Truth and Consequences

Life Inside the Madoff Family

By: Laurie Sandell

Narrated by: Maggie Hoffman

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's Summary

In December 2008, the world watched as master financier Bernard L. Madoff was taken away from his posh Manhattan apartment in handcuffs, accused of swindling thousands of innocent victims - including friends and family - out of billions of dollars in the world's largest Ponzi scheme.

Madoff went to jail; he will spend the rest of his life there. But what happened to his devoted wife and sons? The people closest to him, the public reasoned, must have known the truth behind his astounding success. Had they been tricked, too?

With unprecedented access to the surviving family members - wife Ruth, son Andrew, and his fiancée Catherine Hooper - journalist Laurie Sandell reveals the personal details behind the headlines. How did Andrew and Mark, the sons who'd spent their lives believing in and building their own families around their father's business, first learn of the massive deception? How does a wife, who had adored her husband since they were teenagers, begin to understand the ramifications of his actions?

The Madoffs were a tight-knit - even claustrophobic - clan, sticking together through marriages, divorces, and illnesses. But the pressures of enduring the massive scandal pushed them to their breaking points, most of all son Mark, whose suicide is one of the many tragedies in the wake of the scandal.

Muzzled by lawyers, vilified by the media, and roundly condemned by the public, the Madoffs have chosen to keep their silence - until now. Ultimately, theirs is one of the most riveting stories of our time: a modern-day Greek tragedy about money, power, lies, family, truth and consequences.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2011 Laurie Sandell (P)2011 Hachette

Horrible!!

This is a book about Catherine Hooper (the girlfriend of Bernard Madoff's son Andrew), her incredible brilliance, resourcefulness, and all around "fabulousness". The narrator reads the story with the breathiness appropriate for a romance novel when talking anything Catherine. Her tone changes to one of utter disgust whenever discussing Mark (Bernard Madoff's other son who committed suicide) or Mark's widow Stephanie. I guess the narrator was directed to do so because Catherine's doesn't like them (?) but it is very disconcerting. Do not buy this book if you are looking for insight into the Madoff scandal or the Madoff family (as I was). I stuck with the book to the end hoping to find a bit, but it provides none whatsoever. On the other hand if you are interested in learning about how wonderful Catherine Hooper is, this is the book for you.

Not about Madoff About His Family

Truth and Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family doesn’t deal with Bernard L. Madoff. Rather, Laurie Sandell relates the story of how Madoff’s family came to know about his fraud, how they dealt with it, and the fallout for all of them. If you are looking for insight into Madoff you will be disappointed. If you are interested in how the family endured this trauma, you will find this book more valuable. This is not a happy story. This is not an uplifting story. Readers will not be inspired. No one lived happily ever after. This is the gut wrenching story of a dysfunctional family caught up in a mind bending circumstance and dealing with it. The reading of Maggie Hoffman is well done,.

No winner in the Madoff Story

This book was really interesting, to experience the Madoff disaster from inside the Madoff family.
As compelling as their story is you still feel more sympathy for the victims of this horrendous fraud.

the most interesting Madoff book

this book clearly deals with the more personal side of the Madoff Scandal. The author was able to interview family members and had access that other authors did not. That makes it very interesting. But the author does not make it gossipy or scandalous. She's just telling a story about real people and what they went through and it's a very interesting story. Definitely makes you feel compassion for the Madoff family and I hope that the surviving family members are doing well. still lacking the insight into Bernie's character that would be the final touch. I've read about five books on the Madoff Scandal and none of them really crack that code. I guess he's a bit of a mystery.

This is a must read for any financially interested

Where does Truth and Consequences rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top of the list. I love audiobooks. But this was a unputdownable book.
The fact that this is the only publication that interviewer that spoke to Madoffs wife and his son.

What other book might you compare Truth and Consequences to and why?

Any of Madoffs books

What about Maggie Hoffman’s performance did you like?

Everything. Especially the wife. Ruth s performance

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Very informative

Great book

I hate to say I enjoyed hearing about a tragedy, but I do say that I enjoyed that I enjoyed this book to get the back story of what happened to this family. It was very well written and the audio was awesome it's awesome. Thank you for sharing your treyou're tragedy with the rest of us that only heard part of the story

Nice hit job/classless

A classless hit job on Mark Madoff. “Andrew is so great.” “He had the brains.”

First time facts are revealed

Twenty years of research never told before. Painful lessons for so many because of one man's greed and keeping all of his corruption from his family. You may know the "money stories". This shares the tragedy of the unexpected collateral destruction.

Annoying

Good book, Good story wether you believe the Madoffs knew nothing about this ponzi scheme is a little hard to believe, but that's up to the individual listener to decide for themselves. The only downside to this audio book is having to listen to the author and narrator impersonating Ruth Madoffs queens accent it was so annoying I got to the point where I nearly stopped listening to it (but maybe that's my problem).

The truth is inconsequential

Bernie Madoff had it all. Everything, it seems, except integrity, charm, manners, or class. So he had money, - but then again - that was other people's. I was really excited to start this book. It is well written and narrated. However it doesn't take long to realise you are being fed the "Madoff" light tale. Mama Ruth is portrayed as a loyal, down to earth wife and mother to whom family is infinitely more important than money, power or prestige. Really? I would love to get the skinny on the Madoffs before the Empire fell (any disgruntled servants out there?). Bernie's sons at best come off as gormless (Andrew "I knew nothing") or Mark, a narcissistic copy of their father (bombastic and volatile, he tragically ended his own life in the presence of his toddler son). The plight of Madoff's victims -and there are many - is glossed over. For me, the elephant in the room is that the author portrays Andrew as some kind of hero for turning his father in. The cynic in me is inclined to believe that the house of cards was collapsing anyway, and the Madoff brothers' 'heroism' was really just an opportunity to jump before they were pushed or implicated. A self serving and not very insighful story about an obscenely rich criminal's family.