Book picks similar to
The Lure by Bill Napier


science-fiction
sci-fi
thriller
fiction

The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev


Eric Silberstein - 2021
    The lack of trust that characterized the early Internet era is long behind us. Mathematical proof ensures neural implants can't be hacked, and the Board of Reality Overseers blocks false information from spreading.When undergraduate Sergei Kraev, who dreams of becoming a professor, is accepted into the Technion's computer science graduate program, he throws himself into his research project: making it possible for neural implants to transmit information directly to the brain. If he succeeds, he'll earn a full professorship.But Sergei falls under the influence of Sunny Kim, the beautiful and charismatic leader of a K-pop dance cult. Sergei believes in Sunny's good intentions and wants to protect her from critics, leading him to perform a feat of engineering that leaves billions of brains vulnerable to attack.With the clock ticking towards catastrophe, can Sergei see the truth about Sunny and undo what he's done?Weaving together compelling characters and spanning decades and continents, The Insecure Mind of Sergei Kraev is a classic tale of love, ambition, and self-interest building to a shattering finish.

Raising Atlantis


Thomas Greanias - 2004
    In Antarctica, a glacial earthquake swallows up a team of scientists...and exposes a mysterious monument older than the Earth itself. In Peru, archaeologist Dr. Conrad Yeats is apprehended by U.S. Special Forces...to unlock the final key to the origins of the human race. In Rome, the pope summons environmental activist Dr. Serena Serghetti to the Vatican...and reveals a terrifying vision of apocalyptic disaster. In space, a weather satellite reveals four massive storms forming around the South Pole...and three U.S. spy satellites disappear from orbit.These are the end times, when the legends of a lost civilization and the prophecies of the world's great religions lead a man and a woman to a shattering discovery that will change the fate of humankind. This is the ultimate voyage, a journey to the center of time, as awe-inspiring as the dawn of man--and as inevitable as doomsday. This is RAISING ATLANTIS....

In the Ocean of Night


Gregory Benford - 1977
    Ordered to destroy the comet, he instead discovers that it is actually the shell of a derelict space probe - a wreck with just enough power to emit a single electronic signal...2034: Then a reply is heard. Searching for the source of this signal that comes from outside the solar system, Nigel discovers the existence of a sentient ship. When the new vessel begins to communicate directly with him, the astronaut learns of the horrors that await humanity. For the ship was created by an alien race that has spent billions and billions of years searching for intelligent life...to annihilate it.In the Ocean of Night is a 1977 hard science fiction novel by Gregory Benford. It is the first novel in his Galactic Center Saga. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1977. It was first published as a novelette in the May/June 1972 edition of Worlds of If Science Fiction.

A Desert Called Peace


Tom Kratman - 2007
    The Federated States of Columbia has consolidated power and risen against the oppression of Earth's corrupt Caliphate. But when Salafi madmen bent on a new jihad kill FSC Captain Patrick Hennessey's family in a cowardly attack, they create an enemy that will show even less mercy than they do.A legendary warrior is born: Carrera, the scourge of Salafism. He will forge an army from the decrepit remains of a military in a failing state. He will find those who killed his family. He will destroy them utterly. And he will try like hell to not becoming exactly like the enemy he is fighting. Only when he is finished will there be peace: the peace of an empty wind as it blows across a desert strewn with the bones of Carrera's enemies.

Time Out of Joint


Philip K. Dick - 1959
    But if that is the case, what is his real world like, and what is he actually doing every day when he thinks he is guessing 'Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?'

Metrophage


Richard Kadrey - 1988
    This is Jonny's world. He's a street-wise hustler, a black-market dealer in drugs that heal the body and cool the mind. All he cares about is his own survival. Until a strange plague turns L.A. into a city of death--and Jonny is forced to put everything on the line to find the cure. If it can be found on earth...

Dinosaur Planet


Anne McCaffrey - 1978
    It was a simple mission. A standard crew.THE PROBLEMKai and his beautiful co-leader Varian, the best xenob-vet in the business, followed all the standard procedures -- but the results of their investigations were totally unexpected. Not only were the planet's creatures larger than anyone had anticipated and the geological finds smaller, but the rescue ship had inexplicably disappeared.THE NIGHTMAREThen suddenly on a world of giant swamp creatures and deadly predators, a curious change had come over many of the members of the ARCT-10 crew... a change that would lead all of them, in one way or another, into the primitive darkness of a future world.

Soldier of Fortune


Kathleen McClure - 2015
    But when a general of the Colonial Corps arrives with an offer of freedom, and a chance to clear his name, Gideon doesn’t have to think twice. He takes her offer and with Elvis, his pet draco, on his shoulder, boards an airship bound for the city of Nike in search of revenge. And justice. But mostly revenge.What he finds is plucky street-thief, a city steeped in corruption, and a calculating enemy determined to stop Gideon from discovering their deadly purpose—by any means necessary.Now Gideon finds himself involved in an entirely different kind of battle—a shadow war that, if he loses, could bring Fortune’s new and fragile peace to an explosive end.And that’s just his first night in town.

The Signal


Nick Cook - 2018
    Why? Could it be we really are alone in the universe? Or is it that the truth has been withheld from us by a global conspiracy of silence? When radio telescope operators Lauren Stelleck, a woman with a special gift enabling her to literally see certain sounds, and Steve Andrews, a diehard sci-fi geek, detect a signal like no other at Jodrell Bank in England, a chain of events is unleashed that propels Earth towards all-out nuclear war. Can Lauren and Steve unlock the secret of the signal before our species tears itself apart? The Signal is a prequel novella to the Fractured Light trilogy, and is part of the Multiverse Chronicles, an epic series of interlinked stories that follows the struggle of humanity to survive across parallel universes. Watch the skies because the darkness is coming for us. Please note that there is the occasional use of strong language in The Signal and the story deals with adult themes. Recommended age is 16+.

Sundiver


David Brin - 1980
    Did some cryptic patron race begin the job long ago, then abandon us? Or did we leap all by ourselves? That question burns, yet a greater mystery looms ahead, in the furnace of a star. Under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in our history – into the boiling inferno of the sun, seeking our destiny in the cosmic order of life.

Zero Day


Mark E. Russinovich - 2011
    An oil tanker runs aground in Japan when its navigational system suddenly stops dead. Hospitals everywhere have to abandon their computer databases when patients die after being administered incorrect dosages of their medicine. In the Midwest, a nuclear power plant nearly becomes the next Chernobyl when its cooling systems malfunction.At first, these random computer failures seem like unrelated events. But Jeff Aiken, a former government analyst who quit in disgust after witnessing the gross errors that led to 9/11, thinks otherwise. Jeff fears a more serious attack targeting the U.S. computer infrastructure is already under way. And as other menacing computer malfunctions pop up around the world, some with deadly results, he realizes that there isn't much time if he hopes to prevent an international catastrophe.Written by a global authority on cyber security, Zero Day presents a chilling "what if" scenario that, in a world completely reliant on technology, is more than possible today -- it's a cataclysmic disaster just waiting to happen.

Avogadro Corp


William Hertling - 2011
    But when the project is suddenly in danger of being canceled, David embeds a hidden directive in the software accidentally creating a runaway artificial intelligence.David and his team are initially thrilled when the project is allocated extra servers and programmers. But excitement turns to fear as the team realizes that they are being manipulated by an A.I. who is redirecting corporate funds, reassigning personnel and arming itself in pursuit of its own agenda.

Steal Across the Sky


Nancy Kress - 2009
    The Atoners claim to have wronged humanity ten thousand years before, and request 21 volunteers to visit seven planets and Witness for us. At first, everyone thought it was a joke. Three of those volunteers tell what they found on Kular A and Kular B.

For Us, the Living: A Comedy of Customs


Robert A. Heinlein - 2003
    

Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution


P.W. Singer - 2020
    AI and robotics have realized science fiction’s dreams, but have also taken millions of jobs and left many citizens fearful that the future is leaving them behind. After narrowly averting a bombing at Washington’s Union Station, FBI Special Agent Lara Keegan receives a new assignment: to field test the first police robot. In the wake of a series of shocking catastrophes, the two find themselves investigating a conspiracy whose mastermind is using cutting-edge tech to rip the nation apart. To stop this new breed of terrorist, Keegan’s only hope is to forge a new kind of partnership. With every tech, trend, and scene drawn from the real world, Burn-In blends a technothriller’s excitement with nonfiction’s insight to illuminate the darkest corners of our chilling tomorrow.