Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Manon Wall Street Paperback – 23 Jan. 2018

Easy to read, thriller which offers fantastic insight to a band of opaque hedge funds and how they operate. The book shows up the archaic US legal system, the blurriness between right and wrong in the eyes of law and how those with enough resources can get ahead / around the legal order.It also offers some insight into US law enforcement agencies rivalries, and how they prepare for cases (right from plea deals, to strategies around opening ("the grab") and closing arguments.Overall, well researched, well written, and well worth reading.

Absolutely great read. If this hasn't been made into a film, it should be. Wall Street 3, Boiler Room 2 perhaps.You don't need to be a genius at understanding financial markets and terminology to read this either. All very well written, well explained and easy to understand. It demonstrates the difference between illegal and immoral if you take a few moments to consider what you are reading and how some big headline cases have actually resulted in zero prosecutions. The burden of proof is high as is the fear of failure due to the risk associated with failed prosecutions.

Black Edge tells the story of how Stevie Cohen had people competing to invest in his funds and how it took years for the regulators to successfully prosecute him for insider trading by which time the $1.8 billion settlement he paid out was chump change! The tale is engaging and informative about the early days of the Hedge Fund industry that benefited from the market deregulation of the early 1990s on Wall Street. A compelling read!

Interesting account on the shark-dominated world of Wall Street which shows once more how white-collar crime remains one step ahead of the law. A world where information is more precious than oil and greed is its fuel.On the downside, the narration is a bit flat at times - although at least in part due to the factual type of account - and introduces too many characters which don't seem necessary to the story.Yet a quality informative read.

Written very well, very easy to follow and would suggest it to anyone interested in how some hedge funds operate and make money

A great read however around a third of the book the pages were torn and smashed in (examples below). Would normally return but for the sake of £6 it isn't worth the hassle. However, it is still disappointing that this was even deemed fit for sale and sent out.

A great read, from start to finish. Steve Cohen is believed to be whom the fictional character Bobby Axelrod is based in the network series Billions. What’s scary is that the excesses you watch on the screen are tame compared to the real life SAC capital. Kolhatkar takes you through the complicated world of hedge funds and insider trading in an easy to follow, readable way and the result is a footnote on financial hubris that is as enjoyable to read as a John Grisham novel.

Another classic example of an article stretched to a book. While the diligence of reporting and developing a clear timeline and narrative for a complex subject was successful, I didn’t care for the pseudo-thriller embellishments.Having said that, I finished the book, which I rarely manage these days, so I did enjoy it.