Six High Tech Heists That Defy the Odds - Reactor

Former art thief Maya Hashimoto is DEFINITELY retired. That is, until an old associate convinces her to try to retrieve a powerful artifact no one’s seen in a lifetime, in a space race against other groups who would possess and use the artifact in terrible ways. Coming to terms with the needs and intentions of her colleagues—from her old traveling companion Auncle, and retired soldier Wil, to Liam, her former academic advisor—means weighing the possible impacts of the artifact that she seeks. In this book, the tech elements are setting and plot: the grail itself creates and sustains the portals that connect the universe, and Maya must thread her way through the odds to save what she loves in this anti-colonialist space heist.

Case, a burnt-out hacker; Molly, a high-tech razorgirl; and Rivera, a sociopathic addict and thief, are the team put together by a shadowy ex-military man to steal a series of things in exchange for their lives and freedom.  In order to get close to their target, they have to break into an orbital stronghold, then hack into the computer that controls it, through layers of impossible odds. When they find out what they’re really stealing, and who for, the odds seem even more impossible. But that, and the incredible cast of characters, make this heist-run even more compelling, even on the repeat read.  

While you might not think of this high-stakes negotiation novelette as a heist, I view it as a negotiation hack—Mallory Ijheji, a renowned finder-of-things, must outwit other similarly talented professionals in order to acquire a Quath Puzzle Box for an employer. If she does so, she gets to watch—and perhaps even possess—the one immersive film that’s eluded her obsessive quest to complete her viewing collection. The path to her success is a well-planned strategy for overcoming the odds; the failures in that strategy mean that Mallory has to rely on her wits, and not just on the coercive power of the deals she’s making. The tech in this story is the air it breathes—this is a cyber-byzantium filled with still-biologocials—but in the end, what matters most is what the heart wants. The combination makes for a great intellectual heist, from a certain perspective.

You definitely know the movie, and in the novel adaptation, Alexander Freed expands upon the motivations, trials, and regrets of Jyn Erso, Galen Erso, and Cassian Andor as they fight against the all-powerful Empire. Jyn’s an outcast’s outcast, until she becomes the key to saving the world. To get there, she and her team have to overcome impossible odds not only once, but repeatedly. Jyn’s willingness to go for it—battling to get the right codes, passwords, and communications links to get the message out, no matter the cost—and the fact that she doesn’t lose hope in the midst of failure and loss is just one of the things I love about this book, and the movie.

Ingray Aughskold retrieves a thief from a prison planet in order to get them to steal something even more important to her—family heirlooms that will help secure her future in the family. But the provenance of these heirlooms, and much more of Ingray’s family history—including what is real and what is not—is cast in doubt. Set at the edge of the networked consciousness-laced world of the Imperial Radch, the underlying tech of this story is, in a sense, historical data—often in the form of memorabilia—that underpins all of the local society (and acts as its codebase). The loss of this data, or the destabilization thereof, has immense power over the success or failure of the society (I find this fascinating, especially these days.) Against all odds, Ingray and her team must sort truth from fakery in order to save much more than her ambitions—her own identity is at stake.

Featuring a courier with a secret past, an ironic teen A.I. in training, and a universe where assassins seem to outnumber potential targets (sometimes), Will Alexander’s glorious first adult novel Sunward begins with a murder mystery when an unexpected rescue mission goes awry. It soon unfolds into a space opera of highest order, as our courier, who’s been running from her family’s political drama for much of her life, and her team must steal back what they most value, the security of their found family, in order to help the young AI in their care to heal AND save the universe. The tech in this wonderful, cozy novel is all around the characters—it is a space opera, after all—but it’s the connections between humans and bots that weave an elevated understanding of consciousness and identity throughout.