Rick Dakan’s Geek Mafia is an entertaining, somewhat sexy, romp into an underground world of scams and confidence schemes. However, be advised that there’s really not a whole lot of geek in this mafia.
Parts of Geek Mafia are based on Dakan’s life experience. He was a comic book writer and participated in development of the game City of Heroes. During that process his corporate teammates fired him, providing the kernel of truth for the beginning of Geek Mafia.
Paul Reynolds is the protagonist of Geek Mafia. Subsequent to getting fired Reynolds encounters the mysterious and attractive Chloe. Chloe helps him exact revenge on his former company. Then she ushers him into her circle of friends and associates who live “off the grid”. These folks engineer and execute illegal scams that provide a steady, if risky income, and access well beyond their authorization. Computer cracking and various repurposed technologies support their work.
Reynolds is seduced by both Chloe and The Life. While not being particularly clueful about tech, part of the reason he got fired, his writer’s imagination serves well in devising new scams. This provides Paul the means to stay in Chloe’s crew’s good graces, not to mention get into Chloe’s bed. However, jealousy and betrayal within the crew rear their ugly heads. The climax involves Paul and Chloe rooting out and confronting a traitor within their midst.
Geek Mafia isn’t particularly deep, challenging, or well written, but it’s a light entertaining read. Poor copyediting and other errors allow the first time novelist flavor to come through. Dakan makes up for it with an implied enthusiasm and just enough Silicon Valley trappings to attract techno-elites like me. My biggest complaint actually is the lack of inventive and authentic geek elements. The scams typically relied more on brute force labor and theatrics than any technical wizardry. Contrast Geek Mafia with something like Stross’ Halting State, where UNIX, augmented reality, and MMORPG references fly thick, and are integral to the story.
So if you see Geek Mafia in the remainder bin, feel free to grab it on the cheap. Or if you’re cheap, just download a copy for free. Just remember you’re getting more crime caper than science fiction.