Billion Dollar Whale: the bestselling investigation into the financial fraud of the century

Very well written and totally absorbing. The story of corruption in Malaysia; a sovereign wealth fund set up to give kick backs to the Malaysian Prime Minister, and his wife and son. The 'hero' is a Malaysian in his 20s who went to Harrow the English public school. He managed after some false starts to set up this hedge fund which took money from ordinary Malaysians and corrupted their politics. With billions at his disposal he could buy the company of Paris Hilton and Leonardo de Caprio among many others to give himself a sort of credibility. The shameful way many bankers, accountants, shell companies and lawyers facilitated his crimes is clear. To see the human and environmental impact of the actions in this story The Sarawak Report by Clare Rewcastle Brown is a different perspective and worth reading.

This felt like a sort of meta-history; incredible depth of research, fact after fact detailing duplicitous dealing, painstaking recounting of corrupt acts. But, all from the outside. I wondered how a person in his late twenties could do what Jho Low did. It's understandable that the author can't know either, but the absence of insight makes for a slightly hollow book. This is not an insider's tale. If you enjoy writers such as Mezrich or Isaacson, you might find the utilitarian and cliche ridden prose rather hard going; it's the work of an investigative journalist who focuses on hard facts; the what, rather than the why or, also in human terms, the how. (You also have to know what adjectives such as 'tonied' and 'storied' mean if you're not an American; I think the translations are posh and have history, respectively, but let's not carp.) Claire Rewcastle-Brown's book perhaps gives a broader and more human perspective, well worth a read also if this subject interests you.

This reads like a fictional account as it is so unbelievable BUT it really happened and for years no one noticed / cared / stopped it. They stole and then spent billions from a fund that three or the big four accountancy firms signed off the accounts for. Malaysia will never see that money again. Not clear from the book though if the US in recovering small amounts of this stolen cash gave it back to Malaysia. Anyway great book, and still shocked by its content.

It is a good book and well written. Good story telling with good information. It is a shame it was written just prior to the conclusion of the 1MDB affair so you may need to google that part if you are still interested. Easy to read and well worth it

Excellent book on what if one of the greatest financial crimes ever committed. Definitely reads like caper and is well researched and written. Didn't know who Jho Low was before you read the synopsis? Read this and take yourself on an almost mind boggling journey through the Global Financial Systems, Malaysian Government and Hollywood

This crime story is fascinating - money, greed, crimes and celebrities. It ticks a lot of boxes! The challenge is explaining the crime in a way that does it full justice yet still keeping it entertaining. The authors do this and it is to their credit that they exposed it.

While the story itself is outlandishly sensational- bringing such a complex web to an easy to understand narrative requires a lot of painstaking hard work, discipline and structure. This book has all of that, well done!

Fascinating story but the amazing tale isn't actually told that well . The book definitely didn't 'flow' for me , which is a shame.