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Geek Mafia
by
Fired from his job as a videogame designer, Paul Reynolds meets an alluring, conwoman named Chloe. With the help of her gang of techno-pirate friends, Chloe helps Paul take revenge on his former employers. He falls in love with their fun loving, off the grid lifestyle almost as fast as he falls head over heels for Chloe. But can he trust any of them, or is he the one whos
...more
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Paperback, 320 pages
Published
February 1st 2006
by Blue King Studios
(first published 2006)
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Community Reviews
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Start your review of Geek Mafia
Comic book artist/videogame designer Paul Reynolds has just been fired from his own company when he meets a beautiful pink-haired woman named Chloe. Turns out she's a conwoman with a "family" of techno-pirate friends. They help Paul take revenge on his co-workers, but in the process Paul falls for both the girl and the lifestyle. He plans some cons of his own, like counterfeiting comic books and creating a fake fundraiser. But there are cons within cons, and Paul finds himself out of his league.
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At first you think, well, this is just some Cory Doctorow YA ripoff: young nerd boy, at the moment of a crisis in his life, accidentally meets up with Manic Pixie Hacker Dream Girl who takes him out of his shell, shows him a better life of communal living away from the rat race, gets him involved in semi-legal (or blatantly illegal) activities that nevertheless free his spirit, until there's the inevitable run-in with the authorities, which gets hairy for a while but which ends with our hero and
...more
Jan 28, 2012
Jeff Raymond
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-own-on-kindle,
read-general-fiction
Giving the writing a 2, but the sheer amount of fun I had reading this a 4.5, I think a 4 is fair.
Paul is getting fired from his job tomorrow. His job is being the creative force behind a pretty big deal of a video game, and the rest of the top-level guys want him out. Paul ends up meeting Chloe at the Mexican restaurant he's hiding out in, and suddenly Paul is in the middle of a massive con to try and get what he's truly owed from the company.
Thus begins the wild ride that is Geek Mafia. The ...more
Paul is getting fired from his job tomorrow. His job is being the creative force behind a pretty big deal of a video game, and the rest of the top-level guys want him out. Paul ends up meeting Chloe at the Mexican restaurant he's hiding out in, and suddenly Paul is in the middle of a massive con to try and get what he's truly owed from the company.
Thus begins the wild ride that is Geek Mafia. The ...more
Ocean's Eleven, Reservoir Dogs, Kick-ass, and the Usual Suspects: the four films that come to mind when asked about "G33k Mafia".
This novel follows the story of Paul, a comic-book artist, who after loses his job helps extort a large amount of money from his former employer with the help of a mysterious con-woman called Chloe, as he later joins their crew and their adventures.
Like Ocean's Eleven, this novel jumps right into the action, in which any geek can feel familiar with the crew of ...more
This novel follows the story of Paul, a comic-book artist, who after loses his job helps extort a large amount of money from his former employer with the help of a mysterious con-woman called Chloe, as he later joins their crew and their adventures.
Like Ocean's Eleven, this novel jumps right into the action, in which any geek can feel familiar with the crew of ...more
G33k Mafia starts out as a "wow i can't believe this could ever happen" type book and begins to melt into a oceans 11 type, fast paced semi-geeky masterpiece. While low on the exact technical details the ideas and characters are plenty geeky but seem to perfect to be real, keeping this book as more of a dream than reality.
With similarities to Little Brother in some aspects, its surprising to realize this was published 2 full years before Little Brother.
Unlike most books, the ending is not ...more
With similarities to Little Brother in some aspects, its surprising to realize this was published 2 full years before Little Brother.
Unlike most books, the ending is not ...more
A fun combination of geek/heist/anti-establishment/love story/community that turns much of what would be predictable in the narrative into the opposite. Only con? It's pretty "dude" in the geek/heist/anti-establishment/love story/community kind of way, and that (unfortunately) IS completely - and perpetually - predicatable.
You will have to learn to ignore all of the typos and mistakes in this book. I think they tried to save money on proofreading. That being said, the book is very good, especially for someone in the tech industry.
Edit: The current editions of the book have improved on those earlier versions.
Edit: The current editions of the book have improved on those earlier versions.
This was pretty good, but if you know about computers you might want to suspend your disbelief a little bit.
The concept is exciting, and a couple of the crimes were also intriguing. Nerd/techno punk criminals. Honestly it could have been like a pre-Mr Robot hit.
Unfortunately this is one of the cases where its a good idea but not a good book. The writing was awkward and frankly seemed immature. I also found the execution of the story to be clumsy, like a by-the-numbers attempt at a traditional noir. Like a checklist, the MC gets in a bad spot, meets a femme fatal, has some introductory level crime ...more
Unfortunately this is one of the cases where its a good idea but not a good book. The writing was awkward and frankly seemed immature. I also found the execution of the story to be clumsy, like a by-the-numbers attempt at a traditional noir. Like a checklist, the MC gets in a bad spot, meets a femme fatal, has some introductory level crime ...more
I'm pretty impressed with this book. Definitely didn't expect much, since I've never heard of Dakan. The book is quite interesting and you can get hooked easily. The twists are awesome, I'll definitely read the next one
Aug 20, 2017
Susan (Sue)
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cybersecurity,
mystery,
technology-history,
sociology,
politics,
fiction,
programming,
history,
psychology,
mythology
Great Geeks Alive!!!! I LOVED IT!!! :-) :-) :-) I'm already hunting for the second book!! :-)
DNF @11%. The characters of both Paul and Cloe rubbed me the wrong way from the first page and it didn't get better. 4 chapters was all I could stomach...
This is a great read and I've actually had the pleasure of reading the entire series. I really wanted to read more by this author but it seems that he has dropped off radar.
The back half totally made up for the front half. Not sure if I'll continue the series or not.
Geek Mafia, or as the book cover has it, G33K Mafia, is a techno-thriller that while being incredibly predictable, was also kind of fun to read. It was in no way particularly innovative. The print edition that I read was in serious need of copy editing (there were many typos and at one point even character names were wrong!). And frankly, everything from the initial con to the final line was formulaic at best and could be seen coming from a mile away. And for all those flaws, it was still fun to
...more
I'm not going to lie; one of my main motivations for reading this book was knowing that I could get a free copy of it as an ebook from the author's website. I mean, it also seemed to have some interesting subject matter, but that ease of accessibility pushed me over the edge, and gave me a chance to read it over the Christmas holiday. And I'm really glad I did.[return]Depending on the type of person that you are, the ideas of "fraud", "graft", "comic book back-issue pricing", and "political
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Inspired by his own firing from a Silicon Valley gaming company, Dakan has written a fun, breezy tale of revenge and con-artistry in the '00s. Paul is an indie comic-book creator who heafs out West to try and turn his Eisner-winning world into a computer game. However, in the opening pages, we meet him as he is kicked to the curb by his friends/partners. Conveniently, he soon meets an alluring young woman who offers the prospect of financial and karmic revenge against his backstabbing,
...more
I found this to be quite the page turner, causing me a couple of late nights 'cause I REALLY wanted to know what happened next. It's a relatively, well, OK, somewhat plausible crime thriller set nowish (early 2000s) in Silicon Valley.
Technology plays a major role in the assorted escapades but the details of the hacking, both physical and logical, are mostly glossed over. This means that there aren't any technical hurdles to trip on and it didn't head down the crazy leet-speak path like Zero Day. ...more
Technology plays a major role in the assorted escapades but the details of the hacking, both physical and logical, are mostly glossed over. This means that there aren't any technical hurdles to trip on and it didn't head down the crazy leet-speak path like Zero Day. ...more
For subject matter, character, and pacing, thumbs up
I enjoyed the brisk, Elmore Leonard-esque prose. The dialogue was genuine to the demographic presented, and moved the action along well. The pacing kept me flipping (ok, swiping - Ebook, doncha know) pages well after bedtime. This is a quick, light read, and after coming on the heels of Rucker's Tetralogy and Stross' Accelreando, was a much appreciated break from idea and concept heavy reads
Proofing and editing, thumbs down.
I can forgive the ...more
I enjoyed the brisk, Elmore Leonard-esque prose. The dialogue was genuine to the demographic presented, and moved the action along well. The pacing kept me flipping (ok, swiping - Ebook, doncha know) pages well after bedtime. This is a quick, light read, and after coming on the heels of Rucker's Tetralogy and Stross' Accelreando, was a much appreciated break from idea and concept heavy reads
Proofing and editing, thumbs down.
I can forgive the ...more
I had heard such a glowing review of this book that I even carried it in my distro without having read it. I finally got around to reading it, and I'm kind of surprised how mediocre it is. To be fair, I just read a Neal Stephenson novel, and those are big shoes to fill. Neal Stephenson also writes suspenseful stories with technological bases, but the difference is that he's actually a good writer.
This is a con story though, and those are often pretty exciting. I like con/heist movies, and this ...more
This is a con story though, and those are often pretty exciting. I like con/heist movies, and this ...more
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enjoyed every part of the book.... especially towards the end where evry knot is untied and every picture falls into its place.It's a story of a comic artist Paul, who is fired from a company where he is a partner along with his friend. They dont tell him the proper reason though. Depressed, he goes a bar where he meets a girl . The actual story starts here. How he comes over evrything (does he really do??)with the help of chloe..He breaks up with his frineds .. hang aroung with chloe... her
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This was terrible. Every trope imaginable.
The main character tries to portray himself as a Nice Guy. But, he's really a jackass who believes he's entitled to anything he wants.
He spent half the book whining about how he isn't having sex with the romantic interest, but when it gets to the sex scene, the author fades to black. That's just poor writing. You can write in great detail about all the teasing touches and how she rebuffs his advances, but you refuse to write the smut?
Back to the ...more
The main character tries to portray himself as a Nice Guy. But, he's really a jackass who believes he's entitled to anything he wants.
He spent half the book whining about how he isn't having sex with the romantic interest, but when it gets to the sex scene, the author fades to black. That's just poor writing. You can write in great detail about all the teasing touches and how she rebuffs his advances, but you refuse to write the smut?
Back to the ...more
Jul 17, 2010
Robo Pete
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Geeks, nerds, pop-culture afficionados
Shelves:
suffix-punk,
indie
Geekpunk?
So it's a sort of Ocean's 11 but with l33t haxorz and technie nerds? Hustle with comics? Loaded with great characters, tonnes of pop-culture references and a plot full of crosses and double crosses and crosses of the double crosses and romance! What more could you want. Written in a relaxed, easygoing flowing style I raced through the pages and couldn't wait to find out who would come out on top as twists and turns played out and the ideas kept coming.
There are some great set pieces, ...more
So it's a sort of Ocean's 11 but with l33t haxorz and technie nerds? Hustle with comics? Loaded with great characters, tonnes of pop-culture references and a plot full of crosses and double crosses and crosses of the double crosses and romance! What more could you want. Written in a relaxed, easygoing flowing style I raced through the pages and couldn't wait to find out who would come out on top as twists and turns played out and the ideas kept coming.
There are some great set pieces, ...more
Not my usual genre but I was intrigued by Cory Doctorow's recommendation and took a chance. As it turns out, I really enjoyed the book. If you enjoy detective novels you might want to branch out and give this a try.
While I haven't read many caper-type books (think Oceans 11), this book seems to be a good example. The characters were interesting and while some of the twists were well signed, others were surprising.
The writing style is reasonable and the pacing is good. There are a few times ...more
While I haven't read many caper-type books (think Oceans 11), this book seems to be a good example. The characters were interesting and while some of the twists were well signed, others were surprising.
The writing style is reasonable and the pacing is good. There are a few times ...more
Geek Mafia is a quick read about a video game designer turned outlaw. When Paul is basically forced out of a company he helped start, he "happens upon" a con woman who leads him quickly from getting revenge against his own nemesis to going after big dollar game. Paul's new adventure turns from fun and exciting to incredibly dangerous, with plenty of plot twists to keep it exciting.
In the end, this is clearly a geek fantasy written by a geek. Nerdy gamer type encounters gorgeous babe who is also ...more
In the end, this is clearly a geek fantasy written by a geek. Nerdy gamer type encounters gorgeous babe who is also ...more
An engaging read with an interesting back story. The writer was one of the developers for City of Heroes, and the main character for the story seems to have an eerily similar history. Dakan insists that he parted with Cryptic on good terms and that his story is all fiction, but I have to wonder if there isn't some lingering bitterness there.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/200...
While needing a bit of editorial oversight the story was engaging and I am interested enough to perhaps pick up the ...more
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/200...
While needing a bit of editorial oversight the story was engaging and I am interested enough to perhaps pick up the ...more
This book caught me by surprise, it's a story you might associate to Robin Hood. The story is a page turner indeed. It's starts at neutral if you want to picture a manual transmission and shifts to 1st gear and just when you think the story will slow down soon, it shifts to 2nd gear and throughout the entire story just keeps on going faster and faster all the way to the end. It's the first book I've ever come across that had me glued. Prepare to have plenty of tea or coffee and some healthy
...more
A great read! It's got twists and turns, smart funny characters, intelligent cons and brilliant outrages committed against America's rich right wing, a mix of cool technology, suspicion, courage, politics and love...who could ask for more from a novel? You don't even have to be a geek to love it, the fast-paced well-plotted story carries the technology along for a ride rather than the other way round. Read it.
This book follows the relationship between a geeky guy and a girl who leads a group of geeks who use their skills to provide for themselves and live as they choose (off the grid). A really interesting concept in general. For some reason, I am not remembering this book as favorably as I could be, though I am not sure why at the moment.
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