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Red Team Blues is a plot-driven detective story told in Cory Doctorow’s distinctive style of high tech internet sub-culture.

The main character of Marty Hench is engaging, and the plot clips along at a good pace, with a good supporting cast of characters. I genuinely wanted to know how everything turned out, and cared about the fate of Hench and his friends.

Doctorow manages to keep the writing accessible and engaging, while also talking about some quite complex technology (in this case cryptocurrency and blockchain). This is done in a way that effectively illustrates how immersed the characters are in this high tech world, without spoon feeding the reader with explanations and exposition that might get in the way of that momentum of the plot - there is just enough explanation to support the narrative and the important aspects of the plot.

While the plot does carry you along, I couldn’t help feeling there was a lack of depth in both the main arc of the plot, and some of the characters. For me, many of the supporting characters were a little too similar, and their personalities not explored or differentiated enough. This didn’t spoil what was a fun and engaging read, but did prevent me from giving a higher rating.

Thank you #NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the free review copy of #RedTeamBlues in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.