Freezing Order, Bill Browder, author; Adam Grupper, narrator
Bill Browder’s first book, “Red Notice”, was riveting as it told the story of Vladimir Putin’s attempt to frame and punish him for exposing Russian corruption. This second book continues in that same veing, and exposes Russian corruption. The money laundering and bank fraud in the millions, the murders and framing of innocent individuals, the terrorizing of innocents, is extraordinary, and although obvious, it is hard to prove because of a convoluted trail of evidence that twists and turns and is not easily understood or discovered.
Russian oligarchs enrich themselves, illegally, but have had, and have no fear now because the power of Putin is behind them and supports their crimes. Once on Putin’s list of enemies, you remain their forever until he enacts his vengeance. As Browder has discovered, if nothing else, Putin is relentless.
Browder spends a good deal of the book covering a tax rebate fraud scheme, stemming from the sale of his companies in Russia. He also, in great detail, explains how the hard work he, and those working with him, in spite of monumental opposition and Russian deception, have accomplished the goal of passing The Magnitsky Act, not only to prevent further Russian fraud, but to honor the memory of Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who was murdered in a Russian jail for refusing to give false evidence against Bill Browder. In the years since his death, he has been tried in absentia, as has Browder, and Browder has been sentenced three times to long prison terms in Russia for crimes he did not commit. His life is constantly threatened by Russian operatives. He is always under the threat of being kidnapped, arrested and imprisoned in Russia. Often his freedom to travel is curtailed by false accusations of Interpol involvement.
The novel does not paint a pretty picture of the American system when it comes to its involvement in stalling the Magnitsky Act or the FARA lawsuit. The legal system and some Americans joined forces with the corrupt arm of Russia to falsely accuse Browder and compromise those he knows and those who have worked with him. Long drawn out legal procedures, incompetent judges and corrupt lawyers and businesses constantly impede his and his family’s pursuit of a peaceful and happy life. Many of those involved with him were murdered in Russia, but the cause of death was always determined to be accidental or natural by Russia’s investigators.
I found one fault in the book which I cannot leave unmentioned. His partisanship is writ large on many pages as he praises the worst elements of the Democrat Party, some of whom gave testimony falsely charging President Trump and impeded his Presidency, actively pursuing exactly the things that Browder is trying to stop, fraud and corruption. He wants honesty, but supports some people who are not, because he obviously does not like Trump. Although he knows that Hillary Clinton’s Russian Dossier effort was completely fraudulent, and he knows that the democrats framed Trump using Fusion GPS, which was also involved in smearing and framing him, and although his book was published after this was known, he makes no mention of that, and rather implies that the Dossier is accurate. He also, because of his obvious dislike for trump, never gives him the benefit of the doubt, and instead trashes him at every opportunity. He denigrates Trump supporter Rudy Guiliani, but praises the likes of Democrat Adam Schiff, who deliberately read false testimony about Trump into the Congressional Record.
Even Browder should know, after all he has been through, that you can’t have it both ways. Just as he was falsely accused, there are times in the book when he may actually be falsely accusing President Trump of behavior that never occurred. He neither hides his feeling about the Republicans nor his feelings about Brexit, either. He does adore Obama.
His book, however, is very compelling as it outlines quite a story of espionage, crime, corruption, and the willful elimination of witnesses working on his behalf. It seems to be the customary behavior of Russians in their pursuit of Browder, as they seek to bring him to what they consider justice. He has actually been falsely accused of their crimes. Stay tuned, for you never know, there could be a third book.

FREEZING ORDER is a book everyone should read. I cannot speak highly enough of it, and I am impressed as all get out with its author, Bill Browder.

This is a continuation of Browder's description of his experiences with Russians, both good and bad, that began with his book RED NOTICE. In FREEZING ORDER, he works to do the right thing in countries around the world as he convinces more and more of them to enact the Magnitsky Act while Russians collude with Vladimir Putin to thwart him. Browder's efforts are ongoing.

Here is a man I would like to meet if for no other reason than to get an update. Therefore, I unthinkingly submitted a question about his book tour through the "Contact" page on his website. First, the book is a year old, so any touring for it would be over by now. Second, Browder cannot announce his tour dates and places for safety reasons. He isn't paranoid to be afraid of Putin and friends. They've made it clear that they want to get rid of him. And yet Browder continues.

My only criticism is that Browder should have included an acronym list and a list of the many names (especially Russian names) in the book along with a description of who each is.

Thanks to goodreads.com for having Simon & Schuster send me this book.