Review by Kirkus Book Review
An explosive exposé of a disgraced automotive-industry titan. Wall Street Journal reporters Kostov and McLain meticulously probe the life and career of Carlos Ghosn (b. 1954), who was arrested in Tokyo for financial crimes in the fall of 2018. First, they lucidly depict the magnate's early life as a scion of a prominent Lebanese Brazilian business family. Focused on academic success, Ghosn was an overachiever in grade school, and he replaced his legally troubled father as the "man of the house" with three sisters and a doting mother. Displaying a "swift problem-solving prowess," Ghosn was a "social chameleon" who ascended the company ranks for nearly two decades at Michelin, maximizing his time with executives and treating it "like a management school." In the mid-1990s, he flourished in upper management roles at Renault and Nissan, and an alliance between the two companies solidified his name as a premier global executive. Yet throughout his meteoric rise to prominence, Ghosn continuously felt undercompensated and began devising financial schemes to pay himself what he felt he deserved. Eventually, his crimes caught up to him, and he landed in a Tokyo prison. Kostov and McLain create a riveting narrative based on a trove of documentation and incriminating source material, including previously "untapped" legal documents, email transcripts, and interviews with corporate executives, friends, family, rivals, and Ghosn himself, whom, they note, was forthcoming with information--other than matters related to France, where he still faces criminal investigation. Fearing he was being persecuted without merit, Ghosn employed the assistance of a former Green Beret to mastermind a stealthy flight from custody in a box, making him an internationally wanted "celebrity fugitive" who fled Japan for Lebanon, where he remains today. This exciting, vividly detailed book explores a variety of relevant topics, including globalization, international business ethics, and how excessive wealth and fame have the potential to corrupt even the shrewdest businessperson. First-rate reporting on corporate savvy and greed and the ultimate cinematic escape. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
