By 2008, when the Irish property market crashed, Simon Kelly and his father Paddy owed their creditors nearly a billion euro - money they'd borrowed to invest in property development. In 2009, they were the first big developers to admit they were bust - and they encouraged their fellow developers to face reality in the same way. In 2010, in the pages of a national newspaper, Simon Kelly apologized for his part in the long-term damage created by the property bubble.
In the first insider account of Ireland's property and banking disaster, Simon Kelly gives a vivid and unsparing account of how it all worked and why it went sour. He brings us to the muddy fields, humble cafés and grand dining rooms where the deals were made; he explains how it was that debt always led to more debt; and he takes us through the portals of Anglo Irish Bank, the Kellys' main lender.
In an account packed with telling and indiscreet detail, Simon Kelly makes no excuses for ending up bust. He simply shows how it happened - to him, to
