Red Notice by Bill Browder was an extremely easy, fast and exciting read. The hype and smart marketing around this making-it-rich-in-Russia story had all the major news outlets and media give it great reviews. The timing of Putin’s conflict with the Western world over Ukraine gave an extra push for Red Notice sales since the book is about Putinesque way of doing business and handling of Kremlin’s foes.
True to rave reviews, Bill’s description of his rapid success in Yeltsin’s Russia followed by even more meteoric rise during Putin’s’s first term kept be glued to the pages. I was secretly wishing that I was old enough in the 90’s to also partake in Russia’s success and enjoy the spoils. However, the second half of Bill’s saga turned sinister as Browder’s fight with Russia’s corruption worked counter to Putin’s interests. At that point I was not as certain whether doing major business in the Motherland would have been as beneficial to one’s well being as I had imagined.
The book is such an easy read and is so straight to the point due to the author’s business background. Bill’s prose is simple and direct, with any overly flowery and verbose excesses, I did take offense, though, to Bill’s portrayal of Russians as certain kleptomaniacs and natural born corrupters. The book is rife with innuendoes and statements of basically calling Russians, in general as crooks. This kind of racial latitude that the authored allowed himself would never fly if directed against any other nationality…
Inasmuch as I enjoyed the book, Bill Browder’s hypocrisy and naivete glared at me. It seems very hypocritical that Browder is lamenting about Russia’s corruption while it is precisely because of it that he enriched himself and his investors. He usurped immense profits by buying undervalued stocks in Russian companies. Why were they underpriced? Because Yeltsin allowed his cronies, the oligarchs, to buy into Russian state owned businesses at ridiculously low prices, in a process that was full of corruption. Yet, when Browder refused to abide by Putin’s rules he seemed surprised when he was exiled and and his fund was demolished.
As I read and reread how Browder describes Russian justice system and prosecution mechanisms, naively stating that callous and unjust prosecution is mostly unique to Russia, I understood how naive and misguided many Americans are about their own system. When I came across the author calling out Russia as one of the only countries where prosecutors lie while he underscored that such abnormalities would not happen in the Western world- I almost fell out of my upper bunk in astonishment of his ignorance.
In sum, regardless of the author’s obvious bias and resentment against Russia, some very well deserved, I would definitely recommend this book for its description of the wild ride that is “Big Business po-Ruski”.
By Michael Levitis