Money, Murder, and Madness at the Library

Money, Murder, and Madness: A Banking Life is not just another book about the financial crisis. Marblehead High School graduate Forrest Cook avoids impenetrable financial jargon and takes the reader on a refreshingly different look on why the crisis happened and who were the government officials responsible.

Cook will be at the Abbot Public Library on Sunday, Sept. 20 at 2 p.m. to discuss his new book.

“If you think banking is boring, former banking executive Forrest Cook is here to show you otherwise. His book takes you on a lively personal journey through the stresses and strains of a profession that has in recent years fallen out of favor, and offers the reader some provocative views about the Great Recession,” said Tom Hyman, author of Jupiter’s Daughter and Seven Days to Petrograd.

Cook was a senior vice president and retail division head at State Street Bank in Boston. He was one of the senior officers who was instrumental in the transition of an old-line Boston bank to a more entrepreneurial organization. He later served as president and chief executive officer of South Shore Bank in Quincy, Massachusetts. Cook experienced many changes in the banking world during his career, including the government dismantling of the residential mortgage market. He decided the story of banking and the housing collapse that led to the Financial Crisis needed to be told by someone who actually ran a large bank and mortgage company.

Cook graduated from Bowdoin College, was the class president in Rutgers University Stonier Graduate School of Banking, and was the class treasurer in Harvard Business School Advanced Management. He was a second lieutenant in the army and served six years in the reserve as captain. He resides in New England with his family.

The Abbot Public Library is located at 235 Pleasant Street in Marblehead. For additional information, please call 781-631-1481 or visit www.abbotlibrary.org.