writh reviewed Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow (Martin Hench, #1)
Move over heart-throbe protagonists, an elderly accountant has arrived
5 stars
Seriously. Martin Hench is a fantastic character. There is nothing about him or his journey through this novel that I would change.
As always, Doctorow has gotten all of the details right. As an infosec professional, I appreciate that level of research and commitment to verisimilitude. This is a fast paced thriller about... financial and tech crime... I know that sounds weird, and it is even weirder that the main character is essentially an accountant, but it works so well.
I also love that he's old. He's been around the block a time or 7. He knows his shit. He's the last of a dying breed. The computing revolutionaries from MIT. He was at the cutting edge of forensic computing and accounting. But those days are long in his past. Now he's dealing with cryptocurrency. The blockchain. All that other gross crap that tech-bros have come up with. But he's …
Seriously. Martin Hench is a fantastic character. There is nothing about him or his journey through this novel that I would change.
As always, Doctorow has gotten all of the details right. As an infosec professional, I appreciate that level of research and commitment to verisimilitude. This is a fast paced thriller about... financial and tech crime... I know that sounds weird, and it is even weirder that the main character is essentially an accountant, but it works so well.
I also love that he's old. He's been around the block a time or 7. He knows his shit. He's the last of a dying breed. The computing revolutionaries from MIT. He was at the cutting edge of forensic computing and accounting. But those days are long in his past. Now he's dealing with cryptocurrency. The blockchain. All that other gross crap that tech-bros have come up with. But he's able to cut through the bullshit and use his smarts and his knowledge of tactics to beat them at their own game. It is seriously an awesome story.
There are so many deep characters in this book. A lot of them would be worthy of their own novels. None of the side characters or relationships seem fake or two dimensional.
Overall, if you like mysteries or thrillers, are into tech, or just love good character driven books, this is for you.
