I'd never heard of this story before, and only got this book as part of the story graph reads the world challenge but I'm happy to have come across it.

The story itself is so phenomenal it's almost unbelievable, and reading about how this con unfolded and took on a life of it's own was enjoyable, especially the 2nd half which picked up a lot. I'd be amazed if there weren't a movie made about this at some point in the future.

The way the book is written though isn't great in my opinion. The author definitely allows their own opinions come through strongly, which in itself isn't a bad thing but can be risky if the reader doesn't share all your views. The author does put the protagonist on a bit of a pedestal, which with con men can be tempting as they definitely can be a bit of an anti-hero, but that only really works when those being conned are rich and subjectively deserve it, but this is not the case here so it feels a bit off almost praising him. The writing itself is fine but can be a bit of repetitive.

I really enjoyed the story of this, but not necessarily the book itself, I would certainly watch the film!