And on that count, it’s an excellently popcorn book. Still, the real-life story is what I read this book for, not the authorial tweaking. The truth doesn’t need much gussying up – it just needs to be put down as it happened, whereas here the finessing is often a little too visible. This is a little weird, as the story already contains a fair whack of action, and plenty of those AHA! instances. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it sometimes works way too hard to set up gotcha moments, or to give a sense of increased action. I did sometimes find myself missing the woods for the trees because of the attention his text draws to itself. There’s a lot more backstory provided for the agents of the various legal entities vying for the case, which is helpful, as the story of agencies working with and against each other is just as interesting a part of the story as, y’know, the whole drugs-and-guns angle.īilton’s writing is well researched, though it does seem pretty laboured.

I first had my interest piqued by this Wired article (part two is here) by Joshuah Berman, and this book covers the same points, only in more expansive detail. This isn’t the first thing I’ve read about the story of the Silk Road. It’s not necessarily the most rigorous piece of journalism I’ve read, but it moves at such a clip that transgressions won’t linger long. But what we’re dealing with here is truth: Bilton has dug through endless transcripts and files and presented the story of Ulbricht’s transformation and eventual capture in a pleasing way. The journey of Ross Ulbricht from libertarian-leaning programmer with a lax grip on personal hygiene to paranoid billionaire cybercriminal Dread Pirate Roberts (yes, that one) is an arc so ridiculous that it feels made up. You’re probably not all that interested in the last of these, but they provide a lot of the forward thrust of Nick Bilton’s American Kingpin, a book about the rise – and eventual downfall – of the man behind The Silk Road, an online emporium that taunted law enforcement for years.

American kingpin silk road