Here are 69 books that The Crash fans have personally recommended if you like The Crash. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of KGB Banker

Ray C Doyle Author Of Union Jack Ruble

From my list on banking scams planned through political corruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Ray's book list on banking scams planned through political corruption

Ray C Doyle Why Ray loves this book

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.

By William Burton McCormick , John Christmas ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked KGB Banker as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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…


If you love The Crash...

Book cover of Union Jack Ruble

Union Jack Ruble by Ray C Doyle,

Based on a true incident in Latvia, Union Jack Ruble 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…

Book cover of Black Edge

Ray C Doyle Author Of Union Jack Ruble

From my list on banking scams planned through political corruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Ray's book list on banking scams planned through political corruption

Ray C Doyle Why Ray loves this book

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.’

By Sheelah Kolhatkar ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Black Edge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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…


Book cover of The Trading Game

Ray C Doyle Author Of Union Jack Ruble

From my list on banking scams planned through political corruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Ray's book list on banking scams planned through political corruption

Ray C Doyle Why Ray loves this book

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.

By Gary Stevenson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Trading Game as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*

'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…


If you love Robert Peston...

Book cover of Union Jack Ruble

Union Jack Ruble by Ray C Doyle,

Based on a true incident in Latvia, Union Jack Ruble 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…

Book cover of Money Men

Ray C Doyle Author Of Union Jack Ruble

From my list on banking scams planned through political corruption.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Ray's book list on banking scams planned through political corruption

Ray C Doyle Why Ray loves this book

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.

By Dan McCrum ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Money Men as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'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

Now adapted as…


Book cover of One Nation Under Blackmail Vol. 1

Kees Van der Pijl Author Of States of Emergency: Keeping the Global Population in Check

From my list on the hidden dimensions of political power.

Why am I passionate about this?

Kees van der Pijl was lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex in the UK. He retired in 2012. At Sussex he was head of department and director of the Centre for Global Political Economy. Besides democracy and anti-war activism he continues to write on transnational classes and policy networks, including the role of “deep politics”.

Kees' book list on the hidden dimensions of political power

Kees Van der Pijl Why Kees loves this book

Jeffrey Epstein was a financial wizard who also served as an agent for other wealthy patrons.

With his partner Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the UK media mogul and Mossad agent Robert Maxwell, Epstein followed in the footsteps of previous organizers of extensive blackmail operations such as Roy Cohn, lawyer for communist-hunting US Senator Joe McCarthy and eventually, political mentor of Donald Trump.

This book provides a comprehensive, well-documented Who's Who of all others involved in the grey zone between great wealth, crime, and intelligence.

By Whitney Webb ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One Nation Under Blackmail Vol. 1 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One Nation Under Blackmail is a damning indictment of the consequences resulting from the nearly century old relationship between both US and Israeli intelligence and the organized criminal network known as the National Crime Syndicate. This book specifically explores how that nexus between intelligence and organized crime directly developed the sexual blackmail tactics and networks that would later enable the sexual blackmail operation and other crimes of deceased pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Other books on Jeffrey Epstein focus on the depraved nature of his crimes, his wealth, and his most famous/politically-connected friends and acquaintances. This book, in contrast,…


Book cover of The Etched City

Noah Lemelson Author Of The Sightless City

From my list on fantasy about weird and wonderful cities.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up in Los Angeles, I am well familiar with strange, grotesque, illogical, and wonderful cities. My love of fantasy has always been for the odd ones out, less the bucolic farmlands and forest, more for those that present a twisted mirror of modern urban life. As an amateur lover of history, I love to study the evolution, mutation, and decay of cities. I find most interesting cities, in both real life and fantasy, to be those shaped by not one single culture, but by many over history and space.

Noah's book list on fantasy about weird and wonderful cities

Noah Lemelson Why Noah loves this book

Speaking of books that push up against the genre boundaries of fantasy, Bishop’s The Etched City crafts a dark, foreboding, but somehow one of the beautiful cities in fantasy.

Ashamoil is a grim place, decadent and decayed, a humid jungle-born city filled with disgraced freedom fighters, slavers, and crime lords. Its fantasy elements are less floating magic gemstones and dragons and more weird, inexplicable things, miracles, and their dark inverse.

At times The Etched City feels like a dream, but the best kind of dream, the one you want to tell everyone about, if you could just find the right words.

By K.J. Bishop ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Etched City as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Combine equal parts of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Chine Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, throw in a dash of Aubrey BeardsleyandJ.K. Huysmans, and you’ll get some idea of this disturbing, decadent first novel.”—Publishers Weekly

Gwynn and Raule are rebels on the run, with little in common except being on the losing side of a hard-fought war. Gwynn is a gunslinger from the north, a loner, a survivor . . . a killer. Raule is a wandering surgeon, a healer who still believes in just—and lost—causes. Bound by a desire to escape the ghosts of the past, together they flee…


Book cover of The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior Is Almost Always Good Politics

Bann Seng Tan Author Of International Aid and Democracy Promotion: Liberalization at the Margins

From my list on using foreign aid to do good in a realistic way.

Why am I passionate about this?

Bann Seng Tan is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Ashoka University. His research interests are on the causes and effects of democratization, the politics of foreign aid, the political economy of natural disasters, aid in decentralization, resurgent authoritarianism, and the democratic peace. His policy proclivities revolve around the defence of the liberal world order. Democracy promotion is but one way to push against authoritarianism. 

Bann's book list on using foreign aid to do good in a realistic way

Bann Seng Tan Why Bann loves this book

Bueno de Mesquita and Smith emphasize the desire of leaders to seek political survival after all else. The authors show how democratic and autocratic leaders respond to the political institutions that they are embedded in, by having systemically distinct policy proclivities. The academic version of the theory is in their book The Logic of Political Survival. The Dictators’ Handbook is the version meant for popular consumption. It is full of examples of leaders making policy choices that benefit their political survival at the expense of their own people who they profess to rule for. I assign the book to illustrate the theory in classes in Comparative Politics. The examples in the book, all of which are non-fiction, are always popular with undergraduate students.

By Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (lead author) , Alastair Smith ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Dictator's Handbook as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith's canonical book on political science turned conventional wisdom on its head. They started from a single assertion: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don't care about the "national interest"-or even their subjects-unless they must.

Newly updated to reflect the global rise of authoritarianism, this clever and accessible book illustrates how leaders amass and retain power. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind, but only in the number of essential supporters or backs that need scratching. The size of…


Book cover of Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City

Joseph G. Bilby Author Of The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey

From my list on New Jersey history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in New Jersey and my paternal ancestors have lived here since 1732. My ancestors served in the Civil War, my father served in World War II and I also served in the military. From an early age, I wanted to be a writer, and that ambition, as well as my experience as an army officer in the Vietnam War, provided the sparks that ignited my writing career.

Joseph's book list on New Jersey history

Joseph G. Bilby Why Joseph loves this book

Most people were drawn to this work because of the HBO television series of the same name. While there was, to be kind, a great deal of exaggeration in the series, Johnson’s thorough research for the book provides an accurate and fascinating account of the history of Atlantic City and its legendary political boss Enoch “Nucky” Johnson.

By Nelson Johnson ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Boardwalk Empire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"When I was first approached by HBO to use Nelson Johnson's book as the basis for a TV series, my biggest challenge was choosing a time period in which to set it...Ultimately I settled on the 1920s of Atlantic City's legendary treasurer Nucky Johnson...A place of spectacle, shady politics, fast women and backroom deals". (Terence Winter, Emmy Award-winning writer of "The Sopranos" and Executive Producer of Boardwalk Empire). From its humble beginnings as a fledgling seaside resort, Atlantic City grew to be America's playground - loud, brash, and dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure. In 1920 alcohol was banned across…


Book cover of Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

Laurie Marr Wasmund Author Of My Heart Lies Here

From my list on why the American West always will be the "Wild West”.

Why am I passionate about this?

Raised in the American West, I have watched the explosive growth in Colorado with dismay. In my lifetime, metro Denver has grown from a population of about 500,000 people to more than 5.5 million. The Colorado of large ranches and wide, open spaces is disappearing. I have named my publishing company “lost ranch books,” in honor of the ranch where I grew up, which was sold and developed with cookie-cutter houses. I’ve now set out to recapture historic Colorado by writing about it. My award-winning books center on Colorado’s and the American West’s history, for not only is it fascinating and, often, troubling, but it still resonates today.

Laurie's book list on why the American West always will be the "Wild West”

Laurie Marr Wasmund Why Laurie loves this book

Water, water everywhere—but not in the American West. I first read Reisner’s book soon after its publication in 1986, when it presented a haunting, frightening future for the western United States that is being realized today. The book reveals the inadequacy of the management of water in the western states that began as soon as there was settlement, and it takes an especially hard look at the treaties surrounding the Colorado River, which has all but disappeared in the past few years, causing panic at the Hoover Dam and in Las Vegas, Arizona, and Mexico. Reisner amply demonstrates why major cities should not be built in semi-arid and arid climes—and still, the western states’ populations continue to explode. 

By Marc Reisner ,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Cadillac Desert as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"The definitive work on the West's water crisis." --Newsweek

The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city's growth. He documents the bitter rivalry between two government giants, the Bureau…


Book cover of American Tabloid

Anthony Schneider Author Of Lowdown

From my list on character-driven gangsters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Growing up on a diet of The Godfather, The Sopranos, thrillers, and gangster novels, and living in New York City with eye-opening trips to Sicily, I became slightly obsessed with the Mafia. I came to see the American Mafia as a quintessentially American fabric, woven of family, power, immigrants, money, history, loyalty, legacy, and, yes, crime.  

Anthony's book list on character-driven gangsters

Anthony Schneider Why Anthony loves this book

A history of the early 1960s in America, leading up to the assassination of JFK, seen through the eyes of the mobsters and criminals, crooked cops, spies, and sleazos who power the machines of history.

A comprehensive romp through the underbelly of American crime and politics (and you might, after reading this book, wonder what’s the difference), it’s a novel about characters you don’t like—but they’re vivid and fascinating.

Much more than a gritty gangster novel, it’s a tale about the people in history’s shadows, and, ultimately, history and the “never innocent” America itself. 

By James Ellroy ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked American Tabloid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first novel in Ellroy's extraordinary Underworld USA Trilogy as featured on BBC Radio 4's A Good Read.

1958. America is about to emerge into a bright new age - an age that will last until the 1000 days of John F Kennedy's presidency.

Three men move beneath the glossy surface of power, men allied to the makers and shakers of the era. Pete Bondurant - Howard Hughes's right-hand man, Jimmy Hoffa's hitman. Kemper Boyd - employed by J Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Kennedy clan. Ward Littell - a man seeking redemption in Bobby Kennedy's drive against organised crime.…


Book cover of KGB Banker
Book cover of Black Edge
Book cover of The Trading Game

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