The Man Who Hacked the World: A Ghostwriter’s Descent into Madness with John McAfee

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This memoir takes us on an exploration of the mind and soul, of love and fear, of the human condition. Foster and McAfee were raised in somewhat similar situations, but as the book goes on we learn about the fundamental core of foundational layers of belief that separate them . In a cyber-netherworld, he allegedly commercialised the wholesale theft of financial and personal information through this virus, which he sold to other cyber-criminals,” Yates said. None of these Foster believed, telling us simply: "That's very elaborate. Why not just kill John? That doesn't make any sense." He ultimately theorises the tech whizz paid someone to kill Faull, rather than doing it himself. My writing career began when I was twenty years old. I was in a cafe, painstakingly engaged in the 22nd edit of my first book — a memoir of my travels hitchhiking across country, being homeless in Los Angeles, living with one of America's wealthiest people, and sailing the Inside Passage to Alaska. Beside me, a woman asked if I was writing a memoir. This book is so beautiful, so raw, and so haunting. If you want to reconnect with your humanity, see all the unseen people in the world, and watch the way a powerful and wounded John McAfee directs his own personal circus of guns, drugs, and henchmen, you should read this book. I couldn’t put it down, and to be honest, I had no particular interest in John McAfee’s story.

So really, I guess the answer is no," he added. "But they did the best job they possibly could have, because no one and nothing could ever truly capture the essence of such a person." It was these underlying feelings that drew him to John McAfee. The same McAfee seemingly so alone and misunderstood by others. Always on the run and never in one place for long. McAfee, the man constantly betrayed by those closest to him, but why? When Alex finally started putting thoughts into words and words into ink did he begin to find himself. The freedom to express, create, and escape opened up a whole new world to him as a boy reading books in the library during lunch break. Through writing did he begin to exercise the innate freedom within. The freedom to create your own stories, characters, good guys and bad. The freedom to find reprieve from the never-ending hamster wheel of life, realizing the necessity of death, because without it, there would be no sacredness to life.Is the thought of murder as evil as the murder itself? Was John courageous for standing up to his father therefore ending the cruelty, and Alex wrong for not and letting it go on for longer? In one chilling moment on one of Foster's tapes, McAfee seemingly alludes to the idea he murdered his abusive father at the age of 17, getting away with the killing for decades, seemingly without consequence. Alex Foster felt misunderstood for as long as he could remember. When he tried to help, others would recoil. When he tried to show kindness, others would show malice. He was surrounded by the culture of transactions instead of his operating system of acceptance and love.

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Book Review

Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman. Alex never felt at home, though he had a house and a family. Alex never felt understood, though he thought his intentions were pure. She looked at me seriously. "No," she said. "This is very impressive, and trust me, it takes a lot to impress me, kid. How old are you?"