DARKMARKET

Matrix001 and JiLsi were always willing to share their knowledge about the details of DarkMarket and their assessment of specific events. In Pittsburgh, I found Max Vision to be a brilliant and helpful interlocutor. All three have my sincere thanks.

Çağatay Evyapan and Mert Ortaç were two of the most interesting personalities I have met in the past three years even if they don't see eye to eye themselves. I would like to convey my gratitude to both of them despite the difficulty of their current situations.

In Estonia, Madis Tüür was an exemplary guide to the politics and history of the country, not to mention an ever entertaining host.

Thanks also to Brooks Decillia from CBC in Calgary for his selfless research. Likewise, Daniel Goldberg and Linus Larsson came to my rescue in Stockholm.

Two people have helped me in the background with technical issues. In Helsinki, Mikko Hyppönen, Chief Research Officer of F-Secure and Vicente Diaz of Kaspersky Labs in Barcelona were always available to help me get my head round things I simply could not understand. I also received much wise advice regarding more general cyber security issues from Rex Hughes at Wolfson College, Cambridge.

I also want to thank the following people who helped me in a variety of different ways: Allison Culliford, Luke Dembosky, Sophie Devonshire, Joris Evers, Detective Spencer Frizzell, Tamara Glenny, Camino Kavanagh, Suat Kınıklıoğlu, Dirk Kolberg, Darryl Leaning, Melissa Llewelyn-Davies, Jane McClellan Q.C., Mark Medish, Steve Milner, Jaan Prisaalu, Colin Robinson, Anya Stiglitz and Eneken Tikk.

My agents and publishers have been unstinting in their support. Clare Conville in London is as good an agent as one can imagine, backed by a wonderful team. Michael Carlisle provides an equally dynamic service in New York. I am fortunate to have a trio of editors, Will Sulkin at The Bodley Head, Dan Frank at Knopf and Sarah MacLachlan at Anansi Press, who have both made the writing experience more manageable while greatly enhancing the final product. If errors have crept in, I, naturally, bear full responsibility for them. I would also like to thank two others who have had a significant impact on the book, Kay Peddle at The Bodley Head and Janie Yoon at Anansi.

My three children to whom this work is dedicated have maintained a healthy interest in the book despite the fact that I have been frequently both absent and absent-minded while writing. They have never been anything less than cheerful and supportive.

And finally my thanks and love to Kirsty Lang, my wife, who has commented, critiqued, cajoled and kept me afloat throughout. Not for the first time, I could not have done it without her.

June 2011