English language
Published Feb. 9, 2023 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.
Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough.
Martin is a―contain your excitement―self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by …
Martin Hench is 67 years old, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He lives and roams California in a very comfortable fully-furnished touring bus, The Unsalted Hash, that he bought years ago from a fading rock star. He knows his way around good food and fine drink. He likes intelligent women, and they like him back often enough.
Martin is a―contain your excitement―self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He knows computer hardware and software alike, including the ins and outs of high-end databases and the kinds of spreadsheets that are designed to conceal rather than reveal. He’s as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and he’s a world-level expert on the kind of international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery used by Fortune 500 companies, mid-divorce billionaires, and international drug gangs alike. He also knows the Valley like the back of his hand, all the secret histories of charismatic company founders and Sand Hill Road VCs. Because he was there at all the beginnings. He’s not famous, except to the people who matter. He’s made some pretty powerful people happy in his time, and he’s been paid pretty well. It’s been a good life.
Now he’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before―and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive.
This was Doctorow at his finest. Its a fast paced book that is very nerdy and very fun.
Recommend this to all of your techie friends. Also for all of your finance friends. Also for all of your friends who have fallen into the dark world of crypto culture...maybe this will help them out.
Never forget - crypto means cryptography!
I really liked this. Imagine a 67 year old main character! With an old rock star tour bus. Who's an accountant. Lots of money, blocks, chains and keys floating around. And retirement.
Unbelievably good and probably will end up as my 'book of the year'. There was a lot of anticipation around this with Doctorow's own editor calling it a 'barn burner' on reading the first draft. I can safely say that the all the hype was fully lived up to. This .... soared. On the face of it, a tale of an accountant in his late 60's getting up to shenanigans in Silicon Valley is not really a premise that sounds like it will work. It so, did. A lot of ground was covered in this novel, it had a breathless tone at times when it was jumping from one thing to the next. Skewering cryptobro culture, examining homelessness in one of the richest cities in the world, dealing with morality and considerations of trust. Look, if you like a good thriller. Read this. If you want some insight into some …
Unbelievably good and probably will end up as my 'book of the year'. There was a lot of anticipation around this with Doctorow's own editor calling it a 'barn burner' on reading the first draft. I can safely say that the all the hype was fully lived up to. This .... soared. On the face of it, a tale of an accountant in his late 60's getting up to shenanigans in Silicon Valley is not really a premise that sounds like it will work. It so, did. A lot of ground was covered in this novel, it had a breathless tone at times when it was jumping from one thing to the next. Skewering cryptobro culture, examining homelessness in one of the richest cities in the world, dealing with morality and considerations of trust. Look, if you like a good thriller. Read this. If you want some insight into some of the current factors at play in the tech world. Read this. If you like good books. Just. Read. This. I thought Doctorow's last novel was an absolute triumph. This tops it. It's just that good. Obviously recommended.
Though billed as forensic accounting thriller, I found the book to be a little light on action and tension to merit the word 'thriller.' But our book's hero does have some moments where bad actors are closing in. Caught in the middle of someone else's fight, with doubtful allies from the government, the story does intrigue, and I was lucky to start reading it on a rainy Sunday because I got nothing else done once my nose was in this book. Recommended.
I finished @pluralistic’s #RedTeamBlues this evening, and I would highly - highly - recommend it! It’s a short read, just a tad over 200 pages but it’s quite engrossing. I probably could have finished it last night, but I forced myself to sleep instead.
I really like Doctorow’s writing style, and I always learn some new words (and not just technological ones) when I read his books. One of my favorite hallmarks of his fiction is the use of what I would term “non-standard” protagonists - in this case a 67-year-old confirmed bachelor facing retirement. Definitely not someone I would have expected to be enmeshed with a cast of Very Ruthless People ™️ and crypto-bros. That alone makes the stories so much more relatable and entertaining to me and easier to identify with. And as always, the more technical elements of the plot are thoroughly well-researched and expertly woven together …
I finished @pluralistic’s #RedTeamBlues this evening, and I would highly - highly - recommend it! It’s a short read, just a tad over 200 pages but it’s quite engrossing. I probably could have finished it last night, but I forced myself to sleep instead.
I really like Doctorow’s writing style, and I always learn some new words (and not just technological ones) when I read his books. One of my favorite hallmarks of his fiction is the use of what I would term “non-standard” protagonists - in this case a 67-year-old confirmed bachelor facing retirement. Definitely not someone I would have expected to be enmeshed with a cast of Very Ruthless People ™️ and crypto-bros. That alone makes the stories so much more relatable and entertaining to me and easier to identify with. And as always, the more technical elements of the plot are thoroughly well-researched and expertly woven together like an episode of #MrRobot, but explained in an accessible and easy-to-follow manner.
If you’re looking for a short(ish) techno-thriller to read with a page-turning plot, this book should be right up your alley. That ain’t no lie, cutie pie.
Purchasable
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/5184389278339-red-team-blues.