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Skiptracer #1
Hypertek
Listening time 7 hours 51 MinutesL
Business has never been deadlier…
Blake Harley is a Skiptracer—a kind of bounty hunter—on the faraway construct-world of Concourse Prime. Hired by a corporate client to secure an overdue product, he'll make some quick cryp and be on to the next job. Easy.
Except, this job is anything but simple. The product is tied to the immensely powerful and ultra-secret Hypertek, leaving Blake with a choice: be a good soldier, or refuse to help MagnaCorp become the most powerful entity in the system.
Another problem: everyone else in Concourse Prime is gunning for the product as well, from the demi-humans ruling its seedy underbelly to the CEOs inhabiting its gleaming superscrapers—people far more sinister than Hypertek.
Blake fights to survive while he wrestles with his decision. In the end, it’s just one big threat that could plunge humanity into an all-out interstellar conflict. What's the big deal?
Don't miss Hypertek by New York Times Bestseller Mick Neilson, the first book in a thrilling cyberpunk series. It's perfect for fans of Altered Carbon, Blade Runner, and J.N. Chaney.
Business has never been deadlier…
Blake Harley is a Skiptracer—a kind of bounty hunter—on the faraway construct-world of Concourse Prime. Hired by a corporate client to secure an overdue product, he'll make some quick cryp and be on to the next job. Easy.
Except, this job is anything but simple. The product is tied to the immensely powerful and ultra-secret Hypertek, leaving Blake with a choice: be a good soldier, or refuse to help MagnaCorp become the most powerful entity in the system.
Another problem: everyone else in Concourse Prime is gunning for the product as well, from the demi-humans ruling its seedy underbelly to the CEOs inhabiting its gleaming superscrapers—people far more sinister than Hypertek.
Blake fights to survive while he wrestles with his decision. In the end, it’s just one big threat that could plunge humanity into an all-out interstellar conflict. What's the big deal?
Don't miss Hypertek by New York Times Bestseller Mick Neilson, the first book in a thrilling cyberpunk series. It's perfect for fans of Altered Carbon, Blade Runner, and J.N. Chaney.
- GenresScience FictionAudiobook
Audible Audio
First published March 31, 2020
42 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Micky Neilson
63 books60 followersMicky Neilson is a two-time New York Times best-selling author whose graphic novels, Ashbringer (#2 on the list) and Pearl of Pandaria (#3) have both been published in six languages. As one of the first writers at Blizzard Entertainment, he has more than two decades of experience in the cutting edge of the gaming industry. He has self-published three horror novels in his original series The Turning, on Amazon. In 2017 Micky was tapped to write The Howling: Revenge Of The Werewolf Queen, a comic book continuation of the beloved 1981 Joe Dante horror film The Howling. In 2018 Micky completed his first original sci-fi novel, Ridgerunners, and co-wrote the graphic novel The Invisible Empire: Madge Oberholtzer And The Unmasking Of The KKK, as well as the illustrated novel Strange Highways. Most recently Micky wrote the bestselling book The Art Of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy and completed his sci-fi trilogy Skiptracer. Micky lives in beautiful Washington State with his wife and daughter where he enjoys life's essentials: movies, comic books, chocolate and sushi.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 15, 2020
Boy... I'm sorry to say, this book clearly wasn't written for me! I expected a down-on-his-luck kinda PI (in this case, a Skip Tracer). Ya' know... snarky with a bit of a noir style to it. What I got was a protagonist, Blake Harley, whom I simply couldn't stand! He's a man whose moral compass spun about like a drunken sailor... he's got soooooo many regrets, and each of those regrets was accompanied by a flashback... and of course, he seeks solace in a bottle! The best character in the whole story was an AI that happened to reside in Blake's car! The storyline might actually be about Blake's redemption... but I'm not willing to stick around for book 2 in order to find out!
I found myself bored to tears throughout the first half of the book, but there wasn't anything so egregious as to piss me off, and make me toss the book aside. So, I continued to soldier on... hoping things would improve, which sadly, was not what happened! Don't get me wrong there's plenty of action, but I couldn't connect with any of it.
I found Mark Boyett's voice performance as narrator, to be the highlight to this otherwise abysmal book!
I found myself bored to tears throughout the first half of the book, but there wasn't anything so egregious as to piss me off, and make me toss the book aside. So, I continued to soldier on... hoping things would improve, which sadly, was not what happened! Don't get me wrong there's plenty of action, but I couldn't connect with any of it.
I found Mark Boyett's voice performance as narrator, to be the highlight to this otherwise abysmal book!
April 2, 2020
This book had a fun sounding premise and a lot of good ideas. So many good ideas that they really didn't fit all that well into the story, leaving little time for character development.
It's possible, as this series continues, that it will become less cluttered and manage to develop the very promising characters.
It's possible, as this series continues, that it will become less cluttered and manage to develop the very promising characters.
December 19, 2020
This is the first book in a new series - never an easy thing to be, but it wasn't hard to understand this new world nor keep track of what is going on. I found the plot interesting, with many twists to the tale, and several flashbacks to his previous life, clearly signposted and adding to the story. I did like some of the engineering found in this world, and loved the snarky vehicle. Sarcasm always adds to a story, I find.
December 28, 2022
A decent sci-fi noir book. It didn't really stand out as particularly good or bad, it was just fine. An enjoyable way to pass the time for anyone who's a fan of this genre.
July 10, 2020
Hypertek is set in a Dystopian future, in which there is a very definite separation between the rich, who live and work in a kind of luxury on Concourse Prime, working for one of the ‘Mega-Corps’, and then the rest of the population that just wishes that they could be there.
Amongst this population is Blake Harley, a Skiptracer. A Skiptracer is a ‘Debt collection and Fugitive recovery specialist’, in Blake’s own words, tracks bounties, which can be people, objects, defunct contracts, pretty much whatever if the Skiptracer is right. They are part Private Detective, part Bounty Hunter.
Blake Harley is just one of those characters you love immediately. If they make a movie out this, you just know that Bruce Willis (or maybe in his younger days – a ‘Blade Runner style Harrison Ford’), would be playing the role. Blake is a down on his luck cop, who seems to have a knack for getting himself into situations that just go from bad to worse.
It hasn’t always been this way though, and that makes up a good chunk of this story, as the book is divided into 2 parts, a flashback sequence to a former point in Harley’s life, and then ‘Now’ and how those events of before are intertwined with those of today.
It makes for a captivating and exhilarating ride, as you are thrown from action scene to action scene, and move from past to present, learning more and more of Harley’s past, why he is so messed up today, why he has such a complex relationship with an individual called Rhyden (as well as some other people in both past and present), and how he got a prosthetic leg.
Hypertek is not just a book of Harley chasing the Grinch through Christmas Past, it is a complex web of intrigue, political games, and a powerful, emotional past that saw several lives destroyed, and mistakes made.
Harley in the future is trapped by the demons of the past, and it is in this future, he is given a job to go and retrieve some sensitive information for one of the ‘MegaCorps’ but under the table as such, they do not want anyone to know, and in return, he gets 20,000 credits, 50% up front, which is a lot to him.
Of course, (without getting to involved as I don’t want to give away things and ruin all the fun for you!!), actually kicks off into hyperdrive at this point, as Harley starts to uncover things that are not right, and it is from here that it becomes a full on thriller, mystery, and his past comes back to haunt him, especially in the case of Rhyden.
Neilson has put together a full-on, action packed thriller, that is part Mystery, part Thriller, part Sci-Fi, bits of Political Intrigue, Corporate Espionage, , a serious Morale Dilemma for our Main Character and it has so many twists and turns, within twists and turns, that just when you think you have something worked out, you are suddenly… Well, I can’t really tell you, you aren’t authorised until you have read that section of the book (MegaCorp Rules, sorry).
Neilson has gone to great length to craft two stories, in two different timelines, with the same characters (and a few different), that are intricately linked, and as you read the story in the past, you start to understand the motives of those in the future, and also how it is going to impact on the future. The really interesting part is, that some of the characters don’t know either, and you get to enjoy the journey together, with some amazing consequences!!
This is a powerful story, emotive, but brilliant, and Neilson has shown that he is capable of writing not just complex storylines, but complex characters to weave through the stories, taking you on a breathtaking ride.
There are so many genres involved in this story, it doesn’t matter what you like, you will get something out of this.
Amongst this population is Blake Harley, a Skiptracer. A Skiptracer is a ‘Debt collection and Fugitive recovery specialist’, in Blake’s own words, tracks bounties, which can be people, objects, defunct contracts, pretty much whatever if the Skiptracer is right. They are part Private Detective, part Bounty Hunter.
Blake Harley is just one of those characters you love immediately. If they make a movie out this, you just know that Bruce Willis (or maybe in his younger days – a ‘Blade Runner style Harrison Ford’), would be playing the role. Blake is a down on his luck cop, who seems to have a knack for getting himself into situations that just go from bad to worse.
It hasn’t always been this way though, and that makes up a good chunk of this story, as the book is divided into 2 parts, a flashback sequence to a former point in Harley’s life, and then ‘Now’ and how those events of before are intertwined with those of today.
It makes for a captivating and exhilarating ride, as you are thrown from action scene to action scene, and move from past to present, learning more and more of Harley’s past, why he is so messed up today, why he has such a complex relationship with an individual called Rhyden (as well as some other people in both past and present), and how he got a prosthetic leg.
Hypertek is not just a book of Harley chasing the Grinch through Christmas Past, it is a complex web of intrigue, political games, and a powerful, emotional past that saw several lives destroyed, and mistakes made.
Harley in the future is trapped by the demons of the past, and it is in this future, he is given a job to go and retrieve some sensitive information for one of the ‘MegaCorps’ but under the table as such, they do not want anyone to know, and in return, he gets 20,000 credits, 50% up front, which is a lot to him.
Of course, (without getting to involved as I don’t want to give away things and ruin all the fun for you!!), actually kicks off into hyperdrive at this point, as Harley starts to uncover things that are not right, and it is from here that it becomes a full on thriller, mystery, and his past comes back to haunt him, especially in the case of Rhyden.
Neilson has put together a full-on, action packed thriller, that is part Mystery, part Thriller, part Sci-Fi, bits of Political Intrigue, Corporate Espionage, , a serious Morale Dilemma for our Main Character and it has so many twists and turns, within twists and turns, that just when you think you have something worked out, you are suddenly… Well, I can’t really tell you, you aren’t authorised until you have read that section of the book (MegaCorp Rules, sorry).
Neilson has gone to great length to craft two stories, in two different timelines, with the same characters (and a few different), that are intricately linked, and as you read the story in the past, you start to understand the motives of those in the future, and also how it is going to impact on the future. The really interesting part is, that some of the characters don’t know either, and you get to enjoy the journey together, with some amazing consequences!!
This is a powerful story, emotive, but brilliant, and Neilson has shown that he is capable of writing not just complex storylines, but complex characters to weave through the stories, taking you on a breathtaking ride.
There are so many genres involved in this story, it doesn’t matter what you like, you will get something out of this.
September 20, 2022
Meet Blake Harley – a down-on-his-luck space-noir bounty hunter twice blessed in the category of badass names but burdened with a prosthetic leg that occasionally fails to boot when it comes to ass-kicking. Blake is a good guy in a c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶ ̶ corporate world, walking Mars’ mean streets (he’s not actually on Mars, but you get the point), saving c̶a̶t̶s̶ ̶ and cops from the unkind attentions of deranged, debased, and regressed drug fiends. In other words, he’s just the type of lucky guy – usually all bad – to get mixed up in an intergalactic mystery plot.
That’s about as much as I can tell you without too many spoilers. Needless to say, I liked the book; I did so a lot, actually. Usually, space Sci-Fi is not my thing (my tastes tend more towards the dystopian end). However, this one right away brought some fond memories of Shadowrun back. It does have that “feel,” even though the worlds are utterly different. I’d also consider this book suitable for all ages but more geared towards soon-to-be-twen-teenagers. Even though the book touches on darker topics like drug abuse, it does not do so in a grim and gritty fashion. No heavy cussing either – the swear words have gone through the time tumbler, which shaved most of the edges off. I didn’t mind. Actually, it helped with the immersion in the world. As for world-building, there is a lot of good stuff here. From intricately functioning battle arenas to illicit substances that pretty much turn humans into all kinds of sub-humans (I particularly enjoyed a fellow called “The Golem”), there are a lot of great ideas in the book. I particularly enjoyed the social criticism regarding how more mega-corporations tend to grind down their employees for profit. This is a timeless problem already, but beautifully magnified in the story and holds up the mirror in the form of a darker future.
At no point did the story’s general tone become too dark. Blake doesn’t take himself too seriously (nor does the snarky AI in his car), which makes for some tremendous self-deprecating dialogues and monologues. (I particularly enjoyed the moral conundrum where Blake pondered whether honesty or mystery is the way to go in order to impress the fairer sex).
So, yeah, a good mix of mystery, action, and laughs – just the stuff you want in a book to while away the hours. I’m looking forward to reading the second one.
That’s about as much as I can tell you without too many spoilers. Needless to say, I liked the book; I did so a lot, actually. Usually, space Sci-Fi is not my thing (my tastes tend more towards the dystopian end). However, this one right away brought some fond memories of Shadowrun back. It does have that “feel,” even though the worlds are utterly different. I’d also consider this book suitable for all ages but more geared towards soon-to-be-twen-teenagers. Even though the book touches on darker topics like drug abuse, it does not do so in a grim and gritty fashion. No heavy cussing either – the swear words have gone through the time tumbler, which shaved most of the edges off. I didn’t mind. Actually, it helped with the immersion in the world. As for world-building, there is a lot of good stuff here. From intricately functioning battle arenas to illicit substances that pretty much turn humans into all kinds of sub-humans (I particularly enjoyed a fellow called “The Golem”), there are a lot of great ideas in the book. I particularly enjoyed the social criticism regarding how more mega-corporations tend to grind down their employees for profit. This is a timeless problem already, but beautifully magnified in the story and holds up the mirror in the form of a darker future.
At no point did the story’s general tone become too dark. Blake doesn’t take himself too seriously (nor does the snarky AI in his car), which makes for some tremendous self-deprecating dialogues and monologues. (I particularly enjoyed the moral conundrum where Blake pondered whether honesty or mystery is the way to go in order to impress the fairer sex).
So, yeah, a good mix of mystery, action, and laughs – just the stuff you want in a book to while away the hours. I’m looking forward to reading the second one.
April 19, 2021
This is a book full of action and adventure with a leading man who loved and lost. Blake cannot get over the loss of his Eve. He has more than one nemesis. One is a psychotic and the other a mysterious drug dealer. He must overcome his past in order to move ahead into his future. He must discover who "The Savior" is and prevent a interstellar war. I thought it was great world building and the character was very well written and filled out. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
March 7, 2023
I think this book is better than it seems at first look. It's got a relatively complex plot and. a great main character. It isn't simple, even if you do think you know what's coming. And it's interesting. I have a feeling the series probably gets better and better.
And at this point I will listen to whatever Mark Boyett narrates. He rocks.
And at this point I will listen to whatever Mark Boyett narrates. He rocks.
March 31, 2020
A new and interesting sci-fi world. Relatable MC. Can't wait to explore more of this world.
April 4, 2020
( Format : Audiobook )
"The wheel always turns."
review to follow
"The wheel always turns."
review to follow
June 21, 2020
Fun, action filled read with a relatable character, some interesting world building and tech. Loved the hunt for the bad guy and the denouement. Would definitely like to read on in the series.
December 17, 2020
Decent world building but... I just really couldnt get myself to be interested in the MC.
February 4, 2021
enjoyed this. A bit of light hearted sci-fi with a fun story and satisfying ending. I'll have to read the next book now :D
January 6, 2021
* My review is for the audiobook format *
It's from his past that we learn how Blake's life took a few wrong turns, ultimately landing him in his current occupation as a fugitive recovery agent. As a skiptracer, Blake is offered a lucrative job hunting down an undelivered product for one of the many mega corporations operating on Concourse Prime. Blake's pursuit of this mysterious object will lead him to some unsavory characters from his painful past, and the object he seeks will expose his planet to a powerful technology that could incite a war.
Overall, this first installment to the Skiptracer series wasn't bad. There are elements of Blake's construct homeworld, Concourse Prime, that recall Harlan's World from the TV adaption of Altered Carbon. I had to start the story over a few times before I felt connected to it enough to finish. Maybe it's everything going on in the world right now that prevented me from really getting into the book. Even so, I did enjoy it and plan to continue on to the second installment. It's certainly a welcome distraction from the endless pandemic-related madness saturating our lives at present.
Narrator Mark Boyett gives a flawless performance, creating distinct and unique personalities for each character. He speaks with natural ease and exudes professionalism, making listening a pleasure.
(I requested a promotional copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily written this review.)
It's from his past that we learn how Blake's life took a few wrong turns, ultimately landing him in his current occupation as a fugitive recovery agent. As a skiptracer, Blake is offered a lucrative job hunting down an undelivered product for one of the many mega corporations operating on Concourse Prime. Blake's pursuit of this mysterious object will lead him to some unsavory characters from his painful past, and the object he seeks will expose his planet to a powerful technology that could incite a war.
Overall, this first installment to the Skiptracer series wasn't bad. There are elements of Blake's construct homeworld, Concourse Prime, that recall Harlan's World from the TV adaption of Altered Carbon. I had to start the story over a few times before I felt connected to it enough to finish. Maybe it's everything going on in the world right now that prevented me from really getting into the book. Even so, I did enjoy it and plan to continue on to the second installment. It's certainly a welcome distraction from the endless pandemic-related madness saturating our lives at present.
Narrator Mark Boyett gives a flawless performance, creating distinct and unique personalities for each character. He speaks with natural ease and exudes professionalism, making listening a pleasure.
(I requested a promotional copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily written this review.)
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews