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Original price was: 1.899,00 EGP.299,00 EGPCurrent price is: 299,00 EGP.
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Price: $18.99 - $2.99
(as of Jan 29,2025 05:07:19 UTC – Details)
Customers say
Customers find the story fascinating and complex. They appreciate the well-written and researched narrative. The book is described as captivating, riveting, and surreal. However, some readers feel the story becomes repetitive and boring by the end. Opinions differ on the crime story, with some finding it incredible and frightening, while others describe it as complicated and unsettling.
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Buy this book, NOT Hunting Le Roux
This book is fantastic and it’s like night and day compared to the other book on the subject, Hunting LeRoux. Let me contrast the two so you understand why this one is clearly superior.Hunting LeRoux (the author doesn’t even spell his name correctly, with the space) is bombastic and hyperbolic, which is annoying in general but particularly when the story is already so wild you don’t need to jazz it up. That book also reads like a propaganda piece for the US government, which in fact fumbled a lot about this case, as Ratliff explains. Hunting LeRoux is terrible overall as is written like a wannabe Michael Bay script, dumbed down as much as possible with macho posturing by puffed up government agents high on their own egos.Meanwhile by contrast Mastermind is masterful. Incredibly well written, meticulously documented, clearly comprehensive, and in my mind, the definitive text on the subject. The whole story is a truly wild ride, but Ratliff does a great job researching and retelling a sprawling, complex narrative. I enjoyed every minute of this book and highly recommend it. It left me wanting more. Meanwhile Hunting LeRoux left me wanting a shower.
Fascinating story
This will never be made into a Hollywood film unless it is changed so much as to be unrecognisable. The ending is not satisfying, the characters are all horrible and there is very few people you can sympathise with except the dead and the story is just too complex. This is to stay that the book is a fascinating story, drags a little coming to the end but sometimes that is life. Well worth a read.
Well written and super interesting
Author does a great job breaking down what has to the most complex criminal organization in history. If you love true crime like Cocaine Cowboys or Narcos then you will not be able to put this book down.
Unsettling True Story of a High-Tech Cartel Boss
As an investigative reporter, Evan Ratliff deftly uncovered the dark organization of Paul Le Roux, a megalomaniac driven by crackbrained grandiosity and fueled by paranoia. Le Roux had created encryption code that the NSA could not break. He leveraged his technical brilliance to exploit ambiguities in the U.S. drug laws, and he enlisted thousands of legitimate pharmacies & doctors into a complex, opaque network. They prescribed millions of doses of painkillers as a result of Le Rouxâs sophisticated and relentless email spam solicitation.Obsessed with power and greed, Le Roux used a twisted combination of financial incentives, psychological control and death threats to expand his empire into gold, illegal drugs and arms deals to rogue states. He ultimately ruled a vast empire ranging from North Korea to Somalia from his safe haven in the Philippinesâwhere he controlled the police and judiciary.Ratliff weaves this journey into an incredible story. Just when you think it canât get more bizarre, it does.
Not bad, not great
Interesting story that held my attention about halfway through but then became repetitive enough that I didnât finish the book.
Good Read
Would have preferred more detail on computer operations and TrueCrpyt details but drug aspects were interesting too. Glad I read.
Interesting…but a bit boring by the end
I was intrigued by this non-fiction story after reading the prologue, and indeed the first few chapters are riveting. Paul Leroux is a devious mastermind who helped fuel the opioid epidemic in the US. The way in which he skirted the laws and laundered his money were genius because it was almost legal. The author makes a very good case that had Leroux continued in that vein, instead of breaking all the way bad, he would have been a celebrated billionaire.This is a fast read, though, I read it over a weekend, and look forward to the TV documentary…some day.
Masterfully done, Mr. Ratliff
I have enjoyed Evan Ratliff on the Longform podcast, so before this book came out I suggested my local library purchase it, and they did. I borrowed it immediately and read it over a weekend; engrossed enough to ignore all of my typical weekend activities. It is a bonkers story, well researched and well presented. It’s good enough that I decided to buy the book to support the author, and read it again. I look forward to the film version, and whatever else Mr. Ratliff produces in the future. You should buy this book.
Impressive details you need to know. Did you ever wonder who is sending you that email? Read this book it weaves a fascinating tale of a world without any limitations. The computer geek gone wild.
After initially opting to buy “Hunting Le Roux” by Elaine Shannon, part way in I realized it was the wrong choice and swapped it for The Mastermind.”Hunting Le Roux” sources its material mainly from two DEA agents who appear to be clamoring for the spotlight and arguably not telling the whole truth. The book is verbose at times and seriously lacking in detail at others, drawing out interchanges with descriptive and sensationalist prose that is completely unnecessary to what is already a fascinating tale: âHis eyes are alight with anticipation as he looks forward to the next meeting, in which he plans to make a lucrative deal to trade North Korean meth for Colombian cocaine offered by âDiego,â who he thinks is a Colombian cartel operative in Africa,âBy contrast, Evan Ratcliff deserves the plaudits for an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism in “The Mastermind”, sourcing content from all manner of people over a number of years who were in some way or another affected by LeRoux. One gets the feeling Shannon was rushed to finish her version of events, whereas for Ratcliff it was his life for a number of years…All in all would highly recommend. This book gives you an insight into the criminal underworld that exists in our society and into a very interesting/complex character in Paul Le Roux. Ultimately it is a brilliant piece on investigative journalism though – hats off Mr Ratcliff.When is the sequel out?
A lot of research by the author…
Sehr interessante und spannende Darstellung eines genialen und leider kriminell gewordenen Software-Entwicklers. Warum in Mainstream-Medien so wenig darüber berichtet wird und warum das Gerichtsverfahren gegen ihn immer noch nicht eröffnet wurde, ist mir schleierhaft, offenbar soll da etwas vertuscht werden.
I had a lot of fun reading it, very interesting story and Evan is a good writer that is easy to follow, even for a not native English speaker as myself.