I had high hopes for this book. Obviously, Ukraine is forefront in the news currently. I recall, before the current Russian invasion, the news stories about the corruption in the Ukrainian government, and the involvement of the Ukrainian Mafia. The author found himself sucked into the tentacles of the Mafia. Same old story, repeated so many times, a businessman accepts a deal "too good to be true" and then finds themselves owing a never ending debt to the mob. While I feel sorry for the author, honestly he should have known better. I didn't really enjoy the author's story, nor his writing. It seemed plodding, at best.

I appreciated Sergey Maidukov sharing their story with the reader. This was a fascinating read, it had that element that I was looking for and thought it worked as a memoir. I thought it was a unique look at the Ukrainian Mafia. It was written well and was an engaging story being told. I thought everything was what I wanted and glad this shed some light on this.