Description

AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020

‘If you think the UK isn’t corrupt, you haven’t looked hard enough … This new and terrifying book follows a global current of dirty money, and the murders and kidnappings required to sustain it’ GEORGE MONBIOT, GUARDIAN

‘When you pick this book up, you won’t be able to put it down’ MISHA GLENNY, author of MCMAFIA

‘Combines forensic investigative journalism with the narrative propulsion of a literary thriller. The result is a masterful, gripping read that is all the more disturbing because it’s true’ NATHAN FILER, bestselling author of THE SHOCK OF THE FALL

‘Gripping, disturbing and deeply reported’ BEN RHODES, bestselling author of THE WORLD AS IT IS

In this real-life thriller packed with jaw-dropping revelations, award-winning investigative journalist Tom Burgis reveals a terrifying global web of corruption.

Kleptopia follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators and poisoning democracies. From the Kremlin to Beijing, Harare to Riyadh, Paris to the Trump White House, it shows how the thieves are uniting – and the terrible human cost.

A body in a burned-out Audi. Workers riddled with bullets in the Kazakh desert. A rigged election in Zimbabwe. A British banker silenced and humiliated for trying to expose the truth about the City of London – the world’s piggy bank for blood money.

Riveting, horrifying and written like fiction, this book shows that while we are looking the other way, all that we hold most dear is being stolen.

Publisher Review

'I don't do book reviews. But I am reading Kleptopia very slowly as I have to keep picking my jaw up off the floor ... Fascinating. Terrifying' Paul Lewis 'A must-read for anyone wanting to better understand what has already happened here in America and what lies ahead if Trump is reelected in November ... A magisterial account of the money and violence behind the world's most powerful dictatorships ... Meticulously reported' Washington Post 'The architects of our national security would do well to bring to their meetings a well-thumbed copy ... It unpicks the filthy flipside of globalisation ... Incendiary' Edward Lucas, The Times 'Does the job brilliantly ... with a hero straight out of a John le Carre novel ... Wonderfully if grimly entertaining' Economist 'Burgis has long been revealing global financial corruption. Now in his landmark book he lays bare what we need to know, and act upon ... Burgis provides us with the terrifying evidence. Read it and act' Jon Snow 'Read Kleptopia now. There is no time to lose ... Tom Burgis demonstrates that money does indeed stink - and shows how to follow its scent' Roberto Saviano 'A powerful, appalling, and stunningly reported expose ... It reads like fiction, but unfortunately is all too true: Burgis names names, and follows the money, right into the Trump White House ... His narrative shows how dark money has grown from a national problem into an international scourge' Jane Mayer 'Tom Burgis has taken the McMafia genre one step beyond the work of trailblazing authors like Roberto Saviano and Oliver Bullough ... Reveals exactly why in the last thirty years organised crime and financial capitalism have fused to create a force of such power that no government or leader is free from the pressure it is able to apply. This is Jane Mayer's Dark Money on a global scale. When you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down.' Misha Glenny