It's hard not to let my outrage and disgust with those responsible for these crimes, influence my review of this book.

Initially I rated this 4 stars but after a few days to think about it, I'm dropping it to 3.

As an avid reader of true crime and particularly white collar true crime, I was excited to sink my teeth into this one. But there were times where I couldn't tell if the story was particularly outrageous or if the writing was just... not that great.

I can't help but compare Billion Dollar Whale to other white collar heavyweights like Bad Blood and Catch and Kill, which are both exceptional and in my view, almost perfect.

Billion Dollar Whale fell short for me. Each time I'd pick it up I'd hope to get drawn in as I usually do and lose myself in the story but instead I just felt mad, and not just because the subjects at the heart of the con are truly reprehensible.

There was just something missing in the execution of the writing which is a shame because this story is so outrageous and so totally devastating for the current and future generations of Malaysians who now have to pay the price for the selfish actions of a few.

I recommend reading it because it's an important story to understand, but I'm overall a little disappointed.