Recommendation: Black Edge

Sheelah Kolhatkar’s Black Edge is the definitive account of the U.S. government’s seven-year — and largely fruitless — quest to take down hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen. The book covers Cohen’s early rise through the investment banking ranks, documents the founding of his modestly named hedge fund, S.A.C. Capital, and details how S.A.C. used “black edge” (e.g., inside information) to generate industry-leading investment returns year after year after year. The core of the narrative examines how this culture of impunity eventually landed S.A.C. in the government’s crosshairs and led to a $1.8 billion fine for the firm, the largest in Wall Street history.

What I loved: Kolhatkar’s superb reporting and no nonsense prose make this deep dive into our rotten financial system read like a fast-paced thriller. She doesn’t condemn, glorify, or sensationalize, but rather lays out the facts and lets them speak for themselves. Among the more compelling elements of this saga is the depiction of the tenuous relationship between the SEC and the FBI, including how competing interests and institutional bureaucracy hindered the investigation. On a more personal front, a gullible neurology professor at the University of Michigan — my beloved alma mater — played a key role in the insider trading scandal which nearly felled Cohen’s firm. Leaders and best, indeed.

What I didn’t: The book itself is a masterpiece, but the coda to this tale is a catastrophe. Cohen escaped criminal charges and in 2016 was barred from managing investor money for just two years. He promptly got back in the game and has since become wealthier and more influential. Cohen’s one of the world’s preeminent art collectors, bought the New York Mets for $2.4 billion in 2020, and Forbes estimates his net worth to be more than $20 billion.

Final verdict: I listened to the Audible version of Black Edge a few years ago and absolutely loved it. When I re-read a paperback copy last year — while finalizing Leverage — it was even better. Highest possible recommendation.

Related media: The first half of season one of Billions more or less recreates Black Edge’s narrative arc and makes for compelling viewing. After this initial storyline, however, the show quickly devolves into camp. I abandoned ship midway through the second season.