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SimCavalier #1
Bitcoin Hurricane
An alternative cover edition for this ASIN can be found here.
Cameron Silvera runs a threat intelligence agency in 2040s London. While defusing a routine cyber attack in a city bank, the team uncovers a warning of chaos to come. How will Cameron’s team, and their friends and families, prepare to battle the oncoming storm?
Cameron Silvera runs a threat intelligence agency in 2040s London. While defusing a routine cyber attack in a city bank, the team uncovers a warning of chaos to come. How will Cameron’s team, and their friends and families, prepare to battle the oncoming storm?
262 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 3, 2017
About the author
Kate Baucherel
40 books10 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 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 26, 2021
Technology subverted? Who has the capability.
I enjoyed this book immensely!
The extrapolation of current technology levels to just a short time in the future rings true to my experience. Having worked in banking technology for decades during several attacks the efforts made by the team feels true.
The character development of the team and their interactions internally and to external contacts lend verisimilitude to the story arc.
There is the main driving storyline of the financial attacks by an unknown group intent on market manipulation - but who are they? All during the novel I kept thinking this group or that person but was pleased with no resolution!
Disclaimer - I received a copy in a book giveaway.
I enjoyed this book immensely!
The extrapolation of current technology levels to just a short time in the future rings true to my experience. Having worked in banking technology for decades during several attacks the efforts made by the team feels true.
The character development of the team and their interactions internally and to external contacts lend verisimilitude to the story arc.
There is the main driving storyline of the financial attacks by an unknown group intent on market manipulation - but who are they? All during the novel I kept thinking this group or that person but was pleased with no resolution!
Disclaimer - I received a copy in a book giveaway.
June 10, 2023
I downloaded this whilst it was free over a weekend and I'm glad I did. I loved this book! A new premise, and I really enjoyed all the futuristic details which were not quite reality, but totally plausible. The characters were all well-developed and fun to be around, and the little excursions out diving or competing in a triathlon were really great. I was also living for the cat drama in the village!
This was a good, complete, and well-rounded story, and although I would have liked a bit more closure as to the "behind the scenes" people, it did leave it open for future instalments. I will definitely be getting the next book.
This was a good, complete, and well-rounded story, and although I would have liked a bit more closure as to the "behind the scenes" people, it did leave it open for future instalments. I will definitely be getting the next book.
December 18, 2017
The future’s bright… Utopian in fact… No, really it is… Everything has an upside, even global warming, welcome to a future where Burgundy grapes are grown on the south facing slopes of the North Yorkshire Moors, and English summers are no longer a slightly less wet weekend in July…. The problems we expect of the world of tomorrow are just waiting for the solutions we have almost thought of today. So just because a book is set thirty years in the future is no reason for it all to be gloom and doom on a global scale… We just need to embrace technology and let it lead us into a bright new era of electric self-driven cars and fridges that tell you-you’re almost out of milk, then order some more that will get delivered via a drone in twenty minutes. A future where even investment bankers are basically good people trying to do whats best for the world…
Baucherel caught me completely off guard and laid bare a somewhat gross assumption on my part. Did so with some style as well as it was the same assumption being made by another character in the novel and it was not till about a third of the way in when that character realised the mistake they were making that I realised my own foolish assumption. It is a simple enough curveball to throw a reader, but it was somewhat masterly pulled off, so cleverly pulled off that I actually made a second assumption just before that particular reveal and was impressed how well the writer had worked it in, only to realise it was a false one on my part. If I had not been hooked before then, (and I was), I was well and truly hooked now, because I am a sucker for having my assumptions thrown back at me…
(a longer review is on my blog but basically I recommend this to anyone who likes a good thriller .. markhayesblog.com )
Baucherel caught me completely off guard and laid bare a somewhat gross assumption on my part. Did so with some style as well as it was the same assumption being made by another character in the novel and it was not till about a third of the way in when that character realised the mistake they were making that I realised my own foolish assumption. It is a simple enough curveball to throw a reader, but it was somewhat masterly pulled off, so cleverly pulled off that I actually made a second assumption just before that particular reveal and was impressed how well the writer had worked it in, only to realise it was a false one on my part. If I had not been hooked before then, (and I was), I was well and truly hooked now, because I am a sucker for having my assumptions thrown back at me…
(a longer review is on my blog but basically I recommend this to anyone who likes a good thriller .. markhayesblog.com )
February 5, 2023
A really engaging and fast-paced look at the world of cyber security. Set only twenty or so years from today, the author does a fantastic job of using real cyber security concepts to inform the plot. I work with computer systems in development and deal with cyber security issues on a daily basis, and Baucherel is either an actual expert in the field or an amazing researcher. Every detail rings true and all of it leads to a compelling and satisfying conclusion.
Baucherel's grounded approach to the near-future is quite daring. She published this book in 2017, so she took a lot of risks making any predictions on such a short timeline. But science fiction is never about making accurate predictions, it's about telling believable stories the use science and technology in innovative ways. Her predictions of future social engineering and climate-based regulations are very interesting (despite the fact that climate change is 'paused' again). The creeping control of the state over our lives is subtle in the book, but the heroes have to bypass those regulations in a style while saving the very society that is hampering them.
I bought the audio version and the author is quite a capable narrator as well. Can't beat the bundle price - you can get the whole first trilogy for less than the cost of most audiobooks.
Baucherel's grounded approach to the near-future is quite daring. She published this book in 2017, so she took a lot of risks making any predictions on such a short timeline. But science fiction is never about making accurate predictions, it's about telling believable stories the use science and technology in innovative ways. Her predictions of future social engineering and climate-based regulations are very interesting (despite the fact that climate change is 'paused' again). The creeping control of the state over our lives is subtle in the book, but the heroes have to bypass those regulations in a style while saving the very society that is hampering them.
I bought the audio version and the author is quite a capable narrator as well. Can't beat the bundle price - you can get the whole first trilogy for less than the cost of most audiobooks.
July 1, 2020
Highly imaginative and gripping story.
A brilliant story set in a high tech world of the not too distant future where wars are waged between hackers and a team of anti-hackers lead by the SimCavalier. An amazing and well thought out plot kept me reading to the very last page and left me wanting more. I will definitely read the rest of the series. Keep up the excellent work and I will keep reading.
A brilliant story set in a high tech world of the not too distant future where wars are waged between hackers and a team of anti-hackers lead by the SimCavalier. An amazing and well thought out plot kept me reading to the very last page and left me wanting more. I will definitely read the rest of the series. Keep up the excellent work and I will keep reading.
September 17, 2025
2.5 stars rounded up. If you're trying to make an empowering feminist statement, maybe don't refer to half the female characters dismissively as 'the girls'. The idea of the book is interesting, but the future world-building is just lame and the characters are trite and one dimensional. I wish the tech parts had been even more simplified and expanded on for a non-tech audience like me: I'll tolerate cliche romance for good passive learning. Read with a pencil to fix the many typos.
November 19, 2020
An amazing thrilling adventure
A great book at the crossroads of Mr Robot series with a touch of Yuval Harari. Set up in a a near future, the author takes you into an amazing journey across the perils of cyber world. I enjoyed this book tremendously as it’s helps you visualise the impact of drones, IoT devices and how we’ll interact with the virtual environment, as good as Harari’s predictions but much more entertaining reading. Cannot wait to start the second book.
A great book at the crossroads of Mr Robot series with a touch of Yuval Harari. Set up in a a near future, the author takes you into an amazing journey across the perils of cyber world. I enjoyed this book tremendously as it’s helps you visualise the impact of drones, IoT devices and how we’ll interact with the virtual environment, as good as Harari’s predictions but much more entertaining reading. Cannot wait to start the second book.
January 6, 2020
Good Tech
Good understandable tech stuff, not to deep. Decent mystery and futuristic. I recommend this book to techies and us ( not so techie).
Good understandable tech stuff, not to deep. Decent mystery and futuristic. I recommend this book to techies and us ( not so techie).
January 4, 2021
The Language Plods
Love a good techno thriller but the this was painful. The writing style plods and just feels clumsy to me.
Love a good techno thriller but the this was painful. The writing style plods and just feels clumsy to me.
August 22, 2026
Was looking for an author who could write with Gibson/stephenson vibes but from the standpoint of the world we’re in right now - this is it - blowing on with the rest of the series
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews