Fantastic, highly recommended. Basically three books in one: history of major economic/financial events over the last fifty years, an analysis of hedge funds and the financial economics, and the motivation for a policy recommendation.

Mallaby has lots of nuance, appreciates the pro and con of every argument, but basically the main arguments of his book are: (1) hedge funds can get above market returns by exploiting information or anomalies that others do not; (2) in the process they improve the allocation of capital and, on balance, stabilize markets by, for example, minimizing bubbles by selling short; and (3) when they fail, hedge funds rarely pose a systemic risk to the economy or financial system, when they go bust it is generally another hedge fund that rushes in to take them over (see points 1 and 2 above).

Mallaby manages to convey all of this in a suspenseful page turner that uses well chosen anecdotes and stories to keep you engaged from beginning to end.