W H Allen The Missing Cryptoqueen

I saw this book pop up on Twitter and was immediately intrigued by the title. At that point I had heard nothing previously about Ruja Ignatova, the Crypto Queen or One Coin, but this year I've been fascinated with stories of Billionaire fraudsters and scammers such as Elizabeth Holmes so it was an instant purchase for me. I completed this book in a day and a half! Jamie is a superlative storyteller, and weaves together a tale that I just couldn't leave until I reached the end (even though we likely have several chapters to go of Ruja's story). I had assumed that we would only be dealing with a Crypto scammer, but to my great surprise it was mostly about MLM. As a former Amway devotee, all the little tricks they used to get people bought into the One Coin dream while ignoring the lack of tangible rewards were so familiar. Really cannot recommend this book highly enough - Jamie's investigation is so compelling I've also started on the podcasts! Excellent work!

Even though I’d listened to the podcast, the story was crafted to form a really compelling book. I read it in a long weekend and then my other half stole it to read it as well. Highly recommend + a much- needed cautionary tale on how crypto taps into our eternal obsession with chasing riches.

This book is brilliant. A real pager turner, I devoured it in a few days. I was already aware of the story of OneCoin and Dr Ruja from equally brilliant podcast. But the story is so fascinating that I wanted to know more and the book delivers. New characters, new insights, great investigative journalism. And with Ruja still on the run (and recently put on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list) I’m hoping for a sequel when she’s caught. Great book for the summer. Highly recommended.

Even better than the podcast, which is a difficult task. This is a huge piece of journalism as well as a straight-up page turner mystery which I couldn’t put down.

The book is just as brilliant as the podcast. I was hooked from the first page and was pleasantly surprised by how many new revelations behind this extraordinary scam come out in the book. Jamie is an incredibly talented writer and this is perhaps my favourite book he’s written so far.