“The Last Good Man” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Linda Nagoya (http://www.mythicisland.com). Ms. Nagoya has published more than a dozen novels.

I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Language. The story is set just a few years in the future. The primary character. Is True Brighton, a former Army helicopter pilot and now one of the principle officers of Requisite Operations. Requisite Operations is a military contractor, mostly providing training and security services, but they also have a small team for armed response.

Requisite Operations is contracted to rescue a young Doctor who has been kidnapped by terrorists. During that mission, Brighton comes across evidence that brings back old memories and opens old wounds.

Requisite Operations soon finds itself being watched and under attack. As more evidence mounts up, Brighton strikes out on her own to pursue the truth. This leaves her team searching for her and her at risk.

I really enjoyed the 11.5 hours I spent reading this. 464 page techno thriller. A large part of the novel concerns the tech - robots, drones and AI - that is being used by various military units, including Requisite Operations. I found that a very interesting part of the story, given that most of it is what is in the research labs today. I thought that the characters were well developed and I liked the plot. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

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A review in spanish
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-last-good-man-linda-nagata.html

Lo he vuelto a intentar, pero creo que los títulos más recientes de Linda Nagata no son para mí. En esta ocasión The Last Good Man más que una novela de ciencia ficción militarista se podría considerar un thriller político-militar situado en un futuro muy cercano. La diferencia es muy sutil, e incluso entendería que alguien no pensara como yo. Por poner un ejemplo por contraste, mientras que Nexus giraba en torno a la parte de ciencia ficción y no tenía sentido sin ella, en The Last Good Man la ciencia ficción es atrezzo.

Mientras que en The Red : First Light Nagata comenzaba la historia con una alegato sobre la maldad intrínseca de una empresa contratista de defensa, en esta ocasión nos muestra la otra cara de la moneda, la existencia de vacíos legales y zonas sin ley en las que la intervención de estos agentes libres es la única posiblilidad que se puede utilizar para rescatar prisioneros secuestrados.

Por desgracia, la historia es muy tópica. True Brighton, la protagonista, es descendiente de una familia de militares pero ahora trabaja para uno de estos contratistas al mejor postor. La compañia para la que trabaja tiene que realizar una "extracción" de prisioneros en una zona peligrosa y se prepara para ello.

Hasta aquí todo normal. La parte más avanzada es la utilización de diversas tecnologías en el campo de batalla, desde drones pilotados por IA a simulacros de animales para introducirse en las defensas. Esta parte si es entretenida, a poco que te interese algo la robótica, pero para esto preferiría leer un ensayo como Wired for War y no una novela.

El hecho de que uno de los personajes sea prácticamente un cyborg, con una mano y un ojo prostético podría haber dado más juego, pero no se estudia en profundidad su relación con los demás a causa de estos cambios en su cuerpo. Se etiqueta como "no apto" para el combate y Santas Pascuas. Demasiado frío y distante como para que nos podamos sentir identificados con él o con otros personajes.

La amenaza que para los profesionales militares representan las inteligencias artificiales y la automatización del proceso de guerra también tienen su reflejo en The Last Good Man pero insisto, le falta profundidad en el tratamiento de los temas, las implicaciones no solo retributivas sino filosóficas serían muchas y de gran calado. Se me ocurre por ejemplo si habría que tener siempre a un humano supervisando las acciones para dar el visto bueno a pesar de ralentizarlas o dejarlo todo el poder de decisión al algoritmo. Pero algo tan trascendental como esto no se investiga, solo se pasa de puntillas.

En definitiva, me he vuelto a llevar una pequeña decepción. Creo que me tendré que poner con The Bohr Maker u otras obras más antiguas de Linda Nagata, que parece que serán más de mi gusto.

This story is set in the near future where technology is a large part of a soldiers pack. Along with drones and automated gun sights war has become even more deadly and violent. True is a former soldier who has left the army to work for a private military company. She is loyal to her fellow workers and when a mission goes bad she risks all to save a friend. This story is pretty violent but with a woman mercenary the story is quite different. Ms. Nagata has written quite a few books that I will look for.

Eight years ago True Brighton was an Army helicopter pilot and her son, Diego, was special operations warrior in a secretive unit called Rogue Lightning. Today, True is Director of Operations for Requisite Operations, a private military contracting firm specializing in providing security, intelligence gathering, developing military robotics, training security people, and hostage rescue. A lot can happen in a minute, let alone eight years. She lost her career as a pilot to artificial intelligence: now most piloting jobs are done by self-flying aircraft. She lost her brave, proud and handsome son to terrorists. While on a mission in Burma with Rogue Lightning Diego was captured, crucified and burned alive. Millions watched it happen online. Scenes of Diego’s last moments come unbidden to True, in dreams, or in daylight, bearing unfathomable grief. For years True has believed that everyone who fought with him, or who tortured and killed him, were dead. Either dead in battle, or killed when Chinese cruise missiles obliterated the Burmese village where he died. But a ghost has arisen after a successful hostage rescue. The intelligence gleaned suggests that Diego‘s Commanding Officer, from the failed Burma mission, is alive. True cannot go back to her life, or her husband, without knowing who “Jon Helm” is, and why he has her son’s name tattooed on his arm. If Helm is Diego’s CO, Shaw Walker, why didn’t he return home? Why has he turned into a sadistic killer? Finding the answers cannot wait.

“The Last Good Man” is the kind of novel that wears out a reviewers supply of superlatives. The storytelling is fantastic. Words like suspenseful and thriller are accurate descriptions! Concise, forward-looking, fast paced and realistic don’t do justice to Ms. Nagata’s work. And the much overused "unputdownable" is barely adequate. Get it, read it twice, you will love it.

I received an advance galley of “The Last Good Man” from Mythic Island Press LLC, and NetGalley in exchange for this review.

In The Last Good Man, Linda Nagata used a brisk and bracing writing style to immerse us into the lives of private military contractors, in the near future. The team, basically moral individuals, work in conjunction with individually guided, robotic weapons and surveillance equipment. If Katheryn Bigelow, the director of Zero Dark Thirty, wrote a speculative fiction novel, it might be something like this. Wasting no words, the story stays right on track, concentrating on army veteran True Brighton as she and her teammates undertake a dangerous mission, which wakes old wounds.
For True, painful memories of her son’s death resurface, while her boss, Lincoln, must come to terms with a past decision he made for the greater good of the unit. True’s anguish and her questions about “right action” are absorbing and affecting. On another level, the story works as speculative fiction, inviting us to consider a future where AI combat replaces human soldiering more and more. The point of direct AI involvement is to spare the lives of soldiers, but as the novel shows, that goal isn’t always as simple as it sounds.

Linda Nagata's latest sees heroine True Brighton, a private military contractor, searching for answers regarding the death of her serviceman son, Diego. Although the matter of Diego's death is considered long-since closed, True learns of important new information following the rescue of several prisoners abducted by terrorists, information that will put her at odds with both her employer and her husband.

The Last Good Man is an excellent near-future military thriller loaded with plenty of cutting edge sci-fi goodness. As expected, following her wonderful military SF trilogy of The Red titles, Nagata skimps on neither the action, nor the high-tech wonders that exist a few meager generations beyond our current military capabilities. The men and women of Requisite Operations have a slew of neat toys at their disposal, including animal-based biomimetic hardware -- surveillance drones that mimic worms, beetle-like cameras, and "roaches" equipped with ordinance -- and cybernetic prosthetic devices.

The issue of robotics in military applications is certainly an interesting one, and Nagata raises plenty of questions over the role of human soldiers in the coming decades as technology grows more advanced and proliferates even further. Also at stake is how much trust we want to place in private military contractors, and if such technological capabilities will perhaps erase any boundaries between PMCs and sovereign states.

This is all heady stuff, to be sure, but the primary focus of the story is on the human component. The core of the book is True herself, and her need for answers about her son's death, regardless of the personal cost to her. She's emotionally wounded, but she's also a trained professional, which makes her a walking bit of conflict all its own, and Nagata uses this too excellent effect. There were a few times where I doubted True's actions and worried about her safety and imminent betrayals, even as I rooted for her to succeed.

The Last Good Man delivers all the right action throughout, offering plenty of adrenaline fueled military theatrics and a few surprising twists, in addition to a thought-provoking narrative that makes this an awesome read in all respects.