What was Lewis' purpose for writing the book, Flash Boys?

Michael Lewis begins Flash Boys with the story of Sergey Aleynikov, a former computer programmer of Goldman Sachs. Sergey, or “Serge,” had been arrested in 2009 for stealing Goldman Sachs computer code. “I’d thought it strange, after the financial crisis, in which Goldman had played such an important role, that the only Goldman Sachs employee who had been charged with any sort of crime was the employee who had taken something from Goldman Sachs” (Page 1). Other than being alarmed at the double standard of Wall Street prosecutions, Lewis thinks it is also bizarre that Serge was accused of stealing a code that could allegedly be used to manipulate the market in unfair ways. If this were the case, should Goldman Sachs be trusted with that particular code?

The other consideration Lewis has for writing Flash Boys is to explain in the simplest terms an increasingly complex financial system. Gone are the days of brokers crowding the stock exchange floor scrupulously reading ticker tape and shouting orders at one another. According to Lewis, the stock market is totally digital and less centralized. It is heavily based on the speed of fiber-optic technology.