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Title details for Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow - Wait list

Picks and Shovels

#3 in series

by Cory Doctorow
ebook
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 24 weeks

New York Times bestselling author Cory Doctorow returns to the world of Red Team Blues to bring us the origin story of Martin Hench and the most powerful new tool for crime ever invented: the personal computer.
The year is 1986. The city is San Francisco. Here, Martin Hench will invent the forensic accountant—what a bounty hunter is to people, he is to money—but for now he's an MIT dropout odd-jobbing his way around a city still reeling from the invention of a revolutionary new technology that will change everything about crime forever, one we now take completely for granted.
When Marty finds himself hired by Silicon Valley PC startup Fidelity Computing to investigate a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he's on the wrong side. Marty ditches the greasy old guys running Fidelity Computing without a second thought, utterly infatuated with the electric atmosphere of Computing Freedom. Located in the heart of the Mission, this group of brilliant young women found themselves exhausted by the predatory business practices of Fidelity Computing and set out to beat them at their own game, making better computers and driving Fidelity Computing out of business. But this optimistic startup, fueled by young love and California-style burritos, has no idea the depth of the evil they're seeking to unroot or the risks they run.
In this company-eat-company city, Martin and his friends will be lucky to escape with their lives.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Martin Hench

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 18, 2025

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781250865922

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781250865922
      • File size: 1294 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Booklist

      November 1, 2024
      Leave it to Doctorow to write a series in reverse. Red Team Blues (2023), the novel that introduced us to the 67-year-old forensic accountant Martin Hench, is set roughly in the present day. The Bezzle (2024), its sequel, is set in the early 2000s, when Marty is substantially younger and less jaded; and this book, the third, begins in the final years of the 1970s, when Marty, who's failing spectacularly at getting an engineering degree at MIT, discovers the joys of computing and accountancy. This is Marty's origin story: the tale of how a kid looking for a direction in life winds up revolutionizing the field of forensic accountancy (and, not coincidentally, getting into a heap of trouble). Not only is Marty Hench an absolutely compelling narrator, but the story, which explores the relationship between computers and crime, is exciting, surprising, and full of suspense. Doctorow's fan base extends well beyond the boundaries of sf, and this novel is a wonderful gift to his fans.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 1, 2024

      Marty Hench's third outing is his origin story, tightly interwoven with the early years of the personal computer revolution. In the late 1970s, Marty fell in love, first with the early Apple computers, and then with the possibilities that even the first versions of spreadsheets made possible. So he left Boston for San Francisco, following a friend and looking for a job in the Wild West days of the industry. Instead of a job, he finds an underfunded start-up and a righteous quest to take down a pyramid scheme masquerading as a computer company. He also puts his friends in danger, gets beaten up by gangsters, and manages to both win and lose--as he often does. VERDICT Told with wit and verve, this is the portrait of the old raconteur and rabble-rouser as a young man and will charm readers who enjoyed Marty's previous outings. It's also a fascinating portrayal of the early wild and woolly days of Silicon Valley, as seen from the perspective of someone in the trenches at the start of it all. Highly recommended for readers of the series and anyone fascinated by the era.--Marlene Harris

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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