Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow is the excellent, very highly recommended period tech novel and the origin story of forensic accountant and computer security expert Martin Hench.

Martin Hench flunks out of MIT, but while there he falls in love with the emerging computer technology and programming along with all of the possibilities it represents. He also meets his friend Art, joins a group of assorted people all obsessed with programming, works for a dubious business, obtains a 2 year degree in accounting, and eventually he and Art make their way to San Francisco. There he picks up odd jobs until he talks to a predatory computer business, Fidelity Computing. He ends up working for the start-up company that was started by three of their best former saleswomen who are actively opposing Fidelity's business practices.

This is a well-written, completely compelling, detailed period drama that captures the time period and the excitement over personal computers along with the atmosphere in San Francisco and the growth of Silicon Valley as a technology hub. The pace is fast and the plot is engaging so the pages just fly by. It also confronts the very real issue of computer companies trying to lock customers into their brand alone rather than making parts (and operating systems) interchangeable.

Hench is a fully-realized, complex character with both strengths and flaws. All of the secondary characters are equally fully developed as unique individuals. Readers meet Hench at seventeen and into his early 20's while he experiences growth and learns many life lessons that will make him who he is later on in life.

This is the third book in the series, but the series has been presented in a reverse chronology so this starts in the late 1970s and continues into the early 1980s. It can be read as a standalone novel. The first novel in the series is Red Team Blues followed by The Bezzle (set in the 1990s).
Thanks to Tor Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Originally published at myreadinglife.com.

This book has yet to be released. I received a copy through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I was on the lookout for this book as i had read the other two in this trilogy. This one is due to be published on February 18. You can purchase a copy from the author here.

The trilogy has been a reverse chronology. This final book in the series is Marty Hench's origin story. In it, we learn how he came to flunk out of MIT, start a company with his roommate, and move to Silicon Valley to start his career as a forensic accountant. Once there, he is hired by a trio of religious leaders (a rabbi, a priest, and a Mormon bishop) who are taking advantage of their customers by selling them computers and accessories only from them. The bulk of the story is how he and a group of women who used to work for the Reverend Sirs fight to free their customers from this lock in.

It doesn't sound that interesting when I write it out. I mean, Marty is a forensic accountant for crying out loud. Can you get more boring than accounting? But somehow the author makes forensic accounting exciting, cool, and intriguing all at the same time. The book really does have the feel of the early computer revolution and the optimism that went with it. A thoroughly enjoyable ride and fitting conclusion to the saga of Marty Hench. I will miss him.

My rating: 4/5

Martin Hench, the San Francisco based Forensic Accountant is back! Or rather, since this is a prequel to Cory Doctorow's Martin Hench series, "Picks and Shovels" is the Martin Hench's origin story. In addition to being entertaining, suspenseful, and 80's-tech nostalgic, we learn about Hench's childhood & professional education along with why & how he became a forensic accountant and force for good. (Much more exciting to read than the previous sentence implies.)

I completely recommend this to readers that enjoy Cory Doctorow's works. It is also a fun read for people familiar with San Francisco, Cambridge Massachusetts, MIT, or the 80's tech scene.

I thank Tor Books and Cory Doctorow for kindly providing an electronic review copy of this excellent book.

This was my first Cory Doctorow book and I enjoyed it. I’ve wanted to read him ever since I read about Wade Watts in Ready Player One reading and liking Doctorow books; that’s also what turned me on to Scalzi, and I LOVE his writing!

This story is historical fiction about the MC coming of age in the early part of the computer revolution. I was extremely drawn in to the cast of characters, their relationships, and the interesting storyline.

The pacing and plotting were solid and kept me turning pages right until the end. The antagonist characters are so perfectly hateable. I liked the character growth of the main character and his friendships and the found family vibe was great.

I would definitely read more by this author, this book was good.

Picks and Shovels (Martin Hench #3)
Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a 5 star with caveats. Let me explain. I think it's a wonderful novel within the Martin Hench universe, the place where forensic economics, spreadsheets, programming ability, meets modern techno-mystery.

But this isn't the modern Martin. Indeed, it might be what we've all been wanting all this time, assuming you've been following Doctorow's unique character. This is YOUNG Martin Hench. Before he made untold riches bringing down mastermind accountant villains. Indeed, this IS that story.

I won't say this is better than the ones that came before it, but it DOES fill in some major gaps, and it's very fulfilling on its own.

Indeed, this is a savory crock-pot of characterization, full of youthful, less-than-choice-cut meats, plenty of potatoes, and enough programming-veggies to make you feel like you've eaten both healthy AND smart. Do you smell that rich, hearty umai? This is what I sense with my synesthesia. This is what sticks to the bones.

I could read this stuff forever.



Personal note:
If anyone reading my reviews might be interested in reading my own SF, I'm going to be open to DM requests. I think it's about time I get some eyes on them.

Arctunn.com

Yet another great entry in Cory Doctorow's Martin Hench series of mysteries, a departure from his typical futuristic, fantasy novels. This volume explains Marty's entry in forensic accounting and how he made his start after a rocky start in college at MIT. We meet his friends (some of whom appear in other volumes) and his first love, as well as delve into the fast paced world of Silicon Valley as the tech boom started in the late eighties and early nineties. Witty, engaging and a quick, page-turning read.

There's just something about the Martin Hench novels that feels like being told a story out loud. It's great because the book flies by, but then before you know it, it's over. Anyone who's read Red Team Blues will enjoy this book. It's more of the same fascinating world of computers and spreadsheets and intrigue but set before the events of that first book, going back to the early era of computing and giving us the beginning of Martin Hench's story. From Cambridge to San Francisco and a world filled with noncompete clauses, religious hypocrisy, and good old fashion crime, Hench gets himself involved in a startup computer company as an overly invested contractor and there are dangerous consequences to be had. Recommended for anyone into early computer history and badass women.

Cory Doctorow does it again and really enjoyed this as a strong story and was everything that I was looking for from the previous books. I was engaged with what was happening and thought the scifi element worked overall. I thought this worked as a personal computer element that I was hoping for and glad it had that element.

I'm so glad that Cory Doctorow wrote Picks and Shovels so we could learn about the early years of Martin Hench's career as a forensic accountant, and I loved all the details of the 80's setting. I'm sure I'm not the only reader who wants to keep reading about Martin, so I hope Doctorow will write about what happens next.

This is the first Cory Doctorow book I've read and I'm certain it will be the first of many. I absolutely loved this story written in the form of a memoir of the main character Martin Hench. I initially thought I would be put off by the technology aspects of the story with its frequent discussions of types of computers and the programming discussions of the characters. I wasn't at all as it was carefully woven into the story and not at all a stumbling block. Picks and Shovels is not only well written, suspenseful, and informative in the way much of the historical fiction I've read can be, it is also fast paced and extremely entertaining to read. In some ways it is a coming of age novel for both the characters and the technology advancements of the 1960s and 70s, combining a bit of the hippie generation with the rise of computer geeks working in garages, their parent's cellars, or basically anywhere they could find simpatico folks who just wanted to code and debug code and figure out ways to make the technology work faster and better. Sure they had a desire to make money but it was often sublimated to the joy of the hive mind solving gnarly problems with hardware and software in its infancy and there is much of the "wanting to make a better world" attitude of the times in the characters' motivations. As a reader I rooted for Marty to find his path in life as he navigates (picks and shovels) his way to find that path while also amassing friends, lovers and enemies along the way. The family Marty creates is a microcosm of the social upheavals of the times and any reader above the age of 50 would be hard pressed to not find someone they recognize. Doctorow does a great job of describing the free-wheeling times the characters inhabit and I had to remind myself that all of them were mostly undergrads or younger and pretty fearless about taking chances that would help them each find their own paths. I highly recommend this book as a great read for someone who came of age in the 60s and 70s and for those ambitious enough to want to read about a time when there were no cell phones, computers often still used acoustic couplers, and social mores were beginning to break down and some of the many freedoms we enjoy today were being hard won.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, and the inimitable Cory Doctorow for this eARC of Picks & Shovels.

If you are a fan of Cory Doctorow, you know what kind of a ride you're in for. Usually. And that's exactly as it should be with Mr. Doctorow.

Picks and Shovels delivers well on the promise of Doctorow's name on the cover - solid characters, compelling story, the delightful and unique flair of humor. This follow up to The Bezzle and Red Team Blues absolutely belongs on your shelf!

"Picks and Shovels" is a historical thriller novel from Cory Doctorow, set in the late 1980s when computers were getting more popular. Martin Hench goes to MIT for engineering and fails his freshman year because he is too interested in learning about computers from his friends in the Newbury Street Irregulars. He uses this interest to get a degree in accounting and moves with his friend Art to San Francisco. While there, he is hired by a group of three religious heads (the Reverend Sirs) who run a computer business specifically for religious organizations. Martin finds out that all is not what it seems and the Reverend Sirs are actually the bad guys, so he switches to help their competition: three religious women with a love for computers and an actual desire to help people. Unfortunately the Reverend Sirs are not willing to let things go easily.
An interesting and compelling view of the beginning of computing in America coupled with a thriller involving extortion, violence, and pressure. Readers will root for the underdogs in this novel. A must buy for fiction collections, especially where Doctorow is popular.