can't last. Deep in the plumbing of the financial system, he has noticed strange things happening which could threaten the whole economy. But nobody wants to hear it: not the politicians taking credit for an end to boom and bust, not the bankers pocketing vast bonuses,…
Based on a true incident in Latvia, this is a what-if story about the ease with which those in government ministerial positions can, in conjunction with large investment banks, manipulate and divert hundreds of millions of dollars intended for green projects around the world to finance arms and the tools of war for another country.
A complex Russian plot to divert billions of dollars from a rogue investment bank through offshore accounts and shells is uncovered by a political correspondent investigating the death of an industrialist dealing with the rogue bank. The plot deepens with the introduction of a British traitor working for Moscow. The story ends with the Russian plot thwarted, and an important whistleblower and a traitor returned home.
