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The Informant: A True Story
by Kurt Eichenwald (Goodreads Author), Arthur Morey
by Kurt Eichenwald (Goodreads Author), Arthur Morey
Fascinating true story of the main witness in the biggest price-fixing case in the U.S. The first half is the most compelling as Mark Whitacre, the title character, starts to cooperate with the FBI and collect evidence through secret recordings. The second half, once the undercover portion is done, focuses more on how a major case gets stretched and pulled in all directions while winding its way through the bureaucracy. The cast of characters is large, and becomes especially hard to pin down in the second half, but in the end not much is lost. You don't really need to recall the names and limited characterizations in order to get the point that the bureaucracy is incredibly tangled. I gave up trying. I would've been happy if this part was trimmed.
Whitacre alternately generates cheers, sympathy, frustration, condemnation depending on which bizarre step he takes next, and that's what drives this story along. The underlying price-fixing case is almost secondary to the attempt to simply figure out the truth from all the many versions put forward by Whitacre. Not being familiar with the story from when it unfolded in the 1990's, it read like a thriller. Eichenwald made extensive use of quotations taken from case files. But where did he get all of the many details of what people were thinking or feeling, or gestures they made, or facial expressions they used? Made for good reading, but where do you research this kind of detail? Hard to believe interviewees would remember events with such precision.
The reader does a good job, never getting in the way. He uses an earnest inflection for Whitacre's dialogue which fits well with the character.
It touches a bit on the cost and extent of price-fixing, but that isn't the main point. While it's not mentioned in the book, I couldn't help thinking when it turned out that price-fixing was incredibly widespread, these are the same big business executives who'll happily preach free market principles, less regulation, trust us, we'll do what's best for the country. This book is a fine illustration of what they really mean.
Whitacre alternately generates cheers, sympathy, frustration, condemnation depending on which bizarre step he takes next, and that's what drives this story along. The underlying price-fixing case is almost secondary to the attempt to simply figure out the truth from all the many versions put forward by Whitacre. Not being familiar with the story from when it unfolded in the 1990's, it read like a thriller. Eichenwald made extensive use of quotations taken from case files. But where did he get all of the many details of what people were thinking or feeling, or gestures they made, or facial expressions they used? Made for good reading, but where do you research this kind of detail? Hard to believe interviewees would remember events with such precision.
The reader does a good job, never getting in the way. He uses an earnest inflection for Whitacre's dialogue which fits well with the character.
It touches a bit on the cost and extent of price-fixing, but that isn't the main point. While it's not mentioned in the book, I couldn't help thinking when it turned out that price-fixing was incredibly widespread, these are the same big business executives who'll happily preach free market principles, less regulation, trust us, we'll do what's best for the country. This book is a fine illustration of what they really mean.
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