From the author of Planetside, a Best Book of 2018 (Library Journal) A military legend is caught in the web between alien intrigue and human subterfuge… Forced into retirement, he has resettled on Talca Four where he’s now Deputy VP of Corporate Security, protecting a high-tech military company on the corporate battlefield—at least, that’s what the job description says. Really, he’s just there to impress clients and investors. It’s all relatively low risk—until he’s entrusted with new orders. A breach of a competitor’s computer network has Butler’s superiors feeling every bit as vulnerable. They need Butler to find who did it, how, and why no one’s taken credit for the ingenious attack.
As accustomed as Butler is to the reality of wargames—virtual and otherwise—this one screams something louder than a simple hack. Because no sooner does he start digging when his first contact is murdered, the death somehow kept secret from the media. As a prime suspect, he can’t shake the sensation he’s being watched…or finally succumbing to the stress of his past. Paranoid delusion or dangerous reality, Butler might be onto something much deeper than anyone imagined. But that’s where Butler thrives.
If he hasn’t signed his own death warrant.
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A tough, authentic-feeling story that starts out fast and accelerates from there.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both books in this series so far and hope there are more to come. Fun sudsy space operatic adventure.
In a worthy sequel to his excellent novel, Planetside, Mammay picks up the story of Colonel Carl Butler a couple of years after he saved humanity by committing a genocidal act against the alien, Cappa. About half of humans believe him to be a hero for this act and the other half despises him as a mass murderer. The fallout cost him his career in the military, his marriage, and his ability to sleep through the night. Now he has a good job as a security consultant for a major corporation but he doesn’t appear to be happy. He’s just going through the motions when his CEO hands him a special assignment out of the blue—find out how a rival corporation’s computer network was hacked. Unfortunately, somebody doesn’t want Carl to find the answer to that question and they’re willing to kill people to keep him from doing so.
There’s a complex mystery at the base of this novel and frankly I don’t have any idea how Carl figured out how to uncover it. I don’t think there was any time in this book when I would have known what the next step to take should have been. That doesn’t mean that the author was playing unfair with me, I just couldn’t have solved this mystery. And such an enticing mystery it is intertwining corporate espionage, military and civilian politics, and the remnants of a nearly exterminated alien species, Carl once again has to sift the best possible decisions to make out of a host of clearly wrong answers. So hold onto your seat because Spaceside will take you on a truly wild ride. I just hope there’s going to be another sequel.
If you enjoyed Butler at his Butler-est in Planetside, you’re going to love Spaceside! Now retired from the army, and trying to come to terms with what he did on Cappa, Butler is thrown into a world of corporate espionage. With some really nice twists and turns, and Butler’s fantastic voice, Spaceside is just as exciting as Planetside, with an added chunk of retrospection that makes it a refreshing sequel instead of just another copy/paste adventure. And my favorites, Plazz and Ganos, return for fun and banter, too!
A fast-paced tale of military investigation that reads like a blend of Jerry Pournelle and NCIS. Michael Mammay brings an exciting and authentic voice of experience to military science fiction.
In Planetside Mammay mixes a brevity of prose with feeling of authenticity that would be remarkable in many experienced authors, let alone in a debut novel. Definitely the best military sci-fi debut I’ve come across in a while.
Not just for military SF fans — although military SF fans will love it — Planetside is an amazing debut novel, and I’m looking forward to what Mammay writes next.
Planetside is a smart and fast-paced blend of mystery and boots-in-the-dirt military SF that reads like a high-speed collision between Courage Under Fire and Heart of Darkness.