The Darkest Web: Drugs, Death and Destroyed Lives... The Inside Story of the Internet's Evil Twin

by Eileen Ormsby

Hitmen for hire, drugs for sale. Inside the dangerous world that lurks beneath the bright, friendly light of your internet screen.

Dark...

A kingpin willing to murder to protect his dark web drug empire. A corrupt government official determined to avoid exposure. The death of a dark web drugs czar in mysterious circumstances in a Bangkok jail cell, just as the author arrives there.

Who is Variety Jones and why have darknet markets ballooned tenfold since authorities shut down the original dark web drugs bazaar, Silk Road? Who are the kingpins willing to sell poisons and weapons, identities and bank accounts, malware and life-ruining services online to anyone with a wallet full of Bitcoin?

Darker…

A death in Minnesota leads detectives into the world of dark web murder-for-hire where hundreds of thousands of dollars in Bitcoin is paid to arrange killings, beatings and rapes. Meanwhile, the owner of the most successful hitman website in history is threatening the journalists who investigate his business with a visit from his operatives - and the author is at the top of his list.

Darkest…

People with the most depraved perversions gather to share their obscene materials in an almost inaccessible corner of the dark web. A video circulates and the pursuit of the monsters responsible for 'Daisy's Destruction' lead detectives into the unimaginable horror of the world of hurtcore.

There's the world wide web - the internet we all know that connects us via news, email, forums, shopping and social media. Then there's the dark web - the parallel internet accessed by only a select few. Usually, those it connects wish to remain anonymous and for good reason.

Eileen Ormsby has spent the past five years exploring every corner of the Dark Web. She has shopped on darknet markets, contributed to forums, waited in red rooms and been threatened by hitmen on murder-for-hire sites. On occasions, her dark web activities have poured out into the real world and she has attended trials, met with criminals and the law enforcement who tracked them down, interviewed dark web identities and visited them in prison.

This book will take you into the murkiest depths of the web's dark underbelly: a place of hitmen for hire, red rooms, hurtcore sites and markets that will sell anything a person is willing to pay for - including another person. The Darkest Web.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, Technology, Crime, Adult, Audiobook, Journalism

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2018

About the author

Eileen Ormsby is a lawyer, author and freelance journalist based in Melbourne. Her first book, Silk Road was the world's first in-depth expose of the black markets that operate on the dark web.

Eileen's gonzo-style investigations have led her deep into the secretive corners of the dark web where drugs and weapons dealers, hackers, hitmen and worse ply their trade. Many of these dark web interactions turned into real-world relationships, entanglements, hack attempts on her computer and even death threats from the dark web's most successful hitman network as she researched Darkest Web. She now lives a quiet life off-grid as much as possible.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Online investigative journalism at its finest.

The Darkest Web delves deep into the deprave's darkest desires bringing to light heinous acts of cruelty better left in the shadows of humanity.

The topical nature of the non-fiction peak-behind-the-curtain account of dark web warriors is not for the squeamish. The structure of the book leads the reader down a rabbit hole of murderous and unspeakable acts growing progressively darker as the digital depths of disgust unfold.

Whilst the subject matter isn't for everyone, I really enjoyed The Darkest Web. The writing was easy flowing and the structure of the book gives the reader plenty of 'outs'. Author Eileen Ormsby doesn't shy away from the confronting nature of the book and clearly defines sections of the book which contain the escalating 'darker' material.

My rating: 5/5 stars. If you've got an interest in learning more of the web outside the world we live in, this is for you.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. It's not Tor tutorial ;P
2. It's not an end-to-end analysis.
3. It's not a story of Darknet.
4. It's a collection of 3 separate "stories" (threads?) that represent "dark", "darker" & "the darkest" face of Darknet - they are quite selective, based on particular stories, cases, people (real ones)
5. The flow (within each of the 3 parts) is generally chronological, so they almost feel like a story.
6. Part 1 is about the Silk Road, so if you've read "American Kingpin" you won't learn anything new.
7. Part 2 is about hitmen for hire, it's the most interesting one, but at some point it loses it's tempo & I just got bored - but I appreciate the level of detail, especially when it comes to interactions with Yura & the story of Stephen
8. Part 3 is fucking disgusting & can make you hate & despise humanity. Even if descriptions weren't really picturesque I had moments when I wanted to puke. The author admitted she had moments when she wanted to skip this part - I can easily understand why. This part is about hardcore pedophilia & so-called hurt-core.

Would I read it again if I knew how I feel after reading it? I'm not sure.
Did I learn something about Darknet? Not really.
Did I learn something about humanity & how it can use an unlimited freedom (vide various kinds of libertarians)? I think so, but I'm not so sure I like it.

[Bri Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, in my humble opinion, is a triumph of narrative journalism. Ormsby's first book, Silk Road, looked at the marketplaces on the dark web and the people who created and maintained their illegal trading. The Darkest Web goes further. Broken into three parts (Dark, Darker, and Darkest) I was both entertained and educated. The first section is about the legacy of the Silk Road marketplace (most famous for selling any and all drugs) and what marketplaces now look like online. Darker is about hitmen for hire. Darkest is about horrific child pornography on the dark web and the international law enforcement agencies teaming up to fight it. Each section has a gripping narrative arc, and just when you finish one you say, 'Oh my god, it gets even more intense!?' and dive into the next.

[Amy Estridh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This shit is intense. And it's no shit at all, Eileen Ormsby is truly girlbossing her way through the depravity of humankind.

The first 2 parts, "dark" and "darker", actually had a lot of fun elements. I also learned that I've been a mainstream fish my entire life since I've never actually questioned whether hitman-services could be a hoax or not. 🤡 I guess that says a lot about my glass-half-empty personality and faith in humanity.

And when reaching the third part, "darkest", I'm reminded of how LEGIT it is to be a pessimist in this world. Because as we already know, some people are despicable beyond comprehension.

[KillerBunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

Dark:
I've always been very interested in the deep web, I've read about silk road, I've listen to audiobooks and podcast but I still learned about it with Dark. I will be reading other books from this author for sure, maybe not her book on the Silk Road, because I think most information about it are in the first chapter.

Darker: I'm still not sure if Yura is a genius or an idiot but what a character! This chapter need a movie about it, I was laughing out loud, but I did find some moment really darker. I really loved everything in this chapter, the journalism of this part is amazing

Darkest: People writing about the dark web often skip this part, because most people don't want to know about this. It's easier to cover your eyes. I've heard recently about "HurtCore", and I was a bit shocked. I'm just sad that Matthew Falder was almost skipped, because, he clearly is, one of the most evil men on the planet. Of course I would love to have certainty that red room really does exist, but only with deductions I'm pretty sure it does, like snuff. I wanted to have more information in Darkest.

Overall a very good book, really interesting and I learned tons of stuff on the deep web. I will look for her other books for sure, and I will recommend this book for anyone who are curious and not an "expeert" on the deep web, like Yura .

[Jack Chaucer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fellow journalist, nothing but respect for the author's determination, in-depth reporting and fortitude in dealing with the unsavory, despicable characters of the dark, darker and darkest web. I was surprised at the level of hoax, scam and myth she uncovered, but also at the depravity of some of the worst dark web users and administrators, who hide from the real world in their bedrooms and basements like cowards, and who get off on the torture and destruction of the innocent.

[Chad Mew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book following reviews and mentions in prominent newspapers. I really must diverge from the direction of most reviews thus far in the sense that I felt this book was written in a very average way. This may not be a popular opinion, however I thought it was a little anticlimactic. Many stories featured were already widely published in mainstream media or readily available on the “clear web”. I did not think it was necessary to spend 1/3 of the book to go through the Silk Road again. For these reasons, I felt this book had so much potential but was executed in a slightly lack lustre way. For its journalism work, I enjoyed the depth of investigation and commend Ormsby on her personal contribution. I think overall, it was a brave story to tell. I think for me it just wasn’t juicy enough.

[Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book turns the Dark Web into a page-turner and complex, sordid issues involving many players into a focused narrative you can easily follow. The chapter on Silk Road and the corruption of its founder is fascinating, the hitman chapter is expertly researched and focused, but I will admit to skimming through the grottier parts of the darkest section. Otherwise well worth reading.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eileen Ormsby is a fantastic journalist, a self-described “gonzo investigative reporter” - her approach to writing comparable to that of a movie star using method acting to prepare for his/her role. In other words: the information lining the pages of her books is nearly always gathered by her, and her alone; by means of immersing herself into worlds she then inhabits. For the most part, she interacts with all users she encounters as herself: a journalist. It is only on occasions where she may need to build up initial trust first (say, with an alleged hitman) when she will pose as a customer. Even then, she is quick to reveal who she really is once her target takes the bait.

This approach lends a very thrilling, birds-eye perspective to her books, especially once the reader realizes how serious of a risk she often undertakes, at the expense of some possibly very dangerous enemies – people who literally make their living by destroying a person’s identity, for example – or even worse, offering to “plant child pornography” on an unknowing user’s computer which they can remotely access. It really makes you think twice about who you want to make angry. After all, we only assume that by upsetting a person, it is their anger alone in which we may have to deal with. Yet on the dark web, anything can be bought for the right price. And dark web hackers are experts on capitalizing on the market for revenge.

If you’re somehow not thinking too much into the enemies you make in life – now might be the time to do so. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Ormsby has the book well-organized into three sections: Dark, Darker, and Darkest. For a brief summary, “Dark” is about 90 pages, and explores the origins of the dark web, and the creation of the most infamous dark web black market site to date – the billion-dollar Silk Road enterprise, whose 29-year-old founder/CEO (at the time of his arrest in 2013) Ross Ulbricht is now serving two consecutive life sentences in a maximum-security prison. At trial, it was completely omitted how two of the highest federal agents of the case were crooked, using the site to scam millions of dollars in Bitcoin from the owner himself – by means not approved by the agency they worked for, of course.

“Dark” also elaborates on how the creation of Silk Road was really more about a libertarian philosophy amongst a tight-knit community: a philosophy that tells us that it really isn’t another individual’s place (let alone the government’s) to decide whether a legal adult can safely purchase and use drugs within their own home. The point being that people will always do what it is they wish to do, no matter how “immoral” or “wrong” society or government deems these actions. If they’re victimless crimes or crimes of a “moral” nature, then shouldn’t we allow these communities to exist?

After all, it is inherently safer to buy drugs from an online merchant who has testimonials from real buyers who state the business is legitimate (well, not a scam) and the drugs are safe and of high-quality, rather than the alternative scenario: street transactions between dealer and buyer, that often result in fighting and disagreement that can only escalate – too often with deadly consequences. It’s bad enough when the user or seller themselves ends up dead over something so trite, but even worse when an innocent bystander – in the wrong place, at the wrong time – ends up accidentally taking their place after a misfired shot, for instance.

It would also free up our prison systems and allow those who have committed victimless crimes to continue living their lives. For those simply wanting to have some fun with drugs on occasion, they would be free to carry out the remainder of their lives, without the trauma that years in prison can have on one’s psyche – let alone the stigma generated by society and the guarantee that they won’t get any decent job ever again.

And for the more hardcore users, or addicts, they could receive actual rehabilitation rather than corporal punishment. I always believe people should have the right to bodily autonomy, no matter how unhealthy or immoral society may believe their actions to be – so long as it isn’t causing actual harm to another human being. In that case, I believe a person’s rights should end the moment they begin to infringe upon the rights of others, by no fault of their own.

Ormsby really knows her stuff when it comes to the dark web – how to install the best OPSEC/security measures, how to protect herself against DDoS attacks – safeguarding her information from those who would do anything to stop her from publishing her account of their “extracurricular” activities.

After Dark, however, comes the section “Darkest”, which takes up the bulk of the book with about 130 pages. This is mainly where the “revenge market” is discussed. Hitmen-for-hire, thugs that will hospitalize the boyfriend who wronged you, or rape the girlfriend who left you – it’s all there. However, it appears that so far, no legitimate dark web “murder-for-hire” practices have yet been confirmed (although, I’m not quite sure if the police would want journalists making this information known even if some did manage to exist, or had at one point existed – obviously that will only increase curiosity among the public and potentially lead to the sites becoming real, if they already – and if they have been real, then an increase in the number of sites offering these services).

The scariest thing about the hitmen-for-hire darknet sites are not the vendors Ormsby speaks with, but the customers whose files and detailed conversations the vendors end up sharing with her. One man was determined to have his wife’s life ended at by any method, for any cost – and despite being a religious man and a religious couple, who seemed happy and well-adjusted to their congregation and friends – clearly had a reason for wanting her dead (yet never offered up any motive, and one could only speculate on what that motive may be). None of the speculative reasons appeared to justify wanting her dead, however.

As I said, the problem wasn’t the hitmen-for-hire site that often turned these customers over to the police. It was the customer himself, who, after finally realizing that he had been scammed by the company (for increasingly higher payments to carry out a “hit” that would never materialize) – decided to take the matter into his own hands, and murder his wife, attempting to make it look like a suicide (yet doing a horrible job with his attempted coverup). It’s more of a cautionary tale about the people who seek out these services than the actual presence of the services themselves – as well as a possible preview of what murder-for-hire may look like in the future, if it ever does successfully evade the authorities with a popular website.

The most sickening section is “Darkest.” This is truly where the evilest of evil go to get their kicks. I believe Ormsby intentionally kept this section short, at only 55 pages compared to the 90 pages for “Dark” and 130 pages for “Darker.” I’d say it was kept at this length for the reason of not giving these psychopaths anymore of a platform or exposure than they already have. Also, if actual pedophiles are reviled by these “Hurtcore” sites featuring children – then the average reader is going to be absolutely sickened and possibly traumatized (I’m not even going to sum up what “Hurtcore” is – given the word “hurt” and “children” are in the same sentence should be enough for someone to figure out exactly what it is that the monsters who frequent these pages seek to find). Luckily, Ormsby didn’t go into detail about the videos, one of which was tragically determined by authorities to be real.

The video deemed to be real involved a two-year-old girl and was evidently so brutal and sadistic that seasoned detectives and judges - having no choice but to view the video in order to carry out their jobs – ended up shaken, visibly disturbed, and in need of real-life trauma counseling. Yet a 22-year-old who was caught and charged with not only distributing the video, but giving orders to others on how to “abuse children and get away with it” (as well as instructing them on what pictures they should post of these poor things to his twisted site) – received a mere 11-year sentence.

I suppose it all rested upon the fact that he did not carry out these deeds himself, but still, when an individual is blackmailing their website’s users - users who are already ruthless, mentally unstable, predatory pedophiles - asking them to do increasingly horrible things – how can one
not be held accountable?

It’s just amazing to me that this kid will get out while he is still quite young, and will very much always remain a threat to society - a serious threat, while Ross Ulbricht been stuck behind bars for nearly a decade now. He is serving life sentences for simply for allowing a site that sold drugs to operate in what was unquestionably a safer environment. Yes, clearly the profits didn’t hurt, but starting out, he truly didn’t seem to be after money.

Ross Ulbricht will never see the light of day again, unless he is pardoned by the governor or president, unlike this 22-year-old offender. The difference being, no one will sleep better at night with Ulbricht behind bars - while a very disturbed young man who preys on children very much allows both parents and children alike to sleep better at night - but only if he remains behind bars. (and clearly, that will not be the case).

When I purchased this book, I wasn’t aware that I’d read another of her books in 2021: one detailing five different types of stalkers and real-life examples of individuals fitting these profiles. I definitely plan on reading other books of hers – as they really make readers think beyond the black-and-white, as so many legal lines and moral boundaries are blurred. I believe I gave that book four stars as well, and though this is no fault of her own – both books could easily become five-star books if only she had a better publishing company and more promotion. It's not that the book's publishing company has any obvious flaws - it's just that it seems to be quite small, and therefore unable to reach the audience that it could - and should - enjoy.

Highly recommend. It's easy to skip or just scan through the truly disturbing section at the end, too, for readers for don't want to read a single word about this evil niche market (and I certainly don't blame them, for I scanned through a lot of it rather quickly myself).

[Fen'Harel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved this book as it is something new and quite dangerous to write about! An in-depth look at the dark web from the perspective of a journalist who spends her time trying to take down these websites was invaluable. I would highly recommend this book to people interested in the dark web and the catching of criminals through cyber security.



This novel was set into three parts: Dark, Darker and Darkest.



Dark.

This part of the book was really interesting and a great starting point. I loved hearing about the drug trade and the slow descent into evil of the owner. Who goes from making a website for weed selling to suddenly hiring hitmen? While it started off with good intentions, discussing the Silk Road and the drug trade that occurred, it began to hit dull notes when discussing small details of what happened to the men and women after they were caught. This chapter could have easily been cut in half to maintain interest. But altogether, it was very interesting and I could see how much the author actually began to care for these people and I could see some of her personal opinions leaking through - which I loved!



Darker.

This chapter was when everything became very interesting. Focusing on the case study of the Allwine murder, we get a look at the types of people looking to hire hitmen online. It was sort of comforting to know that these hitmen sites aren't real (at least not the ones the author looked into) and it was interesting to see the types of messages that were passed between the owner and potential buyers.
The whole case was fascinating and had me looking into further research - which is when I realised something was missing. When doing a case study like this, would you not use images? A picture of the family house, a picture of the Besa Mafia website, or even a picture of the murderer or victim? It was difficult to imagine when a lack of detail was received. Perhaps this book could do with some gloss pages with images or even just printed in black and white amongst the words? Even if it was a recreation of the website main page or emails that were sent between people. BUT, I understand this would be difficult to maintain when it came to the next section so maybe some gloss pages in the middle with some photos of Silk Road and such? I know the author got photos with some of the men.
I feel like this was the most complete section of this book. The story of all of these people were over and nothing more could be added and I didn't end up with a whole heap of questions.



Darkest.

I enjoyed (if that's the right word to use) this section the most. The darkness on this side of the 'internet' is scary to think about and how quickly something created for the US military is turned into the hunting ground for paedophiles. It's disgusting and shows what kind of opportunists these creeps are.
Lux was definitely the best part of this chapter. To learn that he was from my country and doing such depraved things when he's only a couple years older than me is terrifying. He was running an empire at such a young age - to the point where the police didn't even consider him!
This was the juiciest part of the book - where we got into the real gritty sides of the dark web. I was severely disappointed in the size of this chapter. When writing about something as dark as paedophilia on the dark web, you can't shy away from the topic. The parts she did add made me angry though. Reading about what they thought about children, the aiding in creating monstrous videos and hearing about 'Daisy's Destruction' had me furious. Then, of course, to hear Lux would still be young when he got out of jail had my blood boiling. It really makes me think our system is failing our children when I read things like this.
It also seemed to me like the author had purposely separated herself from what she was writing - as if it were all things she had heard of and was writing as if she'd only seen a secondary source. Obviously she would not look and watch the images and video on these sorts of websites (that's completely understandable) but she went so in-depth with a family halfway across the world in 'Darker' while she has people like Lux sitting on her doorstep seemed a tad of an oversight. How did they catch Lux? Who were the detectives looking into it? What did they have to deal with? What do the lawyers working with him think?
I ended up with more questions than answers, so if that's a hint at a sequel I am there!!



I really enjoyed this book and I thought the author had guts to write about a topic that could be quite dangerous for her. Just revealing 'Besa Mafia' as a fraud had her hit with death and rape threats. Publishing a book on all of this? It seems very dangerous and I really think the author is amazing for doing that.
I found this book left me with too many questions, as if a lot of these stories were not even close to finished. Maybe the author will go back and write more about people like Lux and Scully as more is revealed? Maybe she'll interview Lux and write a novel about him? (I would read that!)
I also would have liked to have heard more about the guy who was arrested for 'Besa Mafia' when he was catching predators online. What happened to him??

[David Sodergren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievably fascinating book for the first two-thirds, easily the best I’ve read all year. However, the last section — on the “darkest” web — I wish I’d never read. Utterly harrowing and depressing — there aren’t enough trigger warnings in existence to prepare you for this. Approach with serious, serious caution.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. Truly insightful and very well written- i found it hard to put this book down despite some of the content.

[Matty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would!
I went in assuming it was going to be a lot of general facts & technical stuff about how the dark web works & what goes on… but the way the author focussed on 3 distinct stories - and was deeply involved in them (as per her investigative journalism) - it was a really engaging read from start to finish.
The book is split into 3 segments - “dark, darker & darkest”… with the latter being the most difficult to get through. Without spoiling anything, I actually had to skip a couple pages & paragraphs throughout as the content was just too tough (but it still counts as being read!).
Even through murky subject matter the author is thoughtful, analytical & even quite funny. I’ll definitely look at her other books after this…

[Manisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook.

Loved it! Super interesting!!

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up after reading the Wired piece about Besa Mafia and Chris Monteiro. It’s a fascinating account of a world I know very little about and Ormsby does a great job of making it accessible and adding her own personal experience/insights.

I probably should have skipped the (mercifully short) third section, Darkest. I’m still thinking about those horrors days later.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ormsby is back getting her teeth into the dark net, through Tor or ‘Onionland’ as many of its users refer to it as. A lot of this, particularly in the first section, has been covered more extensively in her previous book, the excellent, “Silk Road”, which is understandable to an extent, but what we really end up with is a lot of the same information being re-used. I am not sure why she thought the very brief recap of these same events was necessary in the second section?...

What Ormsby’s findings tend to reveal is that a disproportionate amount of the disturbing behaviour going on in the dark net, seems to be coming from Australians, living at home or abroad. Interestingly enough Andrew O’Hagan’s fascinating “The Secret Life” also focused on two other Aussies and their notorious computer careers.

Taking the place of the deceased Silk Road we find places like AlphaBay and Hansa filling the vacuum. One of the sites explored in some depth is Besa Mafia, where alleged hitmen can be hired. Spoiler alert it is a myth. There are some really intriguing stories in here and also some disturbing ones, particularly in the closing pages. The stories of “3 Guys 1 Hammer” and “1 Lunatic 1 Icepick” do not make for comfortable reading, let alone an ideal Friday night in.

I didn’t find this as enjoyable as her last outing, she seemed to cover too much of the same ground and too often we got misleading stories which ran into dead ends or went flat. This is a revealing and thought provoking book, but at times it did feel padded out.

[Dhruv · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ormsby's dive into the dark web had potential to be very good, but I found the overall experience to be inconsistent. It was not so much investigative journalism than a more in-depth summary into the more controversial aspects of the dark web.

The first part of the book (Dark Web) explores the Silk Road investigation. The section was informative, to be sure, but I didn't find that Ormsby put her stamp on the part by providing her own perspective enough. There were some examples of this, but it feels like information I could have received by looking at the internet.

Ormsby then goes into the Besa Mafia website in the second part (Darker Web). This is the strongest section. Ormsby raises questions of morality on the internet, and offers her own unique information as to Besa Mafia. I found this a very captivating section and was lamenting that it was not reflected in the other two parts.

The last section (Darkest Web) is the weakest of the book. Like the first section, it consists of information you could get online, but lacks a coherent structure or end point. It is written to shock and is covered at a very surface level.

You will learn things from reading the book, but apart from the excellent Part 2, a lot of this book can be summarised elsewhere.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darkest Web is a superbly researched and written insight into the deep web.

It has both analytical depth and clarity, which is difficult to accomplish at the best of times, let alone about a topic that is so complex and foreign to many. It provides a great amount of factual information and also weaves stories into it, which is a difficult balance to strike.

Ormsby doesn't just account what the dark web is, but looks at the evolution of its various elements in the context of society, including the history in the offline world of many of the things that are now on the deep web.

Her handling of the "darkest" section, on the greatest horrors on there, provides enough detail for it to be understood without becoming in any way gratuitous.

I can only imagine how much effort and time went in to gathering all the information to write the book, let alone putting it together in a readable form, and the result is something both accessible and invaluable to understanding a significant part of the world today.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that so much of our lives is played out online provides an interesting challenge for writers: how do you make a text engaging when many key events involved someone typing onto their computer and/or accessing websites? It's not exactly a captivating image. But this book is super-engaging, Eileen Ormsby has found a way for the virtual to be rendered undoubtedly real and compelling.

The book focuses on some very dark stories from the dark web (sorted into dark, darker, and darkest, and given that 'dark' involves kill for hire schemes and the workings of an online drug empire, you better believe that the stuff discussed in both 'darker' and 'darkest' are truly dark). It's an impressive book: the amount of work that would have been involved in researching these stories and fashioning them into clear narratives is astounding. Plus, it's important ground to cover. Not many people know about the workings of the dark web, but given its applications in all kinds of crime, we probably should be better informed.

[Natalia Özaydınlı Gyacheva · Rating 2 out of 5]

I added this book to my shelf based on positive comments: but I didnt like it personally.
Some chapters were too long and I was so bored that I had to skip them.
For example, the information about some characters could take a couple of pages, but it took over 1:3 of the book.
Some detailes were so ugly and I think it was not necessary to mention about, especially the last part of the book. Ok, she investigated but the information is disgustish.
And she covered only 3-4 topics, that is is the whole book about.

[Bo Grimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced and interesting, but a lot of it is obviously blog/articles hastily (or sloppily) patched together and edited.

There are three parts: Dark (drugs), Darker (hitmen), and Darkest (snuff and child torture). You can get by reading the first two and get the gist of third. There were sections of the third I had to skip.

Good overview of a fairly obscure, but increasingly less so, corner of the Internet.

[Katrina Kalev · Rating 2 out of 5]

for boomers who don't know what reddit and bitcoin are

[David Veith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. As you progress through the book the deeds get darker (obviously) but some of it makes you cringe. Just deprived people out there. Reads sort of like a very large newspaper article at times. Also can be a bit repetitive at times, and more so from one section to the next. It references what you already read but acts like you didn't read it. Overall a very interesting read

[LUCHI · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, that was a LOT to process. The book tackles three very different aspects of the dark web; drug market, hitman, and pedophilia(& snuff). The stories get darker, just as the titles suggest. The first two stories are explored and explained in a very detailed way. Hence, the last and most horrifying part felt a bit disappointing to me. I wouldn't have been able to stomach more details on the acts but I really wanted to know more about Lux; how he got busted, his own thoughts during the trial, and maybe even his family's since they stood by him during the trial. The whole thing feels like a fever dream, it's hard to imagine people starting huge illegal empires from there bedroom with just codes and clicks, and scary af when you process that it's all real and even though these guys are busted there's a high chance history will or might already be repeating itself. It was too much to read in one go, not because it was boring or something but more because the topics disgusted me so much. Also, why was Yura's incarceration not explained? Overall, it's really well researched for about 85-90% of it but the last story was vague and I felt she tried to cut it down mostly because she wouldn't be able to stomach it which is very much understandable.

[Habeba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book actually turned my stomach, specifically that last chapter. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that these are real people and real events that happen. It’s actually disgusting. This book was very well researched and well written.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very interesting. The author shows the darkest part of the internet. Very scary stuff in this book. The book consists of 3 parts. The first 2 parts are very interesting. The 3rd part will make you sick to your stomach.

[Unreal Vampire · Rating 4 out of 5]

tak totalnie zgadzam się z ostatnim zdaniem "posłów". Co do książki to jest napisana bardzo przyjemnym językiem - i na początku zupełnie nie mogłam się od niej oderwać.......potem zaczęło się robić lekko pod górkę. I 3 część totalnie zmiotła mnie z planszy.

[Kali · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vile, sick, & so twisted - but Eileen Ormsby has created an investigative journalism triumph that was very interesting and kept you hooked from the first line.

[Ellen Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - christ the “darkest” chapter was hard to read. Please please do not read the last chapter if you are easily distressed by disturbing content