Iceland's Secret cover art

Iceland's Secret

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Con

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Iceland's Secret

By: Jared Bibler
Narrated by: Jared Bibler
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About this listen

The ultimate financial thriller: Scandi noir meets Michael Lewis. You’ll never see big finance the same way again....

Born in Massachusetts, Jared Bibler relocated to Iceland in 2004 only to find himself in the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis a handful of years later.

Personally wiped out and seeking to uncover the truth about a collapse that brought the pastoral country to its knees, he became the lead investigator into some of the largest financial crimes in the world. This work helped Iceland to famously become the only country to jail its bank CEOs in the wake of the 2008 crisis.

But the real story behind that headline is far more complex—and sinister.

A decade after the investigations, the story can be told at last and in full. The crisis, barely understood inside or outside of Iceland even today, is a cautionary tale for the world: an inside look at the high crimes that inevitably follow Wild West capitalism.

With the next global financial meltdown just around the corner, this untold tale is as timely as ever.

©2021 Harriman House (P)2021 Harriman House Europe Scandinavia True Crime White Collar & Corporate Crime Polar Region

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It was almost possible to stop listening once one started, it was both gripping and informative.

A real eye opener

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A good, well-written book that shines a light on the goings on at the Icelandic banks around the time of the financial crisis. The author is insightful and honest, and exposes not only the behaviours of these banks but the social norms of Iceland which allowed and encouraged this behaviour. I knocked a point off the performance because I found the narrator / author’s Icelandic twang a little jarring (although he seems to slip into a more standard American accent as the book goes on).

An interesting story

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a great book about a subject many of us don't know about beyond the global headlines.

wow! this is an eye opener and also very worrying!

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There are often stories that hit the news then disappear . Like Iceland is bankrupt, english councils loss millions but then just fade away . this book provides the answers, it read like the book red notice by bill browder,
Fraud, stupidity and corruption and just like the bankers in the GFC nobody gets punished .
An Amazing book Jarad thank you for giving answers to this semi forgotten story, a shame they are not the result the ordinary citizens of Iceland needed

Amazing

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I enjoy books that tell how organisations and the individuals in them transition from hubris to malfeasance through to outright criminality. The Iceland banks followed this path in a quite spectacular fashion and hence I was gripped by this tale which the Author was able to recount from his own personal experiences at one of the banks and then at the regulator investigating the wrong doings. His perspectives, as an outsider, of how Iceland's unique history and culture created the conditions which supported the existence and growth of these corrupt financial institutions is also interesting.

There are, however, frustrations. Firstly, the book is written by an amateur and this shows. While he has wisely kept the prose simple, it is not particularly well crafted and when he tries to spice it up he resorts to clichéd metaphors. He also reads it for the Audible version and while his performance is competent (and better than that of some authors) it would be more enjoyable to have a narrator with greater range and fluency. A further detraction is the multiple pointless diversions from the main saga. For example, he retells how he attended an interrogation course. This adds nothing interesting and the words wasted describing the low quality of coffee provided on the day are just bizarre. Finally, Jared only tells the story from his perspective. While this is perhaps fair enough, it left me longing for a book that gives a wider view describing the growth of these organisations and how they descended into illegality (eg as The Smartest Guys in the Room did for Enron).

Compelling but......

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This book blew my mind, very well written and easy to follow and understand.

Absolutely amazing!

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An amazing story, as narrated by the author, it is gripping and detailed in the finance side but should be unstandable by most.
I wish Jared could write more like this (without the financial fallout!)

Fantastic Story and Narrator

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Interesting from start to finish. Jared did a great job writing and reading the book.

Great Listen

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Good story on Lessons from a small closed shop society. The conclusion sounds like a bitter ex employee who didn’t work well with other people and read the mood in a room or where the wind was going. The thing he likes about Iceland and dislikes are products of small places.

Don’t bother unless you like more red tape

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The events are truly scandalous and the insider’s account at times gripping, i nevertheless can’t say I fully enjoyed the book. The writer’s rather smug self congratulatory lecturing tone was at times to irritating for this reader.

A factual retelling of a great financial scandal

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