It’s weird to live in a place that so many people have heard of, but so few people know. Silicon Valley is so full of charismatic people spinning whatever stories serve their ends it’s hard for voices with fewer ulterior motives to get airtime. Even the opponents of big tech have an incentive to mythologize it, it’s the only way to break through the noise. It’s very rare to find someone with deep experience of our strange world who can paint a picture I recognize.

That’s a big reason I’ve always loved Cory Doctorow’s writing. He knows the technology industry and the people who inhabit it inside and out, but he’s not interested in either hagiography or demonization. He’s always been able to pinpoint the little details that make this world simultaneously relatable and deeply weird, like this observation about wealth from his latest book:

I almost named the figure, but I did not. My extended network of OG Silicon Valley types included paupers and billionaires, and long ago, we all figured out that the best way to stay on friendly terms was to keep the figures out of it.

Red Team Blues is a fast-paced crime novel in the best traditions of Hammett, but taking inspiration from the streets of 2020’s San Francisco instead of the 1920’s. His eye for detail adds authenticity, with his forensic accountant protagonist relying more on social media carelessness than implausible hacking attempts to gather the information he needs. There’s a thread of anger running through the story too, at the machinery of tax evasion that lies behind so many industry facades, and contributes to the world of homelessness that is the mirror image of all the partying billionaires. He’s unsparing in his assessment of cryptocurrencies, seeing their success as driven by money laundering for some of the worst people in the world.

I love having an accountant as the center of a thriller, and Cory’s hero Martin Hench is a lot of fun to spend time with. The plot itself is a rollercoaster ride through cryptography, drug gangs, wildfire ghost towns, ex-Soviet grifters, and it will keep you turning the pages. I highly recommend picking up a copy, it’s enjoyable and thought-provoking at the same time.

To give you one last taste, here’s his perfect pen portrait of someone I’ve met a few too many times:

I’ve known a lot of hustlers, aggro types who cut corners and bull their way through the consequences. It’s a type, out here. Move fast and break things. Don’t ask permission; beg forgiveness. But most of those people, they know they’re doing it. You can manage them, tack around them, factor them into your plans.

The ones who get high on their own supply, though? There’s no factoring them in. Far as they’re concerned, they’re the only player characters in the game and everyone else is an NPC, a literal nobody.