If you like high tech, as I do, this is a very addictive book. It shows a great team solving real problems, using not-yet-available but credible future technology. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if 3D scanning and printing ever manage to work at the molecular or atomic level, you’ll enjoy this book. Similarly, if you’ve ever pondered the implications of the transporter beam in Star Trek, this book details how such a beam might be enhanced to be even more useful. Similarly, if you’ve wondered where artificial intelligence might take us eventually, this book does a great joy of describing how that might play out, both in peace and in war.

The detailed descriptions throughout the book of exactly what environmental pollution in our oceans and on land might need cleaning makes me wish this technology really were already available for cleaning up such problems.

It was a real joy reading about a truly effective team, and how they worked together toward a worthy goal far beyond merely earning a salary. There was plenty of humor along the way, and each character fleshed out well enough that I actually cared about them, and would enjoy them as friends. Even the bad guys and their motivations are credibly described.

The book includes some violence and some adult topics, but mostly handled gently enough for either adult or teen readers. There is an admirable avoidance of current partisan politics and divisive culture war content. Like the portrayal of Lt. Uhura and Commander Checkof as just part of the bridge crew in the original Star Trek, this book optimistically assumes some hot button issues will eventually no longer require special attention or comment.

The one thing currently missing from the book is an explanation of how one woman managed to develop and fund the AI and scanning technology she already has when she first meets her future team at the start of the book. When I mentioned that in a message to the author, he assured me that will be explained in a future volume of this new series.

I will be looking forward to those future volumes.

Full disclosure: I first heard about this book via a Facebook ad, and was offered a free pre-release copy in return for an honest review. I do not know the author, apart from a few electronic messages back and forth about the few typos still being cleaned up prior to the official release of this book.  

Man in the Middle