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Geek Mafia: Black Hat Blues
A gripping story of con artists and activists, this story follows a crew of elite hackers, new recruits, anarchists, and impersonators as they attempt to take down their most challenging target to date—the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Gathered under the cover of HackerCon in Washington DC—a place for security experts, penetration testers, and technology geeks to meet and discuss the latest hacks and exploits—this group of renegades plot their attack on the federal government for its objectionable security practices. Thought provoking and entertaining, this fast-paced adventure is based on years of research in the hacker community, addresses many contemporary social issues, and provides an overview of how hacking really works.
- GenresFiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
3 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 22, 2009
dakan's books are like geek crack for those who like hacker/con/heist type stories. the latest in the series holds up well against the other two (big take-down of a D.C. lobbyist from within a hacker convention goes horribly awry, but gets settled in the end). while the sex scenes seem a bit gratuitous and the copy-editing could be a little tighter, these are but minor quibbles for an otherwise great read.
March 31, 2010
this is the first time i have read a book that featured people i know.
July 29, 2016
I mentioned in my review of Mile Zero that I enjoyed Geek Mafia because it was fun. Mile Zero touched on that fun, but part of what let me down was that where the first book in the series was from Paul's perspective, Mile Zero picked up the perspectives of the other characters in the story, most notably Chloe. I get it; Chloe's now someone to trust, and having part of the story from her perspective reaffirms that notion. But getting outside of just Paul's head made the mystery less impactful, since now we couldn't experience his uncertainty as well.
Black Hat Blues takes that notion one step further, by adding additional point-of-view characters, most of them new to the crew. Chloe, Paul, and the gang have moved on from small-time swindles in Key West to full-scale cons in Washington, D.C., and they've picked up a few hackers on the way. That's fine, but the new characters are immediately trustworthy because we get to see the world through their eyes. I missed that device of not having everyone's input to keep me wondering how everything was going to play out.
In addition to those new point-of-view characters, Dakan also winds us back and forth through time as he sets up the story for us. First we start off in the present, with the con getting started. Then we jump back a bit to see how one of the hackers came on board. Then we jump back to Chloe in later times, and then back again to another hacker, who's also telling his story from the past. It wasn't confusing, necessarily, but it felt very messy. Neither Geek Mafia nor Mile Zero were told that way, and Dakan was still able to bring in new characters without having to break time in order to get us familiar with them. I wish that Black Hat Blues had followed that format to some degree. The new characters are necessary to the story, so it's not that they're in there just to fill up space. Dakan brings three new characters into the crew, and we need to know a bit about them and how they were brought into the group. I just wish that the story had been told more linearly, instead of hopping all over the place like a hyper kangaroo.
I also had more issues with the publisher and their printing conventions. I noticed a lot of typos (a couple of "the the"s and other repeated words, a lot of missing articles and other words, some commas in the wrong place, the use of "peak" to describe someone looking surreptitiously around a corner, and even a egregiously misused "it's" and even the use of "their" for "there"), and they used words in ALL CAPS instead of italics to emphasize a particular word. It struck me as something I would read online instead of in print, and it distracted me whenever I came across it. The novel also veered into Cory Doctorow territory, where Dakan provided a lot of info-dumps to make sure the reader was on board with all the hacking activity. I'll give Dakan credit, though, since that kind of thing was necessary for the story, but the method of getting those info-dumps across was a little out of place. For good measure, though, he made sure to name-drop Doctorow in the first 25 pages or so. After that, I sort of knew how the rest of the novel would play out.
For all that, though, the novel is about on par with Mile Zero in its entertainment value. Neither book measures up to how much fun it was to read Geek Mafia, but honestly, I read the first book seven years ago. I'm not even sure how I would feel about that one if I went back and re-read it today. Regardless, I'd definitely recommend folks read the first book, but as for the two sequels, I don't see them as being necessary.
Black Hat Blues takes that notion one step further, by adding additional point-of-view characters, most of them new to the crew. Chloe, Paul, and the gang have moved on from small-time swindles in Key West to full-scale cons in Washington, D.C., and they've picked up a few hackers on the way. That's fine, but the new characters are immediately trustworthy because we get to see the world through their eyes. I missed that device of not having everyone's input to keep me wondering how everything was going to play out.
In addition to those new point-of-view characters, Dakan also winds us back and forth through time as he sets up the story for us. First we start off in the present, with the con getting started. Then we jump back a bit to see how one of the hackers came on board. Then we jump back to Chloe in later times, and then back again to another hacker, who's also telling his story from the past. It wasn't confusing, necessarily, but it felt very messy. Neither Geek Mafia nor Mile Zero were told that way, and Dakan was still able to bring in new characters without having to break time in order to get us familiar with them. I wish that Black Hat Blues had followed that format to some degree. The new characters are necessary to the story, so it's not that they're in there just to fill up space. Dakan brings three new characters into the crew, and we need to know a bit about them and how they were brought into the group. I just wish that the story had been told more linearly, instead of hopping all over the place like a hyper kangaroo.
I also had more issues with the publisher and their printing conventions. I noticed a lot of typos (a couple of "the the"s and other repeated words, a lot of missing articles and other words, some commas in the wrong place, the use of "peak" to describe someone looking surreptitiously around a corner, and even a egregiously misused "it's" and even the use of "their" for "there"), and they used words in ALL CAPS instead of italics to emphasize a particular word. It struck me as something I would read online instead of in print, and it distracted me whenever I came across it. The novel also veered into Cory Doctorow territory, where Dakan provided a lot of info-dumps to make sure the reader was on board with all the hacking activity. I'll give Dakan credit, though, since that kind of thing was necessary for the story, but the method of getting those info-dumps across was a little out of place. For good measure, though, he made sure to name-drop Doctorow in the first 25 pages or so. After that, I sort of knew how the rest of the novel would play out.
For all that, though, the novel is about on par with Mile Zero in its entertainment value. Neither book measures up to how much fun it was to read Geek Mafia, but honestly, I read the first book seven years ago. I'm not even sure how I would feel about that one if I went back and re-read it today. Regardless, I'd definitely recommend folks read the first book, but as for the two sequels, I don't see them as being necessary.
March 17, 2014
A fast, fun book about a crew of black hat hacker / con artists who decide to go after The Man and start taking down Washington insiders.
One minor nitpick: these hacker / con artists use disguises when they social engineer their marks. Each mark knows the members of the crew by different personae. Since each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character, in what is known as "third person limited" (i.e. the narrative knows what is going on in that character's mind, but not necessarily things unknown to that character), the name thing gets out of hand. So when we read "Oliver saw Toni enter the room" we have to stop and think -- OK now, which member of the crew took the pseudonym "Toni" when dealing with Oliver? As a result, I spent at least two chapters thinking that Oliver has met with one crewmember when he had met with a totally different one.
IT just occurred to me: the author might have deliberately done that to keep the audience as confused as the marks. If that's the case, he shouldn't have done it.
Aside from that stylistic disagreement, I like everything else about this book. It makes me want to throw my life away for the life of a hacker / con artist.
One minor nitpick: these hacker / con artists use disguises when they social engineer their marks. Each mark knows the members of the crew by different personae. Since each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character, in what is known as "third person limited" (i.e. the narrative knows what is going on in that character's mind, but not necessarily things unknown to that character), the name thing gets out of hand. So when we read "Oliver saw Toni enter the room" we have to stop and think -- OK now, which member of the crew took the pseudonym "Toni" when dealing with Oliver? As a result, I spent at least two chapters thinking that Oliver has met with one crewmember when he had met with a totally different one.
IT just occurred to me: the author might have deliberately done that to keep the audience as confused as the marks. If that's the case, he shouldn't have done it.
Aside from that stylistic disagreement, I like everything else about this book. It makes me want to throw my life away for the life of a hacker / con artist.
January 25, 2015
Maybe closer to a 2.5?
I had very warm feelings about this series, liking the first book a lot in particular. Looking back at my review of the second book, I apparently bleached out my memory of it because I really didn't like it, but hey, the third book is available to me so I'll give it a shot, right?
The problems with this book are legion. The first quarter feels like a Cory Doctorow knockoff, the middle half a meandering mess of a cyberpunk mystery, and, while the end does kind of redeem things a bit, the full result is a hacker novel that provides little to truly get excited over.
I feel badly about this, as I just want this to be a lot better than it ends up being. But the unfortunate truth is that the characters barely resemble who they were when they started out (and not in a "character growth" way), and this book feels less like a necessary coda and more of an add-on.
I still think the first book is pretty great. This book pretty much solidifies, however, the way the rest of the series kind of falls apart. Unfortunate, but there are certainly other books and other series that do this better.
I had very warm feelings about this series, liking the first book a lot in particular. Looking back at my review of the second book, I apparently bleached out my memory of it because I really didn't like it, but hey, the third book is available to me so I'll give it a shot, right?
The problems with this book are legion. The first quarter feels like a Cory Doctorow knockoff, the middle half a meandering mess of a cyberpunk mystery, and, while the end does kind of redeem things a bit, the full result is a hacker novel that provides little to truly get excited over.
I feel badly about this, as I just want this to be a lot better than it ends up being. But the unfortunate truth is that the characters barely resemble who they were when they started out (and not in a "character growth" way), and this book feels less like a necessary coda and more of an add-on.
I still think the first book is pretty great. This book pretty much solidifies, however, the way the rest of the series kind of falls apart. Unfortunate, but there are certainly other books and other series that do this better.
July 14, 2013
This is the third of the Geek Mafia series, and though the book was left at a point to possibly be continued, I'm not sure if there will be any more in the series. The techie con artists get back to their geek roots and hit up hacker cons in search of new crew members, or at least trusted independent contractors.
The characters are still sort of whatever, and I never have understood the relationship between Paul and Chloe. Still, I found this to be the most exciting of the three books. It always seems like they're going to pull it off, but then more bottoms drop out, and it really isn't until the very very end that you realize what's been going on.
Worth it if you like con stories, but not exactly good literature.
The characters are still sort of whatever, and I never have understood the relationship between Paul and Chloe. Still, I found this to be the most exciting of the three books. It always seems like they're going to pull it off, but then more bottoms drop out, and it really isn't until the very very end that you realize what's been going on.
Worth it if you like con stories, but not exactly good literature.
December 13, 2013
If you have read the other Geek Mafia books you know basically what to expect here. Some tech, some political intrigue, and a lot of interlocking pieces. More tech players than in previous books which was nice for me. My only complaint is the conclusion happens very rapidly.
April 8, 2010
all in all, this was ok. not great. it has the standard requirements to get me interested in the caper and a few neat complexities of character . . . modern day techno savvy cloak and dagger, stealing from the man and crushing them by breaking laws because "it's the right thing to do" sort of thing.
there's pretty much no veiling to the anarchistic politics and that's just fine by me. a light and lively read. i'll probably dig into part 1 and 2 in the series someday down the road.
there's pretty much no veiling to the anarchistic politics and that's just fine by me. a light and lively read. i'll probably dig into part 1 and 2 in the series someday down the road.
September 30, 2009
The strongest of the geek mafia books, and the first one with an explicitly anarchist character!
June 20, 2012
Con Game meets Black Hat Hacker conferences; ending could have been better...
October 22, 2011
This is the third book in the series, and in my opinion, it went downhill. Read it for completeness sake, but don't expect much.
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July 19, 2012What a twisted series of pseudo tech hacking and social engineering, kept me on the edge the whole time.
December 7, 2015
Lost interest. Like the first two books a lot
September 7, 2015
An enjoyable book, but as is often the case gets a little less believable when too many technical details are shared.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews