cover image The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth

The Madoff Chronicles: Inside the Secret World of Bernie and Ruth

Brian Ross, read by Jeff Cummings. Brilliance Audio, unabridged, 5 CDs, 6 hrs., $16.99 ISBN 978-1-5113-2705-3

ABC News correspondent Ross’s book, originally published in 2009, is a good summary of the Bernie Madoff scandal for anyone who somehow missed the explosion of news reports following Madoff’s arrest in December of 2008. Voice actor Cummings brings some oomph to this chronicle based on ABC’s original research and reports. His dramatic handling of innumerable astonishing facts (e.g., that the SEC never caught on to the massive Madoff fraud) makes old news worth rehearing. Ross recounts the family and national saga that involved educational and philanthropic institutions as well as Wall Street, ruined innumerable wealthy families, and led to Madoff’s 150-year jail term. The book’s audio release coincides with a new TV series on Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, but the book, published in 2009, offers little gossip about Ruth Madoff and misses out on developments such as Madoff’s brother, Peter, given a 10-year sentence, his son Mark’s suicide, and his son Andrew’s death of cancer in 2014. A Kingswell paperback. (Nov.)