I didn’t know anything about this book going in, it was a complete mystery to me, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to access an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

A fascinating and deep dive in open source investigations. I wasn’t familiar with the group Bellingcat and I was absolutely stunned at how deep their investigations went. Through using open sources (tweets, youtube videos, facebook posts etc.) they were able to prove Russia’s involvement in the downing of Malaysia Flight 17 and the Salisbury poisonings. It’s amazing how much information they doggedly go through and how much they can get from the small details of videos. There’s a lot of focus on Russia with their many cover ups and it’s impressive how a group that started out of armature investigators were able to expose the Russian government.

I especially liked the look into alt-right internet communities on places like 4chan. With such dangerous communities encouraging and supporting mass killers, it is critical for originations trying to combat misinformation to know about these dark areas of the internet and how they target young boys to radicalise. If you want a deeper dive into the topic, I highly recommend Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women.

Overall, this was a stunning account of how ordinary people were able to use information freely available on the internet to disprove misinformation coming from conspiracy theorist to powerful governments. At times the sheer amount of info can be overwhelming which the audiobook format can make hard to digest, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys current affairs and true crime with internet sleuths.

Thanks to Bloomsbury UK Audio for giving me an audio proof in exchange for an honest review.

I received this as an ARC on NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review

Actual rate: 5.0!

Good:
- SO GRIPPING!
- Engaging narration which was easy to listen to (voice)
- Taught me a lot about a field I didn't even know existed

Bad:
- I wanted more explanation of some stories, and found myself googling them for context occasionally.

This was a fascinating and gripping origin story of one of the internets most interesting groups, intertwined with information on the nature of the internet and how we can make it better. It gave us true and hard hitting stories with context and detail, which kept me listening right to the end. The storylines were mostly followed through, and stayed focussed, although with minor distractions within context that made sense. To be honest, this was pretty much my perfect book. I would read again and buy for friends in a heartbeat.

Fascinating, informative and easy to access.

CWs: war, misogyny, suicide, PTSD, racism, murder motivated by prejudice, terrorism, bombing, in depth discussion of weapons, child death.

I would recommend this book to anyone who uses the internet, and to be honest, to anyone who wants to learn more about the internet/digital sleuthing, and to political and law enforcement officials. Also, to true crime junkies.
Overall: 5/5

Great audio version of the book. Narrator was clear and engaging.

The book itself is something of a game changer. I had heard of Bellingcat (what a delightful coined phrase that perfectly describes what they do btw) but this book was still an eye opener. I was familiar with many of the crimes and the methods of detection and the use of open source data just blew me away. It reads like the tautest, paciest spy fiction but these are facts and the detectives are cleverer. A fascinating read.

I had not heard of Bellingcat until a few days ago when I first saw this book mentioned. I thought it sounded fascinating so I jumped at the chance to review the audiobook.

Bellingcat are an independent investigation agency who use open source information to solve crimes such as the bombing of civilians. Among the perpetrators they have identified are the operatives responsible for the Salisbury poisonings and the downing of Malaysian Flight 17.

This was a fascinating book which covered the author’s first forays into online investigation, how Bellingcat was formed and information about how they got to the bottom of some of their biggest cases.

I was so enthralled by this book that I listened to 50% on the first day and I’m not normally as interested in non-fiction.

This is an engaging and enthralling book which I would recommend to anyone interested in current affairs or true crime.

This book should be on every teenage curriculum. Such important pieces of collaborative work by the network of online detectives using an eye-watering array of tools and apps to investigate, confirm or debunk alleged information or “facts”. It is astounding how much effort, commitment, blood, sweat and tears Bellingcat put in to getting to the truth of a wide-range of subjects, despite many agencies and governments trying to obfuscate the facts. An utterly commendable occupation and a brilliant book.