How to Disappear: The World's No. 1 Guide to Lowering Your Profile and Reducing Your Digital Footprint by Frank A. AhearnMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This one caught my eye while I was weeding the new bookshelves at the Library... who hasn't at one time or another thought that it might be great thing to just take a powder and go off the radar completely? Whether to avoid bill collectors or to get away from a stalker, it remains a great temptation for many. Ahearn started his career as a bounty hunter or as he puts it a "skip tracer" but he's far removed from Stephanie Plum, and used every tool in his book, legal and illegal to track people down. After a scary run-in with federal authorities put him on the straight and narrow, Ahearn changed his business from finding people to helping people disappear. It's a lot harder than you would think, involving convoluted counter-intelligence and misdirection often using pre-paid credit cards and mobile phones to multiple mail drops and phony addresses. I don't think I have the chutzpah to try this as alluring as it might be. Ahearn himself says that it is not for the faint of heart. But as entertainment it makes for fascinating reading and he's a great vernacular storyteller with plenty of anecdotes that make the book very interesting and provide great insight into the crime novels and news stories that I find interesting.
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