Scott Alan Lucas relates the story of successful tech entrepreneur, Bob Lee, who was stabbed to death in 2023. He tries to put it into the context of San Francisco, a city of extremes, of the poor and/or addicted on the one side and then the rich, decadent and powerful on the other. The latter was definitely Bob Lee.

I was engaged in the beginning, as I could see how this could lead to a sociological examination of current day San Francisco. However, Lucas didn’t go far enough in this direction. Yes, he talked about the drugs, sex and excesses of the game-changers in the tech industry, which I found fascinating. However, too much was spent on the actual murder trial, and included too much detail to keep my interest.
In the end he just touches on how law enforcement is eager to quickly investigate and prosecute crimes committed on the wealthy and well-connected, whereas poor black families of murder victims cannot get the attention by the police, prosecutors or, in fact, the media. I wish more was spent on issues like this.

I doubt that most readers will have the patience to get through the repetitive detail in the book. That is why I cannot recommend this book.

You could say that biographies of tech founders have recently become a genre of their own. I admit that I am a fan, partly because Big Tech plays such a huge role in our lives and partly because these people are usually rather unconventional. Bob Lee was undoubtedly such a character, although he became famous mostly thanks to his untimely, violent death. I enjoyed learning more about him, although my favorite parts of the book were those devoted to San Francisco itself. As a local journalist, Scott Alan Lucas is uniquely positioned to offer a nuanced picture of this city, which has been both demonized and glorified.

Thanks to the publisher, Steerforth, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This book was eye opening and very tragic. It was interesting to learn about Bob Lee and his impact in the tech world. The author does a great job of providing a deeper look at all the different people involved and how their paths crossed. The way Mr. Lee lost his life was terrible and those left behind on both sides struggled with his loss. A tough read but I appreciate all the research that went into learning the truth.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

This is a book about the murder of Bob Lee in San Francisco. The book starts out covering all the speculation at the time of the murder that it was because the South of Market area is dangerous and crime-ridden and that he tragically met his fate at the hands of a stranger. Given he was known to do drugs, theories also suggested it could have been a drug deal gone bad. But the conspiracy theorists certainly played up this angle of dangerous San Francisco. The truth was much more complicated than that. The murderer was the brother of a woman he had known for years who clearly had an anger management problem and blamed Bob Lee about assault allegations made by his sister (alleged assault by Bob's drug dealer). Given that his sister clearly does not show up here as very credible at all including the fact that she was still seeing this alleged abuser even as this went to trial. This book unfolds with all the details of what happened before and after including at the trial. Scott Alan Lucas has done a meticulous job interviewing people and following the trial and it pays off well in this book. There are other people impacted here too -- Bob' ex-wife who he still was very close friends with, his two sons and the murderer's mother - who escaped an abusive relationship in Iran to protect her children and find a better life in America. I highly recommend this read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Steerforth for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

This book ended up being deeply depressing not only because it was about a murder, but because of the banality of Bob Lee's existence before his untimely end. Money definitely did not buy happiness, at least not for Lee.