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  • McMafia

  • Seriously Organised Crime
  • By: Misha Glenny
  • Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
  • Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (185 ratings)
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McMafia cover art

McMafia

By: Misha Glenny
Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
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Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of McMafia by Misha Glenny, read by Stephen Thorne.

Now a major BBC series.

Have you ever illegally downloaded a DVD? Taken drugs? Fallen for a phishing scam?

Organised crime is part of all our worlds - often without us even knowing. McMafia is a journey through the new world of international organised crime, from gunrunners in Ukraine to money launderers in Dubai, by way of drug syndicates in Canada and cyber criminals in Brazil.

©2009 Misha Glenny (P)2011 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Like a journalistic Indiana Jones he has travelled the world in search of his prey, displaying impressive stamina, intellectual chutzpah and physical bravery on the way.... This is the most important non-fiction book of the year so far - organised crime's version of Fast Food Nation." ( Mail on Sunday)
"To be regarded as one of the essential non-fiction works of our time. Exhaustively researched and reported, it's sobering in the extreme, but also riveting, filled with exotic locations, staggering facts, acts of incredible brutality and colourful, if deadly, characters.... Anyone with even the smallest interest in how the world really works should read this book." ( GQ)
"The great merit of Glenny's book is that it does not just chronicle the foul deeds of international crime syndicates. It probes the imbalances and injustices that propel people and nations towards criminal behaviour... This, racy, well-researched and highly entertaining book should be essential reading for law reformers everywhere." ( Irish Times)

What listeners say about McMafia

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just so monotone

I love this book - I’ve read it more than once and was looking forward to hearing it in audible format... however the narrator is so monotone and dull he almost sounds computer generated. It has made an interesting storyline into something so soporific I actually use it as a sleep aid now (no joke - 5 minutes of this of an evening and I’m out like a light). The story is brilliant but the narration completely ruins it.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • A
  • 10-10-17

Workmanlike

I've given up listening, persevering for about 6 hours. Having read Glenny's "The Balkans" before, I know he can write compellingly but I simply haven't been gripped by this audio book and am packing it in now. A significant factor is the workmanlike but uninspiring narration; the narrative may have proved more interesting if it had been conveyed better.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good. But gets on his high horse too much

But above all very good. Did his research and well informee. China and the EU are well discussed

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great stuff

Very revealing.. the book goes indepth into the modern history of organised crime, and the corrupt governments who allow it.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Bit of a classic

If you really want to understand how wealth disparity has grown so enormously in the last couple of decades, here is part of the answer. Once read it’s nice to dip back into a chapter occasionally as a reminder. Good, clear performance- just what you’d like from an audiobook.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Don't Bury your head in the sand.

Don't bury your head in the sand. This stuff is very scary, but as another reviewer said, if you want to know what's REALLY going on in the world listen to this. This isn't some barking conspiracy theory, but the fruit of dogged spade work by a top class investigative journalist. Along with the jaw dropping scale of organised crime worldwide, you learn a lot about the visible world of politics and why parts of the world have got into the mess they have. First rate text delivered by the authoritative voice of old BBC hand, Stephen Thorne.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awful oration but a great book which I have already read but the oration has spoiled it completely.

Better not to get professional actors to read non-fiction. You don’t need
a theatrical performance which adds nothing to the enjoyment of the book and is usually intrusive, irrelevant and in bad taste. The best orator is the author or at least someone who is genuinely interested in the book. LESS IS MORE. GEDDIT!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating look at the world through a prism

You will learn so much about the everyday things we all do but have no idea their consequences of. I wish there is an 2nd book covering the period after 2007.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Starts Well and then peters out

Strong on the collapse of Yugoslavia and E. Europe. OK on Russia and the FSU. Weaker in C.America and China and cyber crime (albeit viewed through a decade old prism).

His central thesis, which emerges later in the book, of a failure to regulate and police regulations resonates well in 2018.

We should all consider our own role in facilitating the proceeds of crime.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

crime pays

interesting insight into crime and how it has become essential in running the modern economy

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