Rogue Trader by Nick Leeson (Warner Books, £5.99 in UK)

Our anti-hero, recently returned from a Singapore prison to the bosom of his family and basking in the transformation of his book into "now a major film", makes frequent reference to his casual study of the work of Tom Clancy. It shows, which is not such a bad thing. Leeson knows how to plot his tale, the dialogue would fit nicely in a mid-range thriller, and he does well in explaining the arcane world of futures trading to the ignoramus (mise). Nevertheless, his tale of the collapse of Barings Bank is frequently self-serving, and his contrition amounts to "Yes, I done wrong, but . . ." In the end, it wasn't the reckless trading which brought down the bank, but the collusion of Barings management in the fraud cover-up.