Two more science fiction books to recommend, one set in familiar surroundings and one on an alien and inhospitable planet.
Social Engineer by Ian Sutherland
Ian Sutherland writes thrillers about Brody Taylor, a man with a special talent – hacking people. He can manipulate , misdirect and deceive to get whatever he wants. Luckily he’s a good guy, hired by companies to test their security. This is the novella that introduces Brody and I loved it. It comes under science fiction because it pushes the barrier of what is actually possible. Here’s the blurb:
Whose side is he on? The drug company curing dementia or the animal rights activists protesting outside?
Brody Taylor loves hacking humans. After all, people are the weakest link in all computer systems. If he’s hired to break into your network, he will find and exploit the weak point. You. The problem with always manipulating people is that even those closest to you don’t trust you.
And Brody’s just fallen in love with Melanie, a zany, beautiful French animal rights activist. But she’s in love with the character he’s trapped himself in, not the real Brody, social engineer and computer hacker. Can Brody social engineer his way to the truth and save his relationship with Melanie?
Dawn of Procyon by Mark R Healy
This book threw me a little at first, as there are two almost separate stories, but they come together at the end in a satisfying way. Here’s the blurb:
In the midst of an interstellar conflict, mechanic Landry Stanton is shipwrecked on a remote outpost planet, stranded along with a hostile alien that wants him dead.
All Landry wants is to forget the woman he left back on Earth, but now he finds that much bigger issues are at stake: the creature, belonging to a species known as the Argoni, may hold the key to turning the tide in the entire war, assuming Landry can live long enough to tell anyone about it.
Pitched into a life and death struggle against the brutal environment and the Argoni itself, Landry is forced to challenge everything he thought he knew about the war, the aliens and even himself.
