Nick Barlow reviewed Lying for Money by Dan Davies
Accessible and amusing guide to financial fraud
5 stars
(Disclaimer: I've known the author through blogs and social media for a long time, though I got this book from the library) I wouldn't normally expect to find myself laughing out loud while reading about complex financial matters, but I did several times during this book. It would be very easy for this to be quite a leaden and dry tome, a financial expert explaining frauds and financial crimes to us plebs in a vaguely patronising manner. Despite a long career as a financial analyst though, Davies has kept his sense of perspective as well as his sense of humour and gives us a tour of some massive frauds to explain to us just what was going on that made them criminal as well as what tempts someone into attempting fraud. He's also refreshingly honest at talking about how analysts like him have missed frauds that were obvious in retrospect …
(Disclaimer: I've known the author through blogs and social media for a long time, though I got this book from the library) I wouldn't normally expect to find myself laughing out loud while reading about complex financial matters, but I did several times during this book. It would be very easy for this to be quite a leaden and dry tome, a financial expert explaining frauds and financial crimes to us plebs in a vaguely patronising manner. Despite a long career as a financial analyst though, Davies has kept his sense of perspective as well as his sense of humour and gives us a tour of some massive frauds to explain to us just what was going on that made them criminal as well as what tempts someone into attempting fraud. He's also refreshingly honest at talking about how analysts like him have missed frauds that were obvious in retrospect and how fraudsters attack the cracks in the system. Most importantly for a book like this, he's a good storyteller, taking us through complicated tales with a style and wit that makes them both entertaining and understandable. If you want to know what's going on when the media are reporting on "complex fraud trials" without any detail about what happened, this is the book for you.