The problem with this was that the tale itself was not new. I sensed that the main culprit was, essentially, something of a Bernie Madoff-lite rip-off. Stylistically, it was melodramatic/lurid in places to try to make it more interesting than it actually was (masked victims! disguised voices!). A major problem was that the ringmaster did not seem to be a terribly interesting person; when the strongest and most popular adjective used of them is ‘nerdy’ then you sense that the makers are struggling somewhat to make the maon villain charismatic and interesting.