Eileen Ormsby - Small Towns, Dark Secrets: Social media, reality TV and murder in rural America

Ormsby has delivered a triumph of narrative journalism, meticulously researched and gripping, a skilful mergence of tech jargon with human drama. The Saturday Paper

The book is a fascinating expose of this particular aspect of the dark web of internet dealings and its subsequent unravelling. Sydney Morning Herald

Ormsbys investigative journalism shines as she provides a very thorough account of Ulbrichts rise and fall. Penthouse Magazine

What pulls you through The Darkest Web isnt its often-nefarious, sometimes-gory details, but Ormsbys handling of three progressively intense narrative arcs. The Guardian

The darknet has become a repository for human cruelty, perversion and psychosis, and Ormsby captures all the tragedy in her gripping book. The Australian

A great strength of the meticulously researched Silk Road is the manner in which Ormsby gently takes the reader by the hand, unpacking the technology underpinning this dark net market. Australian Police Journal

A disillusioned corporate lawyer turned writer from Australia, Eileens new book, The Darkest Web, is the story of her journey, from drug markets and contract killing sites to the Internets seediest alcoves. But the most startling moments of the book happen when she comes face-to-face with some of its key players. VICE

From the Internet's hidden drug dens to torture-porn websites, Ormsby has seen it all. If you've ever wondered what the Dark Web is really like, Darkest Web should be on your TBR. Bustle Magazine: The Best New True Crime Books You Can Read Right Now

Riveting. Who Magazine

Investigative journalism that gallops along at a cracking pace. SMH Good Weekend

Through her clear rendering of the facts, Ormsby makes the intricacies of the technology involved accessible to even the most technophobic of readers. The tone is conversational and friendly while the content is intriguing and increasingly dark. In her quest to uncover the mystery behind the enigmatic DPR she uncovers a story of subterfuge, replete with conspiracy theories and hidden identities, that is rich with anecdotes. Newtown Review of Books

Ormsby is a great writer, giving us gripping accounts from the people who actually used Silk Road to paint an accurate picture of how the website was created, run, and ultimately fell... Silk Road is easily one of the best books Ive read this year. The Library NZ

Silk Road is one of the more readable and gripping true crime books of recent times. It is not just Ormsbys knowledge of the brief but spectacular rise and fall of Silk Road that makes for compelling reading, but also the ordering of the material so that the reader has the sense of being educated in the technical and legal background to an astonishing criminal enterprise. The Australian

For the most complete account of the original Silk Road Eileen Ormsbys book Silk Road is the best place to start. Its full of original research, interviews and insight. This is best read along with her excellent blog, AllThingsVice, which covers several aspects of the dark net, but especially the dark net markets. Jamie Bartlett, author of Darknet and Radicals

[Stalkers is] chilling... harrowing...unpicks the sordid tale from the start The Sun

Dark, disturbing and near unbelievable... [Stalkers is] my No.1 true crime read this year OzNoir

Eileen Ormsby is a lawyer, author and freelance journalist based in Melbourne. Her first book, Silk Road was the world's first in-depth expose of the black markets that operate on the dark web. In The Darkest Web, Eileens gonzo-style investigations led her deep into the secretive corners of the dark web where drugs and weapons dealers, hackers, hitmen and worse ply their trade. Many of these dark web interactions turned into real-world relationships, entanglements, hack attempts on her computer and even death threats from the dark web's most successful hitman network.

Eileen started writing scripts for the Casefile True Crime Podcast in 2018 and has since become one of their most regular contributors. She often focuses on cases that have a dark web or internet aspect to them.

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The Darkest Web

Silk Road

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In the United States, nearly one fifth of the population - around 58 million people - live in rural areas, and most of those live in small towns. Some grew up there and stayed, continuing the lifestyle enjoyed by the generations before them; others made the move to escape the hustle and bustle of urban life, or to provide a safe, wholesome way of living for their children.

Of course, not all small towns in America are the same. Some are known as hippie havens, others are home to wealthy executives. There are mountain towns in the southeast, desert towns in the southwest, communities nestled in dense forests of northern midwest, and thousands more, each with their own specific economic and cultural characteristics.

In the last decade, several small towns in the United States have seen more businesses closing than opening, and the population has declined as a result. Some of the most severely affected are the towns in the so-called Bible Belt. Such towns are often characterized by a high unemployment rate, the lack of activities for young people, and the cultural, political, religious, and economic influence of evangelical Christianity. The Baptist church on the end of the street and the Presbyterian church at the center of town don't just preach morality and salvation on Sunday. They meet with local politicians to discuss state budgets. They teach Sunday school classes for children and Bible study for adults. In many such communities, there is nothing for young people to do but work hard, play in the local band, and get married right out of high school. Then they have kids and buy a house and never move again.

These are often homogenous communities and some contend that rural America has become a war-zone of sectarian and ethnic groups, paranoid of each other, quick to take offense and quicker to take up arms. Many long-term residents dont like outsiders. People are tense and polite, but unwelcoming and hostile to strangers. But despite the apparently simple facade, many of these small towns are complex and layered places filled with secrets