Spooked: The men and women paid by the super-wealthy to bury the evidence

Donald Trump features prominently in this exposé of the lengths private investigators will go to when asked by wealthy and prominent individuals to dig the dirt on their adversaries

Former US president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin: a dossier by a private investigator alleged that members of Trump’s presidential campaign had colluded with the Kremlin. Picture: Getty

NON-FICTION/POLITICS

Spooked: The Secret Rise of Private Spies

By Barry Meier

Sceptre, €20.25

In the mid-1980s, Donald Trump was considering buying a casino in Atlantic City. The property developer suspected that organised crime figures were involved in the casino, so he hired private investigators. Trump believed that if he could prove his hunch was correct, he could negotiate a better price.

When the investigators’ report found no evidence linking the casino to organised crime, however, ...