The Bezzle

, #2

eBook, 228 pages

English language

Published Feb. 20, 2024 by Tor Books.

ASIN:
B0C1X73SYZ
4 stars (3 reviews)

The year is 2006. Martin Hench is at the top of his game as a self-employed forensic accountant, a veteran of the long guerrilla war between people who want to hide money, and people who want to find it. He spends his downtime on Catalina Island, where scenic, imported bison wander the bluffs and frozen, reheated fast food burgers cost 25$. Wait, what? When Marty disrupts a seemingly innocuous scheme during a vacation on Catalina Island, he has no idea he’s kicked off a chain of events that will overtake the next decade of his life.

Martin has made his most dangerous mistake yet: trespassed into the playgrounds of the ultra-wealthy and spoiled their fun. To them, money is a tool, a game, and a way to keep score, and they’ve found their newest mark—California’s Department of Corrections. Secure in the knowledge that they’re living behind far too many firewalls …

2 editions

reviewed The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow (Martin Hench, #2)

Blood boiling financial thriller

4 stars

Content warning No specific spoilers, but commentary which you might want to avoid if you want to read it wholly fresh.

reviewed The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow (Martin Hench, #2)

Clever and very relevant page-turning political tech thriller

5 stars

(em português → sol2070.in/2024/03/resenha-livro-the-bezzle-cory-doctorow/ )

"The Bezzle" (2024) is the latest fiction by Cory Doctorow. It's a clever and very relevant page-turning political tech thriller.

It's the second book featuring protagonist Martin Hench, a kind of digital detective who uncovers intricate corporate scams. The first was "Red Team Blues" (2023).

It's a prequel, even better than the previous one. It begins at the time of the internet bubble at the end of the 90s and goes up to the mid-2000s. The central plot involves the corrupt privatisation of the US prison system (which actually took place), creating a horrific techno-dystopian incarceration that would cause envy for today's big techs.

It's one of those books that's hard to put down, even though it lays descriptions even of the lustre of a tie or the filling of an unusual sandwich (makes you hungry).

As a bonus, there are some tasty psychedelic adventures. …

avatar for nigini

rated it

4 stars