The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History by David EnrichMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I can recognize a formula at work in this book on financial schemes leading to disaster. I’ve read more than a handful of books on similar financial hijinx, on topics like the mortgage crisis, Ponzi schemes, and generic broker bad behavior. The formula working in these books is to describe the low-level players who toiled in the area of future trouble, and those who originated the scheme that went awry. The story then follows the scheme as it extends up the chains of management and across organizations. Always, always, always there is a focus on bad behavior, often involving excesses in the people involved in commissionable jobs in finance. It wouldn’t be one of these stories without excessive drug use, drunkenness, debauchery, and involvement of fast cars. The stories drill into the main perpetrators private life, showing how different they are from normal people, especially in making odd decisions. The perpetrators are given an explanation for their behavior – usually a combination of personal foibles and personality changes caused by working finance jobs dealing with decisions involving huge amounts of money and dealing with risks at a frantic pace. Are the players bad because they are bad people, or is it more the fault of their environment? Hmm. The scheme unwinds through overuse or the weakness of a player. The government becomes involved. They are overworked, but put together a case. There is a scapegoat, usually the primary person the book is about, who pays the price, with others unscathed.
I’ve read books following this formula many times. So far, I still enjoy the story if it is dressed up with enough interesting/odd details. The details are always a bit different. The author did a good job filling in the blank lines in the formula, playing up the issues in determining the LIBOR borrowing rate and the gradual understanding of some traders how it could be manipulated for gain. Interesting characters, but familiar story.
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