Reviews
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice by Bill Browder
emileejacks's review against another edition
3.0
This story was one I had very little knowledge about before cracking open the first page. Maybe that helped me enjoy the book a little more. This book was written by an American man who became a British citizen and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union. He details his disinterest in protecting his own life due to the hundreds of millions of dollars he is in charge of and the potential for more millions of dollars.
The author of this book directly led the way for the Magnitsky Act to come to fruition. However, it was difficult for me to feel the celebratory air around this accomplishment since it seems like such a feeble reaction to the torture that Sergei Magnitsky endured simply because he believed in Russia.
Further, I noticed that the author loves to describe the women he comes in contact with as either beautiful or frumpy. It seems as though there was not a single attractive man around him for the decades he was in Russia. It was only men, attractive women, and frumpy women. And of course people without millions of dollars.
Read this book if you want one man’s account of his unrelenting thirst for capitalism in Russia. A thirst that led to torture and murder. 3/5 stars.
The author of this book directly led the way for the Magnitsky Act to come to fruition. However, it was difficult for me to feel the celebratory air around this accomplishment since it seems like such a feeble reaction to the torture that Sergei Magnitsky endured simply because he believed in Russia.
Further, I noticed that the author loves to describe the women he comes in contact with as either beautiful or frumpy. It seems as though there was not a single attractive man around him for the decades he was in Russia. It was only men, attractive women, and frumpy women. And of course people without millions of dollars.
Read this book if you want one man’s account of his unrelenting thirst for capitalism in Russia. A thirst that led to torture and murder. 3/5 stars.
courtneymedei's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.0
courtneyivaska's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
ashrafulla's review against another edition
5.0
great read on the fight against Russia's corruption
This is a real-life thriller, almost an account from a single character in a John Le Carre novel. The author does a fantastic job detailing his whole story from talented whiz kid trader to human rights activist. If you'd didn't know the story already (like me), you thought the book was coming to a conclusion when he left Russia. As a result you and I were shocked by the turn of Sergei's death and the second story that was created.
The story is well written in short sentence format. Those short sentences make sure that it feels fast when deals are done and people are trying to escape. The author then goes to longer sentences to describe his thoughts or his moments of passive observation, such as waiting for people to call him back.
The story itself is a proper exposé into the workings of third world governments. Make no mistake, Russia is a third world government. It has the same amount of corruption, uneven law enforcement, and large wealth disparity as other third world countries. The book, due to its viewpoint, didn't want to address the Russian people. However, it'll be their continued efforts that drag Russia out of its current state as a dirty country.
This is a real-life thriller, almost an account from a single character in a John Le Carre novel. The author does a fantastic job detailing his whole story from talented whiz kid trader to human rights activist. If you'd didn't know the story already (like me), you thought the book was coming to a conclusion when he left Russia. As a result you and I were shocked by the turn of Sergei's death and the second story that was created.
The story is well written in short sentence format. Those short sentences make sure that it feels fast when deals are done and people are trying to escape. The author then goes to longer sentences to describe his thoughts or his moments of passive observation, such as waiting for people to call him back.
The story itself is a proper exposé into the workings of third world governments. Make no mistake, Russia is a third world government. It has the same amount of corruption, uneven law enforcement, and large wealth disparity as other third world countries. The book, due to its viewpoint, didn't want to address the Russian people. However, it'll be their continued efforts that drag Russia out of its current state as a dirty country.
harperbrum's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
jasonlong's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Just wow.
This book deserves five stars on so many levels. The story is more gripping than most fiction and the Audible narrator is superb. Like many, I was aware of Russia’s reputations for corruption in the abstract, but it was jaw-dropping to hear how purely evil and deep it runs. Not until the end, do you get a sense of how brave the author is for publishing this story. It also brushes up against the 2016 US election enough to fill in a little of the collusion gray area.
This book deserves five stars on so many levels. The story is more gripping than most fiction and the Audible narrator is superb. Like many, I was aware of Russia’s reputations for corruption in the abstract, but it was jaw-dropping to hear how purely evil and deep it runs. Not until the end, do you get a sense of how brave the author is for publishing this story. It also brushes up against the 2016 US election enough to fill in a little of the collusion gray area.