The final days of Bear Stearns

March 12, 2008: Bear Stearns' chief financial officer, Sam Molinaro, presses his fingers against the side of his face, worrying about what trouble the next day will bring.

"This was the worst day of his twenty-two-year career, without a doubt," author Kate Kelly says. "We're cooked, he thought. Not only will Bear have to be sold to J.P. Morgan or some other deep-pocketed bank, but we may not even be able to open the doors tomorrow.

'Guys, I don't know what our options are here,' Molinaro finally said. "I think we're about out of options.'"

Dramatic vignettes like this one are scattered throughout Kelly's book "Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns, the Toughest Firm on Wall Street." Based on Kelly's Wall Street Journal articles about Bear Stearns' demise, the book takes readers inside a once-proud investment banking firm as it totters on the brink of disaster, then collapses.

Fortunately, Kelly's book focuses less on the financial implications of Bear Stearns' demise than on the human drama that unfolds during the last 72 hours of its life as an independent firm. She introduces us to scores of vividly sketched characters, from CFO Sam Molinaro to director and former CEO Alan "Ace" Greenberg, and makes us care about their fates as the sky falls around them.

My only complaint is that Kelly occasionally uses Wall Street jargon to explain what's going on without defining what the term means. A short glossary of common financial terms in the back of the book would have been a major help in understanding what happened to Bear Stearns.

Apart from that quibble, "Street Fighters" is a vivid, dramatic narrative that gives readers a fly-on-the-wall view of the financial turmoil that gripped the nation in 2008 and hasn't let go. If you're looking for a quick, dramatic yet highly educational read, it's worth checking out.