The Beta Boys - Paperback

by Arin Mikailian (Author)

Inspired by true events at a Southern California high school.

Instead of making it a Blockbuster night, dive into a nostalgic archive seen through CRT TV screens, AOL Instant Messenger pings, burned CDs, and the frosted tips generation.

It's 2002 in the world of The Beta Boys, and 16-year-old Roman Vallancourt has the audacious dream to become the next tech icon. He hatches a computer hacking heist that could make him a digital legend-or destroy everything important to him.

He recruits his two Armenian best friends as co-conspirators: Tadeh Tovmasian, a cocky and relentless overachiever, and Alex Ter Alaverdian, a gaming savant who's more comfortable handling controllers than conversations with girls.

Told through all three perspectives, The Beta Boys is more than a heist story: it's an archival love letter to an analog-to-digital generation-navigating brutal social hierarchies, the awkward spark of first crushes, and the unfiltered weirdness of high school before social media.