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1.01k reviews for:
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Bill Browder
4.26 AVERAGE
1.01k reviews for:
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Bill Browder
4.26 AVERAGE
The writing felt a bit imperfect: dragged at times & often felt a bit sensationalized or overly self-indulgent BUT… the core story about Russian government corruption is haunting and so moving, with the last chapter feeling particularly touching.
As a part of my goal this year to read more outside my normal I asked a good friend and mentor to give me some non-fiction recommendations. This book was the first on that list that I decided to tackle.
What I liked.
This book was crazy. It was terrifying. It was alarming. When you stand to lose or gain the amounts of money talked about here the stakes get wild. Add to that the political climate of Russia at the time and you have one intense tale.
The first part of the book goes over some background and upbringing of Mr. Browder and then flows into the beginnings of his professional career.. It was great. It was fast paced and described the motives behind and creation of Browder's Hermitage Fund. I was hooked right away. I also really appreciated the brief mention of financial details and analysis of spreadsheets. As a daily user of spreadsheets and as someone who analyzes data often I appreciated how this book made that type of work seem important and interesting. At least to me it did. Maybe if I could just word what I do for work in a similar way people's eyes wouldn't glaze over at social functions.
The story then transitions out of this introduction and into the even higher stakes of life and death and systematic corruption and cover-ups. I thought that the book did an admirable job of focusing on the lives impacted by these high finance dealings.
What I did not like.
Pacing and tone get all wonky in the transitions of this novel. It is really like two completely different stories. I certainly benefited from the set up at the start and the context it provided is necessary to have that human connection by the end but it felt uneven and I think could have been smoothed out better.
Overall, I really liked this book. I was hooked instantly and mostly engaged through the rest of the story.
What I liked.
This book was crazy. It was terrifying. It was alarming. When you stand to lose or gain the amounts of money talked about here the stakes get wild. Add to that the political climate of Russia at the time and you have one intense tale.
The first part of the book goes over some background and upbringing of Mr. Browder and then flows into the beginnings of his professional career.. It was great. It was fast paced and described the motives behind and creation of Browder's Hermitage Fund. I was hooked right away. I also really appreciated the brief mention of financial details and analysis of spreadsheets. As a daily user of spreadsheets and as someone who analyzes data often I appreciated how this book made that type of work seem important and interesting. At least to me it did. Maybe if I could just word what I do for work in a similar way people's eyes wouldn't glaze over at social functions.
The story then transitions out of this introduction and into the even higher stakes of life and death and systematic corruption and cover-ups. I thought that the book did an admirable job of focusing on the lives impacted by these high finance dealings.
What I did not like.
Pacing and tone get all wonky in the transitions of this novel. It is really like two completely different stories. I certainly benefited from the set up at the start and the context it provided is necessary to have that human connection by the end but it felt uneven and I think could have been smoothed out better.
Overall, I really liked this book. I was hooked instantly and mostly engaged through the rest of the story.
adventurous
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
Great quick read; fast paced action; yet awful to know that it is a true story. Honestly, I thought this was how Russia was in the past, and didn't realize that this is the state of Russia in modern times. The life of Browder is extremely interesting; yet at times he sounds arrogant and full of himself when he describes how he makes so much money and takes on the Russian oligarchs. What is an amazing second half to the book is that he becomes a human rights activist on behalf of his friend/attorney. A lot of people would have given up, but he pursued justice for his friend, what an amazing story! Definitely recommend.
Part business memoir, part human rights crusade. Bit of a shock to go from discussions about stocks and profits to an account of a man being slowly tortured to death, but it's powerful and effective. The moral of the story: don't ever trust Russia.
This is a riveting story about a man who has become a personal fixation of Vladimir Putin, and, in a way, a major player in the backstory to the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Bill Browder's campaign to convince the US government to punish the Russian government for torturing and murdering a colleague of his led to the passage of the Magnitsky Act. Because his personally punished Russian leaders for human rights abuses, it's perhaps the single piece of American foreign policy most abhorrent to Putin. Browder's account of how it played out, from the early days of the fall of the Soviet Union to the second term of the Obama administration, is fascinating, and even fun, reading.
Browder's writing over the top. You can tell he basically just made up most of the dialogue he had with his colleagues based on how he thought dramatic dialogue should sound. He's also a cringeworthy analyst of "Russians." They have no initiative! They really love babies. Etc. Whatever. This is his personal story, and stuff like that doesn't much detract from it.
His moralistic tone is more problematic. This is a man whose suffering is real. But he's completely blind to the way that his story is about person looting Russia's treasures who ends up getting abused by people more ruthlessly doing the same thing. Browder's job was to gobble up ownership of public assets as they were being converted to private hands. By his own account, he was sometimes buying them at less than one percent of their true value. This is the same pattern by which many of the villains in his book got so rich and powerful.
In one example, Browder finds out that he can buy shares in one Russian business as an even bigger discount by acquiring preferred shares exclusively reserved for the Russian people (you know, the ones who theoretically owned all these assets under communism.) This would be sleazy enough, but Browder's book makes it seem like he achieved this solely through cleverness -- no one else had thought of it! In fact, he set up a series of Russian shell companies to buy the shares, effectively exploiting a gap in a program set up to benefit the Russian people he so sincerely advocates for elsewhere in his narrative.
Browder makes a half-hearted attempt at modesty as he tells his story, but it's clear that he sees himself as the hero of the fight against Vladimir Putin. He certainly played a key role, and this book is revelatory in many ways. But Browder is a kind of cartoon character of the capitalists who sucked Russia dry once communism has fallen. If he's a hero, he's a deeply flawed one at best.
Browder's writing over the top. You can tell he basically just made up most of the dialogue he had with his colleagues based on how he thought dramatic dialogue should sound. He's also a cringeworthy analyst of "Russians." They have no initiative! They really love babies. Etc. Whatever. This is his personal story, and stuff like that doesn't much detract from it.
His moralistic tone is more problematic. This is a man whose suffering is real. But he's completely blind to the way that his story is about person looting Russia's treasures who ends up getting abused by people more ruthlessly doing the same thing. Browder's job was to gobble up ownership of public assets as they were being converted to private hands. By his own account, he was sometimes buying them at less than one percent of their true value. This is the same pattern by which many of the villains in his book got so rich and powerful.
In one example, Browder finds out that he can buy shares in one Russian business as an even bigger discount by acquiring preferred shares exclusively reserved for the Russian people (you know, the ones who theoretically owned all these assets under communism.) This would be sleazy enough, but Browder's book makes it seem like he achieved this solely through cleverness -- no one else had thought of it! In fact, he set up a series of Russian shell companies to buy the shares, effectively exploiting a gap in a program set up to benefit the Russian people he so sincerely advocates for elsewhere in his narrative.
Browder makes a half-hearted attempt at modesty as he tells his story, but it's clear that he sees himself as the hero of the fight against Vladimir Putin. He certainly played a key role, and this book is revelatory in many ways. But Browder is a kind of cartoon character of the capitalists who sucked Russia dry once communism has fallen. If he's a hero, he's a deeply flawed one at best.
This book was a great book club pick! It gave us so much to talk about and elicited many passionate responses.
Personally, I found the book very interesting but a bit boring in parts. I personally have very little interest in high finance and found myself tuning out whenever he started talking numbers and figures and going into too much detail. I enjoyed the first and last third of the book much more than the middle bits. I really liked learning about the author's life and upbringing, especially about his communist grandfather.
Personally, I found the book very interesting but a bit boring in parts. I personally have very little interest in high finance and found myself tuning out whenever he started talking numbers and figures and going into too much detail. I enjoyed the first and last third of the book much more than the middle bits. I really liked learning about the author's life and upbringing, especially about his communist grandfather.
The story itself is fascinating - and terrifying. It’s worth it for that.
The writing, however, frequently leaves a lot to be desired. Kind of reads like a USA Today story. And I could do without the endless descriptions of how attractive (or unattractive) female characters are. (#metoo, anyone??). The arrogance of a successful global hedge fund manager shines through.
The writing, however, frequently leaves a lot to be desired. Kind of reads like a USA Today story. And I could do without the endless descriptions of how attractive (or unattractive) female characters are. (#metoo, anyone??). The arrogance of a successful global hedge fund manager shines through.
Outstanding story. Will make a great movie. Everyone should be aware of what Putin’s Russia will do to seek revenge.