As I admitted yesterday, the books I took on holiday were non-economics related. Some were even thrillers. One of those, however, drew its plot from the financial crisis – or rather, the avalanche of foreclosures that have been taking place around the US. It was Michael Connolly’s [amazon_link id=”B004TL0J5M” target=”_blank” ]The Fifth Witness[/amazon_link], a terrific page turner. The frauds that took place during the housing boom, and the unconscionable attitude of some banks since the crash, provide the backdrop to this book – and apparently the motive for murder.

[amazon_image id=”B004TL0J5M” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Fifth Witness[/amazon_image]

Coincidentally, as I was reading it, I spotted this FT story about US bankers suing to prevent a new initiative, Mortgage Resolution Partners, from helping financially troubled home-buyers reduce their mortgage payments. The reason for the suit is that the plan gets municipal authorities to use eminent domain law to take over the collateral underpinning the mortgages. The anxiety of the financial industry about this tool is understandable – but as a member of the City Council of Richmond, California, said to the FT: “The banks caused the whole financial meltdown that resulted in the Great Recession …. They all got bailed out by the government. For them to come back and try to attack a very well thought out and very creative scheme to try to bail out some of the people who were their victims is extremely cynical and extremely hypocritical.”

After all, it’s not as if the banks are falling over themselves to help troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure any other way. Thankfully, foreclosure-related murder is fictional, but the emotional and financial mayhem caused by the continuing after-effects of the housing boom is all too real.