2026: BOTM: June - "Concern" by Christopher Bentley > Likes and Comments

Our June Book of the Month is with Christopher Bentley and his thriller Concern: A black-ops investigator uncovers an espionage conspiracy rooted in quantum code.

A black-ops investigator discovers an espionage conspiracy.

Goodreads Information:
Published: 07 Oct 2025
Kindle Edition: 364 pages
Paperback: 377 pages
Hardcover: 377 pages

Please allow Author Christopher Bentley to make the first comment.
Thank you!

Thank you, Pam. It's a real privilege to be here.

Let me tell you a little bit about the book, without parroting the blurb.

Concern is a tale of corporate intrigue, dementia, quantum supremacy, the Russian mafia, AI, global warming, spies, mercenaries, and ants.

It's a new story, it's an old story and it's an ancient story.

It's new in the sense that it features a number of current technological concerns (the story is set in the summer of 2022, between the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier in the year and the launch of ChatGPT in the autumn). The main ones are quantum computing, AI in the recent form of large language models, transhumanism and climate engineering. It tackles some of the inherent controversies and is, hopefully, at least somewhat thought provoking. It also seeks to inform, without being overly technical. I've always liked a story that sneakily teaches me about stuff, at the same time as being a ripping yarn. Don't worry if you're technophobic though, you'll be fine.

It's old in the sense that the main characters and some of the plot themes have been in my head in one form or another for several decades. Marc Naedorf, Daniel Berner, MYRMIDON and Colonel 'One Eyed Jack' Frazer -- the four central characters -- all date back to the 1970s in some form. Concern is also at least partly influenced by the pulp fiction of the 1930s (notably Lester Dent's Doc Savage stories), the tongue-in-cheek spy genre of the 1960s (particularly The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and the comic books (Marvel, DC, D.C. Thomson) of the 1970s (especially Nick Fury, Warlord and Fireball). There are occasional hat tips to all of these scattered throughout the novel.

And it's ancient in the sense that the ancestral story buried in the strata below Concern is that of Theseus, Ariadne, the Minotaur and the Labyrinth. It also owes a passing nod to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Let me end this introductory post with a confession. I don't really like the book's subtitle. It was put together to optimise its search potential, and as a consequence it's a bit of a salad of buzzwords.

If you can forgive me that, we'll get along well.

As a practical matter, please note that our free ebook campaign only runs until the end of March, so it would be a good idea to download a copy before then, rather than waiting until nearer June.

Thanks for the update Chris