Crime Think

In 2018 I had the chance to take a class called “Unputdownable” with the very talented author of Child Zero, Chris Holm, about making your writing gripping and suspenseful. He shared an anecdote that day that I have shared with many others including in classes I have taught.

He said that he’d find himself researching some dark, dangerous technique or technology and realize that his search history could brand him as an extraordinarily dangerous person who was interested in terror, murder, and general mayhem. He said that he’d type into his browser something like “Dear NSA. I do all this for research. I write novels,” just in case they were listening.

It was funny/not funny, nodding to the very real violence we explore in the crime genre encompassing real threats in the world. But it also raises the fact for me that the research I do for my current series often goes to some very, very dark places.

I had a great time exploring the world of 1990 for my debut Raven: technologies that were nascent now ubiquitous, fears of the Cold War now gone but replaced by newer threats. My upcoming series however is set in contemporary America, following technology journalist Olivia Wright as she explores unregulated technologies, political manipulation, and all the ways technology can be turned against its users.

As part of those stories, I’ve investigated the intentional misuse of social media to unduly influence people, the damage unregulated AI can do, and the corporate, political, and societal actors who benefit from those abuses. I also have had the chance to explore those working against these activities, both in public and in secret.

My editor for the first Olivia Wright book, Critical State (Fall 2027), asked me about a scene in which a whistleblower feels he must flee from the authorities who are intent imprison him for what he has revealed. He said it felt like it was real. It was as real as I could make it, researching how to disappear. It’s become much, much harder than it was even twenty years ago, but there are steps you can take, including having fake IDs made.

Now, if my character were in the CIA, there’d be a whole team who would help him create his false “legend,” complete with identification, disguises, even pocket litter consistent with the character he would play.

But if you are a private citizen in 2026 with access to Bitcoin, you can buy one online. The location for the marketplace (that is exactly like every e-commerce site you’ve ever been on) is on what is known as the “dark web.” It is inaccessible via a normal browser, but available via the secure Tor browser, which encrypts all traffic and masks your location. It’s considered mostly secure (though there are rumors the NSA has indeed penetrated it). The address of a very 1990’s style index of available interesting sites, known as the “Hidden Wiki,” gives you addresses of these sites. Once there, with enough Bitcoin, you can purchase fake drivers licenses complete with magnetic strip, holograms, and other embedded security features.

To be clear, I did not buy one. But did I load up a cart with them to learn how it works? Yes, I did.

For my next book in the Olivia Wright series (Fall 2028), I’m still researching and drafting. This book features a plot line with an Anti-AI activist/terrorist. The title of this post plays on one of the sites that has been extremely informative, CrimethInc, a repository of books and research on resistance movement ideas, history, and activities. That research has been even more interesting, both for me, and for whoever might be watching my browser history.

Wrapping up Emily St. John Mandel’s Exit Party, 2026.