Book Review: The Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore

“An ordinary man joins a secret mission to bring down the Nazi war machine by crashing their economy in this historical thriller based on a true story, from the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night…”

Goodreads blurb for The Wealth of Shadows

Review:

I’m going to jump straight into this review and ask the question I’ve been asking myself from page one: Why is a book set in 1939 opening with a quote about Bitcoin? On the one hand, I understand it. The book has a focus on money, knowledge, power, wealth, etc. and that could be an attempt at a modern perspective. On the other, it set a tone of confusion that I didn’t shake, especially with continued quotes that sometimes only slightly correlated with the chapter it was opening. 

Ansel Luxford, a tax attorney, fears the worst for Germany at the close of the 1930s. At this point in time, America is neutral in the conflict and in foreign affairs, yet Ansel finds himself being called up to join a Washington underground team to fight the Nazis. Instead of using weapons, they play to the economy, or, ‘economic warfare’. 

The concept? Unique and I’m sure intriguing to some. Unfortunately, I discovered while reading that I don’t have much interest in economics. It was a new perspective on the war for me, though, so that was a big takeaway. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with a free digital ARC of the book!

Likes & Dislikes:

What I liked:

• A unique concept for a World War II book.

What I didn’t like:

• The random quotes at the beginning of each chapter were unnecessary.
• The writing in general didn’t grab me.

Afterthoughts:

Just wasn’t a book for me. I would recommend it to people I think would be interested in the topic/situation.

Where to buy the book: