The Secret Life

Narrating these essays depicting three digital daredevils, Liam Gerrard rarely lets his voice deviate from the evenhanded delivery of a professional newscaster. But on occasion, the details are so strange that even Gerrard's professional tone diverges to incredulity. Surrounding each featured Web icon is a smokescreen that blurs each one's essential unlikability. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is an insufferable egotist with bad hygiene and atrocious table manners. Ronald Pimm, O'Hagan's fictional rogue avatar, acquires assault rifles, opioids, and health insurance. The essay about Craig Wright, who claims to be the creator of Bitcoin, repeats the same disturbing point of the previous two: As great as the Web may be at explaining and exposing our world, it's far better at manipulating the truth and cloaking identities. R.W.S. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine