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The story begins with Wilson Raj Perumal's childhood and the beginning of his love for football—American soccer. Also mixed in is the local culture of Singapore and the depiction of average life in the places where Perumal grew up.
Growing up in the poorer areas of Singapore, Perumal was introduced to gambling and general mischievousness through his friends in school, which ultimately cost him immensely. His beginnings were small, starting with average teenage naughtiness, building into serious gambling and match-fixing. Fixing matches involved rigging a game by whatever means necessary, paying off members of the team or integrating his own hired players into the match. Either way, the result was a huge payout for a large bet placed on a game with rigged results.
Though mostly interesting, it could almost be said that the book was filled with too much information. Several instances of the same subject were covered (i.e., fixing small matches in the beginning) that could have been condensed to make the book less repetitive. Also, some characters in the book seemed superfluous—after their story was told, they played no other role in the book. They had very little to do with the main character other than it appears they provided Perumal the opportunity to call them names and air their “dirty laundry.” Ironically, throughout the book, he professes to be a "good guy," which is supposed to be apparent by his ability to resist the urge to rat out his colleagues "dirty laundry," because (he claims) it was none of his business. Yet, in the book he repeatedly trounces them verbally. Unfortunately, the story is riddled with seemingly unnecessary profanity which limits the audience to adult readers. There are many young readers avidly interested in sports who would find the subject of this book very intriguing.
I would give "Kelong Kings: Confessions of the world's most prolific match-fixer" a 3 out of 4 stars. Although the subject was not one of my stronger interests, many people would be fascinated to learn about the match-fixing and how it started. Others may find it interesting as a criminal novel, revealing the beginnings, downfall, and redemption of a convicted felon.
***
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