An absorbing work of true crime—and, as the bad guys will tell you, true punishment.
A sinuous, eminently readable story of the darker corners of cyberspace.
Who would have thought an IRS agent could become a legal superhero? That’s just the case with a criminal investigator named Tigran Gambaryan, who had been assigned to “busting gangs in Oakland who had graduated from dealing drugs to filing fraudulent tax returns with stolen identities,” a switch that had the benefit of bringing in more money while carrying less jail time. Fearing that he’d spend his career chasing down small fry, Gambaryan turned his attention to cybercrimes, which in turn led him to Bitcoin. Then at Forbes and now at Wired, technology journalist Greenberg was exploring cryptocurrency himself and trying to land an interview with the legendary Silk Road mastermind known as the Dread Pirate Roberts, who was “making millions of dollars in highly illegal narcotics sales…while evading every global law enforcement agency.” DPR assumed that cryptocurrency was an impregnable fortress that couldn’t be “de-anonymized.” Not so, and he was finally taken down after e-chatting for months with a supposed online moderator who was in reality a Homeland Security agent. With sometimes competitive agencies working together—even the IRS, which one judge called “the redheaded stepchild of law enforcement”—and spreading the net to include both criminals and police agencies abroad, the chase quickened after DPR fell. Greenberg tells the stories of demolishing crime empires like AlphaBay and Hansa and their bosses with verve that’s refreshing for a book full of computers, code-breaking, and electronic cat-and-mouse games, including one memorable moment in which the object of an international police hunt “had, entirely by chance, arrived at a meeting at the exact hotel where they were staying and sat down at the table next to them.” Greenberg’s book is reminiscent in all the best ways of Clifford Stoll’s Cuckoo’s Egg, smoothly blending crime writing with matters of the deepest techno-geekery.
An absorbing work of true crime—and, as the bad guys will tell you, true punishment.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-385-54809-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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