Swerve

by Mike Markel

The Central Montana State community has waited a year to learn whether Syclone Systems, a maker of self-driving car technology, will enter into a long-term R&D partnership with the university. At a live demo on campus, where the company is expected to announce its decision, its man on campus, Bryan Orville, is run down by one of his experimental cars. Whoever altered the car’s computer code to kill him also erased all the forensic evidence. Because Orville had some nasty habits--fooling around with grad students, stealing promising research ideas, and publicly humiliating professors who didn’t meet his standards--Seagate and Miner are swamped with suspects. When a second body turns up, and then someone hacks Syclone and threatens to put them out of business, the detectives devise a plan to lure the killer out of hiding with a phony reward for solving the hack. But the killer knows there is much more money to be made selling the company’s trade secrets on the dark web. Besides, the killer is quite busy planning one last murder.

338 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2017

About the author

I am the author of eight books in the Detectives Seagate and Miner Mystery series: Big Sick Heart, Deviations, The Broken Saint, Three-Ways, Fractures, The Reveal, Players, and Swerve. For more information, please visit my site: http://mikemarkel.com.

I'm looking forward to meeting people on Goodreads.

Reviews

[Donadee's Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swerve by Mike Markel Review
Rawlings, Montana’s finest at their best!

The Central Montana State community has waited a year to learn whether Syclone Systems, a maker of self-driving car technology, will enter into a long-term R&D partnership with the university. At a live demo on campus, where the company is expected to announce its decision, its man on campus, Bryan Orville, is run down by one of his experimental cars. Whoever altered the car’s computer code to kill him also erased all the forensic evidence. Because Orville had some nasty habits--fooling around with grad students, stealing promising research ideas, and publicly humiliating professors who didn’t meet his standards--Seagate and Miner are swamped with suspects. When a second body turns up, and then someone hacks Syclone and threatens to put them out of business, the detectives devise a plan to lure the killer out of hiding with a phony reward for solving the hack. But the killer knows there is much more money to be made selling the company’s trade secrets on the dark web. Besides, the killer is quite busy planning one last murder.

What did I like? I have read every one of the books in this series and this one is the best so far. I loved the new heights that Karen Seagate and Ryan Miner have reached. This one was more emotional than any of the rest and Karen became so much more real, you know that woman that lives next door type. The storyline this time was brought to higher depths and the twists just kept on coming. I thought all the way through that I had it all figured out but as usual, Mike threw me a curve and I did not see it coming.

What will you like? First, if you have not read the rest of the books I highly recommend you do. Each one is so awesome in its self but this one will have you till the last page. The work that Mike put in this one shines on every page! The story content is interesting and will keep your attention. The characters are well developed and feel like real people. The descriptions and attention to the details are extraordinary. Each one has their own twist to add to the story and is very fascinating. I feel like I know the town of Rawlings through the descriptions in these books. As I said above if you have not read the series, I highly recommend each book and feel the work that the author has done will shine in each one. Captivating and galvanizing read!

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this one but found good and bad points. The author has laid out a lot of information about computer programmed or autonomous cars, research facilities at a rural college and the kind of people who might be concerned with such an issue. This can be interesting to read although I saw nothing I would not have read on Wired.com or Singularityhub.

As a police procedural it's ludicrous though. A respected investor and tech developer has been killed by his own car. Why wasn't the town inundated with TV vans and journalists? Why weren't the car and all computers involved impounded at once by the police or else the lawyers of the car firm? Why wasn't the car firm coming to town to run its own investigation? Why were only two detectives assigned, and no uniforms, to this major case? Why weren't all witnesses asked for statements, why weren't local politicians hounding the police for answers? Why were the two detectives allowed to set up a situation sure to lead to serious harm to witnesses, and possible deaths, in a country where even madmen are allowed to buy guns? Wouldn't their professional integrity and the fear of the department being sued stop them?

I have not read any books about these police officers and one (a man) seems to have little to contribute beyond speaking while the other (a woman) eats leftover doughnuts, mopes about being a drunk and a bad mother to the extent of it making her a worse mother. (Oddly for a woman in America she never thinks about her looks, dabs on face cream, styles her hair, applies lipstick or breaks a nail.) I did not take to either character. This may of course be to do with the subject matter; since the series is well established it could be that the author had the great idea of the driverless car case and dropped it on his existing characters without thinking of character development. I would read another book in the series but only if the subject matter appealed.

I availed of a free download offer. This is an unbiased review.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read several of the Seagate and Miner book. I’ve liked all of them, but realized that my main reasons for liking each book has varied a lot. That’s a good thing. In some installments, in addition to the mystery at the heart of every book, I’ve been focused on Seagate and Miner’s relationship, how their flaws and idiosyncrasies tend to offset each other, making them a strong team. In other books, my focus is on something different. For Swerve that was the concept of self-driving cars and what some of the complications of these might turn out to be. But, as always, the mystery kept me guessing and Seagate and Miner kept me entertained as I tried to solve the case with them.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

n this mystery Detectives Seagate and Miner need to find out if a "self driving car" running over one of the car's company big wigs was an accident or murder. You will learn a lot about self driving cars in this book. You will also learn how some people are not as well liked as they want people to believe. The more the detectives look into this case, the more suspects they come up with. Problem is ....no evidence. Can they find out if this was really murder or was it just an accident? Read the story to find out.

[Joanie Hinton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great series....The two main characters, Detectives Seagate and Miner have great chemistry. The stories in all the books have been well written, and flow nicely. I like the way the author also puts in a little back story about the characters in each story so we can know them on a personal level. This story was interesting and I wasn't sure of the killer until about three quarters into it. Can't wait for the next book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A year has passed since CMSU and Syclone Systems have partnered in the development of Syclone autonomous cars. The day has arrived to test a small part of that technology but disaster awaits as Syclone employee Bryan Orville is killed. Was it an accident or murder. It's for detectives Seagate and Miner to determine.
Another enjoyable well-written mystery story in this series

[Bonnie Hunsaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cars can kill

Best thing about these books is you can choose who committed the crime and then sort through the facts. No super hero just two people working together with a great supporting cast. A solid story line and all kinds of twists and turns. Hope a new book is coming soon

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this series of books. Looking forward to a new book in this series!

[Sharron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of trust is a must. If we can't trust our spouse then why stay married to her/him. I anxiously await to read more books by Mike Markel

[Prescottl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating murder mystery focused around a self-driving automobile. It was fun reading about the detectives thinking through the possible suspects and their opportunities and motives.

[IslandRiverScribe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each book in this series just keeps getting better and better. We get our murder real quick, a whole slew of suspects to sort through and a real lack of forensic clues to help us with said sorting.

We also get discussions amongst the characters that relay what appears to be considerable research by the author on the internal ramifications of corporate cyberattacks and on the ethics and legalities involved in programming and insuring autonomous vehicles (driverless cars). Those discussions on such current and high-tech subjects are actually exciting in themselves, apart from the hints they parcel out concerning the murder.

And, as far as murder goes, Mike Markel writes a mystery for our detectives that literally will not quit - or be easily solved. Before the novel is finished, so many characters tell so many lies so thinly covered by just the faintest veil of truth that I was just as confused as Seagate and Minor. Right to the very end, because the lies were so thick on the ground and so sophisticated, I thought that my number one choice for murderer would actually be right even though my number three choice had confessed - sort of.

The only downside to this novel, for me, were the editing errors. They weren't as numerous as the lies those characters told, but there were enough of them and they were sufficiently noticeable to take me out of the story when they occurred.