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SimCavalier #2
Hacked Future
In the 2040s, techothreats and high-tech attacks threaten society on a daily basis. In this much awaited sequel to Bitcoin Hurricane, Cameron Silvera and the cybersecurity team at Argentum Associates are busy dealing with the fallout of several apparently unrelated data breaches.
Evidence mounts pointing to real-world perpetrators of the hacks, unexpected connections are uncovered, and a mystery man in a police morgue may hold the key. As the investigations reach a climax, Cameron and the team find themselves facing danger unexpectedly close to home.
K.R. Baucherel’s second thriller novel is another exciting read of near future cyber security and conspiracy fiction, featuring the charismatic Cameron Silvera juggling everyday life and the very real threat of cyberterrorism.
Evidence mounts pointing to real-world perpetrators of the hacks, unexpected connections are uncovered, and a mystery man in a police morgue may hold the key. As the investigations reach a climax, Cameron and the team find themselves facing danger unexpectedly close to home.
K.R. Baucherel’s second thriller novel is another exciting read of near future cyber security and conspiracy fiction, featuring the charismatic Cameron Silvera juggling everyday life and the very real threat of cyberterrorism.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 26, 2020
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Kate Baucherel
37 books9 followersI'm a scifi nerd whose day job is speaking, writing and consulting on emerging technologies like AI, realities and blockchain. Combining the two, throwing all the technologies I work with into the near future to see what breaks, is enormous fun.
My first books were traditionally published non-fiction, and I still write technical works under my own name and as a ghost writer. When I was asked to co-author a cybersecurity book in 2016, a friend suggested that it might be less dry as fiction. Cameron Silvera and the Argentum Associates team burst into life and the whole process of writing fiction has become a real joy. One of my biggest challenges is making sure that the future technology I invent doesn't find its way into reports for real live clients - but the future is getting closer all the time, and some of my predictions are already coming to life. Bitcoin Hurricane was the first in the SimCavalier series of near future thrillers, and I have a growing catalogue of short stories that include the odd SimCavalier prequel, some standalone tales, and the adventures of Finch, a naive young avian on a rite of passage round-the-galaxy trip.
Inspiration? I've been embedded in scifi since childhood. My first glimpse of the Daleks from behind the sofa pulled me into new worlds, and I never left. As a child I wrote my own Dr Who and Star Wars stories and occasional scripts on an old typewriter in my bedroom, and I read my dad’s collection of Wyndham, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlen and Asimov before discovering Iain Banks and David Brin, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'm still reading and learning and letting my imagination run wild.
My first books were traditionally published non-fiction, and I still write technical works under my own name and as a ghost writer. When I was asked to co-author a cybersecurity book in 2016, a friend suggested that it might be less dry as fiction. Cameron Silvera and the Argentum Associates team burst into life and the whole process of writing fiction has become a real joy. One of my biggest challenges is making sure that the future technology I invent doesn't find its way into reports for real live clients - but the future is getting closer all the time, and some of my predictions are already coming to life. Bitcoin Hurricane was the first in the SimCavalier series of near future thrillers, and I have a growing catalogue of short stories that include the odd SimCavalier prequel, some standalone tales, and the adventures of Finch, a naive young avian on a rite of passage round-the-galaxy trip.
Inspiration? I've been embedded in scifi since childhood. My first glimpse of the Daleks from behind the sofa pulled me into new worlds, and I never left. As a child I wrote my own Dr Who and Star Wars stories and occasional scripts on an old typewriter in my bedroom, and I read my dad’s collection of Wyndham, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlen and Asimov before discovering Iain Banks and David Brin, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I'm still reading and learning and letting my imagination run wild.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2019
Hacked Future picks up where the previous novel ended, and flows neatly into a new story as involving and interesting as the last. It will keep you guessing, and you’ll probably be wrong. My own guesses as to where things might go were scarier perhaps than where this story takes you, but I suspect that is because I was seeing insidious things that are yet to come in the next novel, and the next… Because the future for Cameron Silvera has only just got started, which is good, as I am looking forward to the next instalment already, as that bright future starts to look a little darker all the time… While remaining so real, so ground in the possible, and so well written that it is easy to forget your reading about a future that has not happened yet, it feels like a contemporary thriller, while all the time it is slipping further under your skin, till you look up at 4 in the morning and wonder if you have been reading a vision of the future at all, or just the world your going to wake up into sometime soon… Now that is the sign of a good writer…
September 30, 2022
My very first audiobook – and read by the author herself!
I read the prequel (Xanthe) which is great intro to this series. Need/Want/Need to read ‘Bitcoin Hurricane’ then continue on with ‘Tangled Fortunes’.
TOTALLY into ‘near-future cyber security and conspiracy fiction’, so this was right up my alley. The author’s use of jargon fit in beautifully yet was not over-the-head for us tech-illiterates.
This book raises several questions:
How much we rely on tech without realizing the implications down the line. Whilst techy stuff is convenient (I AM using a laptop right now), how reliant upon it are we? Do we have other things in place when the techy stuff goes down?
How much are we damaging our environment with tech? Are drone deliveries really that eco-friendly? Stuff in the ether? Etc.
How safe are our children while using tech? How supervised should they be even with security protocols in place? How reliable are these security protocols, really? Has cyber-bullying decreased or increased over the years (today)? How are parents and other adults teaching kids not to pressure other kids into “getting wired”?
Do cyber crimes hurt people as much or perhaps more than violent crimes? Are we as secure as we think we are?
What price are we paying for the convenience of tech?
I read the prequel (Xanthe) which is great intro to this series. Need/Want/Need to read ‘Bitcoin Hurricane’ then continue on with ‘Tangled Fortunes’.
TOTALLY into ‘near-future cyber security and conspiracy fiction’, so this was right up my alley. The author’s use of jargon fit in beautifully yet was not over-the-head for us tech-illiterates.
This book raises several questions:
How much we rely on tech without realizing the implications down the line. Whilst techy stuff is convenient (I AM using a laptop right now), how reliant upon it are we? Do we have other things in place when the techy stuff goes down?
How much are we damaging our environment with tech? Are drone deliveries really that eco-friendly? Stuff in the ether? Etc.
How safe are our children while using tech? How supervised should they be even with security protocols in place? How reliable are these security protocols, really? Has cyber-bullying decreased or increased over the years (today)? How are parents and other adults teaching kids not to pressure other kids into “getting wired”?
Do cyber crimes hurt people as much or perhaps more than violent crimes? Are we as secure as we think we are?
What price are we paying for the convenience of tech?
February 22, 2023
This is a great follow up to a great book! In the first book, the threats were virtual, implied, or just around the corner (except for poor pincushion-Pete!). This book ups the stakes while also delivering on some of the satisfaction of victory withheld from us in the first book. Homicide investigation, kidnapping, assault, and something even more dangerous turn the action in this sequel all the way up while keeping the gritty details of realistic cyber security central to the story.
In my review of Bitcoin Hurricane, I mentioned how risky it was for Baucherel to take on the near future in a realistic way. She goes a step further and even better in Hacked Future with a take on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it will continue to affect our children for years. It so well done that is actually feels like she set it up in the first book (did she ever work in a lab in Wuhan? ;-).
Great sequels are hard and setting up a great conclusion to a trilogy is harder. I'm thinking Baucherel has pulled off both here and I'm very excited to see how this all plays out in the final book in this first SimCavalier trilogy.
In my review of Bitcoin Hurricane, I mentioned how risky it was for Baucherel to take on the near future in a realistic way. She goes a step further and even better in Hacked Future with a take on the COVID-19 pandemic and how it will continue to affect our children for years. It so well done that is actually feels like she set it up in the first book (did she ever work in a lab in Wuhan? ;-).
Great sequels are hard and setting up a great conclusion to a trilogy is harder. I'm thinking Baucherel has pulled off both here and I'm very excited to see how this all plays out in the final book in this first SimCavalier trilogy.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews