Get Off the Grid!: Saul Goodman's Guide to Staying Off the Radar

by Steve Huff, Steve Huff

So you want to disappear? Whether you got the fuzz on your back or a price on your head, Saul Goodman can help!Big Brother’s got eyes everywhere—don’t pretend they’re not all watching you. Nowadays you’d better assume anything you do is already on the 24/7 news feed, but there are measures you can take. Darken your windows. Bash your smartphone. Cut up your credit cards. But first, buy this book. From the cunning counsel (me) who kept you out of the slammer with his handy manual Don’t Go to Jail!, here’s your escape plan for busting out of the prison of modern surveillance. You might be up to no good or you might be up to nothing at all—hey, it’s not my business, and let me tell you, it’s nobody else’s business, either. My business is making sure it stays your business. An unlisted phone number is no longer enough. I want to help you find your inner alias. I want to show you your dream safe house. I don’t want to hear about you on the Internet. Get Off the Grid! can do all of this and more. It’s your one down-to-earth guide on going to ground, and not just it’s the best vanishing act you’ll never see!

Genres: Nonfiction

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 25, 2017

Reviews

[Bradley Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Huff's second book writing in the style of New Mexico's favorite private counsel, the legality and methods of creating a new identity are broken down and analyzed. Whether it is running from creditors, law enforcement, family, or guys who want you dead, Saul's advice is designed to warn you of the dangers and risks involved with ghosting your old life. You've got to be in it for the long con as you abandon all communication with friends and family, avoid smart phones, and changing your interests and personality in order to live a low profile life as possible. And given that we live in an increasingly interconnected world, the success rate is quickly diminishing. While Saul advises that you handle your problems directly in your current life, he can't help but at least provide some barely legal (or wholly illegal) tips for the right price.

This is the second book tie-in for AMC's "Better Call Saul." While the show is a prequel to "Breaking Bad," Saul often references that he underwent an identity change which took place after the original series. Disregarding the timeline change of the narrative, the book stays on message providing tips and case study examples.

The previous Saul tie-in "Don't Go to Jail!" was surprisingly funny and very informative as it gave actual legal advice (most important is that you don't talk to anyone but your lawyer). I actually learned from that book. This one not so much. It doesn't pack the same punch as it's predecessor in terms of humor and content quality. The only thing this book had going for it was that it was short.

[Winter Slade · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really did not like this book. There were many failed attempts at humour and forced references to the show, and was extremely hard to read. The sentences are choppy and clunky, and it felt like I was falling down a flight of stairs as I read this book. By the end there was so much confusion that my brain ended up shutting off as I half-read the eighth backtrack of the same information.

[Olwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for a laugh!

[Criminal Element · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well this book, Get Off the Grid, comes at a perfect time. Recently, I was one of millions who purchased a VPN—virtual private network—after the government voted to let ISPs sell our browser history. So after shaking my fist at the thin air and writing my congressman another letter he will “file away,” I took matters into my own hands.

Perhaps, I mused, Saul Goodman can help with even more tips. Well, it turns out, maybe only a little in my case because he’s talking about getting really gone, gone baby. We’re talking flying way close to the ground. Who is he to offer such advice? Let Mr. Goodman introduce himself:

For the purposes of our chat today: names don’t really matter—Saul, Jimmy, Flippity, Flappity. These days, there’s a totally different name on my state-approved identification. That same jejune moniker adorns the rental agreement to my humble fifty-shades-of-beige, extended-value apartment—not to mention a number of other very important documents of record, including a birth certificate with conceivably accurate information. And while I mentally and spiritually remain a New Mexican bar-certified legal eagle ... we’re not quite there anymore, Toto.

Ok, I remember this dude now. A few years back he was a lawyer defending three young men who had sexually violated a corpse and sawed off the deceased’s head. He lost the case when he argued the unusual defense to the jurors that they too were once young and probably did something stupid that they’d rather no one ever found out. Yet a videotape of the heinous deed sealed the boys’ fate.
Read the rest of David Cranmer's review on our blog!