A couple of months ago I received an email from Cory Doctorow, a well known left leaning technology activist and crypto critic whom I’ve interviewed on the podcast before, asking if I would be open to reviewing his latest fiction novel titled Red Team Blues. I was surprised and honoured to be asked to do that directly from Cory, whom I greatly respect, so of course I said yes. He asked since the book is about a 67 year old successful forensic accountant in California named Martin Hench who decides to work on one last case that involves cryptocurrency. While Martin usually works for the Red Team (attackers), this time he’s working for Team Blue (defenders).
Since there are already published reviews about the book, I thought the angle that I could bring to the discourse is one focused on the cryptocurrency elements of the story while also being constructive from a left wing political point of view without spoiling the story.
As far as the narrative elements of the book, it reads very well. I enjoyed the interactions between the characters and while I was at first slightly uncomfortable with the main character being so much older, this seems to have a message of some sort. The book is filled with classic noir detective story tropes without being too cliché with a flavouring of high-tech. Martin Hench is the kind of guy who has somehow seemingly been able to navigate elite circles in Silicon Valley for decades making his money by identifying scammers without going against his ostensibly progressive beliefs . At least so far from what we know since the book is meant to be the first in a series. Martin’s a tough but likeable guy who likes to travel largely solo via his RV named the Unsalted Hash.
Cory’s progressive politics, most of which I agree with, are quite clear throughout the story as well. At times it is clear that the characters are explaining things in ways that I would expect Cory to say it as himself. This isn’t bad per se and natural to happen. From the perspective of many of the characters, there was a distrust of “blockchain creeps” and “tech bros” which I think Cory likely also feels based on my interview with him, but to be fair, I don’t trust those types either.
The story revolves around a cryptocurrency started by an old cypherpunk who seemingly betrays some of his previously held values to start it called Trustlesscoin which *spoiler alert* does actually require trust as many cryptocurrencies do. Due to this flaw in the system, along with a costly mistake, Martin is asked by Danny Lazer, the founder and an old friend, to help fix the problem, which then leads to a series of events that put Martin and others in danger. It was an exciting read!
The main question that I had after reading the book however was, who is this book for and what is their takeaway? At least when it comes to the relationship with crypto. It didn’t really seem like it was for crypto advocates, which I would think would be one of the audiences for the novel. Nor did it feel like it was for people who want to learn more about crypto via fiction.
In a review for the book by “Karen’s Library” on Goodreads, she wrote:
“I decided to read this book thinking I might learn a tad bit about the world of cryptocurrency and bitcoin and whatever else it’s called. But nope. Nada. It’s still so far over my head and after this book I think I’ll keep it that way.”
I’m not so surprised considering the book did not go into much technical detail, perhaps as a way to not burden the reader with technical jargon and instead focus on the narrative. However, the book felt distanced from the actual people, including the grifters, who are involved in the crypto space. It honestly would have been hilarious if there had been an interaction with Martin and a web3 hypeman. How does a 67 year old deal with some young 20-something telling him to buy into their bullshit NFT metaverse gaming project during a crypto bull market? Or the guy telling you about this new algorithmic stablecoin that can get you 20% return called Terra?
It was also very San Francisco / California heavy even though my perception is that the main organisations working on crypto do not mainly exist in San Francisco like many other niches in tech (e.g., artificial intelligence). I’ve been going to various conferences the past years and not one of them has been in California (I’ve still never even been there!) and none of the Ethereum Devcon conferences were ever in San Francisco let alone the United States. A significant amount of people I’ve met working full time are digital nomads across countless countries. I do understand starting here though considering that in many ways crypto is an extension of trends that have deep roots in the history of Silicon Valley, not to mention the amount of venture capital originating from there (*cough* a16z *cough*).
One of the dangerous groups that get involved with Martin’s work are the Zetas, a Mexican criminal syndicate and drug cartel who are in cahoots with legal businesses for money laundering. In a cursory search online at least, I couldn’t find any evidence that this group specifically has been using cryptocurrency although there are plenty of organized crime groups that have been found to be doing so in one way or another. Doesn’t mean that they haven’t but it could have been interesting to use a kind of group known for this like say the supposed North Korean hackers behind Lazarus Group.
In order for the series to really dig into exploring the themes around the socio-political implications of crypto, I humbly would suggest that the story needs to move beyond its California setting. How would Martin Hench solve a case where successful DeFi hackers were able to go to non-KYC peer-to-peer markets in Istanbul or Nigeria and get cash for their crypto? What if tools like Tornado Cash or zero-knowledge proofs were used to anonymize transactions? What if money was being stolen in real time from smart contracts by an anon and Martin needs to use a block explorer?
I think by doing this, the intended audience who would resonate could expand to include the very people who need to be thinking critically about the things that they are building or supporting. This is just the first in a series so I’m still optimistic since I really think there’s a lot to explore with Martin, and I look forward to what comes next.
