Black Nowhere

Lisa Tanchik, Book 1

By: Reece Hirsch

Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

Chasing a cybercriminal into the pitch-black heart of the Dark Web.

Special Agent Lisa Tanchik is the best at taking down cybercriminals. So when the FBI discovers a multibillion-dollar black market online, she’s tasked with finding the creator and bringing him to justice. Donning one of her many digital disguises, Tanchik goes undercover into the network. 

Brilliant college student Nate Fallon started his site as an idealistic experiment. But his platform has made illegal trade not only more efficient - but also more dangerous. Now the FBI aren’t the only ones out to get him. As profits soar, a criminal organization casts its monstrous gaze on Fallon, and danger leaps from cyberspace into reality.

Feeling pressure from both sides of the law, Fallon is forced to make a decision with shattering consequences. Can Agent Tanchik find Fallon before his dangerous infrastructure falls into the wrong hands?

©2019 by Reece Hirsch. (P)2019 Brilliance Audio, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic Reviews

“Black Nowhere is a next-gen thriller that will leave your fingertips blistered from scrolling pages so fast. Prepare to lose sleep!” --Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter

“Black Nowhere is an extremely unsettling thriller that haunted me for weeks. It’s a shrewd critique of Silicon Valley startup culture, a brisk FBI procedural, and a chilling look at a very modern form of amorality.” --Dave Eggers, author of The Circle and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist

“Black Nowhere is a blast. A gripping thriller with wonderfully nuanced characters. If you haven’t been reading Reece Hirsch, it’s time to start.” --Lisa Lutz, New York Times bestselling author of The Passenger

GREAT!!!!

If you’ve ever heard of Ross Ulbricht or Silk Road and the TOR browser used for the dark web then you have the basics for this book. Reece Hirsch has taken this story mixed it with a little Steve Jobs ingenuity and created a really good FBI flawed geek vs college geek with an overblown ego and visions of grandeur.
Emily Sutton Smith does an excellent job narrating.
This cat and mouse story is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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Listen to the real thing!!

I listened to the entire book and am severely down rating it because it is mostly a fictionalized version of true story American Kingpin by Nick Bilton which was published two years ago. American Kingpin is about Ross Ulbricht and his dark web billion dollar illegal drug website named Silk Road. (Silk Road was not just illegal drugs but anything illegal.) The similarities between BLACK NOWHERE and American Kingpin are far too great to be passed off as mere coincidence.

Narration not up to the story

The narrater couldn’t differentiate the various voices of characters very well which was a low point. I should have returned the book immediately. It seems females can’t mimic male voices very well, And the voice differentiation from character to character didn’t have enough separation.

Realistic With Great Characters

4.5 out of 5 stars

I dove right into this one not realizing just how up my alley is was going to be. I should have known when I saw that it said cybercriminal and Dark Web in the first sentence of the synopsis. Honestly, I picked this book up because I wanted to read the second book in the series without realizing it was a book two. So, I figured I should real book one before jumping into the second and figure out who Lisa Tanchik is and what makes her tick.

I’m glad that I did because Black Nowhere was a fantastic book that I really enjoyed. I was honestly a little worried because I work in tech and I have a friend whose job is actually very similar to Lisa’s. I was worried that Hirsch would either try and be too “cute” with the technology in it or try and be too specific/dumb it down too much. He didn’t do that. He didn’t shy away from explaining things but didn’t go into a ton of detail. He didn’t use the wrong terms and didn’t mess too much of the technology up. There was a few things that he didn’t do that my friend mentioned to me that she’s helped with while looking into bitcoin related payments, but nothing that the average reader would ever notice.

Black Nowhere was a great book with a great main character. Lisa was flawed and she knows it. Her and her “black dog” had their ups and downs and I couldn’t wait to finish the book to see what was going to happen – not just to Kite and its founder, but to Lisa.

Overall, a great story with great narration that I absolutely finished in a few sittings. I’m excited to jump into the next book in the series and I hope it’s as enjoyable as this was.

A great read...

It really is such a great book! Smart characters written by a clever author and read by an equally clever narrator. I am a huge fan of both BUT even if you’re a novice reader/listener of either you will DEFINITELY be a fan by the end of this read. So...
GO FOR IT!

Good, but the truth is better

This book "feels" like a fictionalized account of everything that went down with Silk Road, and fails to acknowledge the fact alcohol is - despite its being legal - even more addictive and deadly than the drugs that are demonized in this book. Statistics PROVE this. Anyone's depression is only exacerbated by alcohol consumption - it is a *depressant*. The author would have been doing readers/listeners a service by adding a postscript advising them of this fact. The narration was VG (imo).

Lame and boring

What a snooze fest. I found the characters bland. Writing felt forced to me. The plot was nonexistent. I wish I would have returned it.

Excellent

I loved it. I loved the characters and the story. I can't wait to listen to the next book in the series. The narration was excellent also.

Hooked from the beginning!

The book was engaging and kept my attention AND curiosity from the beginning until the end. Speaking of end, it felt a lil rushed but didn't take away from the overall experience. Maybe I've found a new favorite author.

Not my usual genre.....

Really enjoyed this book. As I have younger family who were early "hackers" I was intrigued.
Aside from that it was suspenseful, well written and I liked the narrator.