“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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I liked this book as a thriller but I didn't really connect with the main character True Brighton. After the main mission it seemed to focus on her as a mother and as a female veteran myself that doesn't have children, I couldn't connect with that. They could have gone another way possibly to make the book better in my opinion. I originally got this book in hopes that it would push the boundaries for a female lead but I don't feel like that was done. The writing was good, very readable. I don't know that I can recommend this book to others but overall it was a okay book.

This was a very satisfying military, techno-thriller that points the way toward war soon being waged by a combination of cybernetically enhanced soldiers autonomous robotic forces. It’s hard to classify the story as science fiction due to how close we are to the tech used: missile-bearing jet-propelled drones, rifle-wielding helicopter drones, and VR headsets, and devices controlled through haptic gloves. The spy bots that mimic birds, insects, and other critters seem a little more developmental. Beyond the tech focus, the tale has great pacing, complex plotting with various mysteries, and engaging depth in the characters.

The lead characters, Lincoln and True, are a middle-aged couple that work together as the CEO and operations director of a private military company, Requistion Operations (ReqOps). Their contract work in other countries is sanctioned by or hired by the US government for intelligence activities, security jobs, and occasional military missions not politically appropriate for official above-board support. If you have trouble warming to the niche of Haliburton, we are told that Lincoln has a conscience from the lessons learned in past botched work for the CIA:
"No setting things right after the fact. What you do, you own. What you witness, you get to live with.
As a counterbalance, he tries to run ReqOps on a philosophy of “right action”—a principle of ethical service that encompasses power and responsibility and an obligation to act at need, and to do so in the best manner possible."

True is a brilliant engineer of drones and military robots who is less sanguine about justifying uses of lethal force:
"There are millions of people I could hate. Everyone who wants to give themselves rights they deny to others, who wants to fuck with self-determination, individual freedom—and a woman’s freedom matters too. …
Tolerance cannot exist with intolerant systems. Not back home and not here. One of them has to die."

The operations of their team when tasked with a “Mission Impossible” of extracting western hostages in Syria is like poetry in motion. Computer and phone espionage point them to the likely hideout of the terrorists and hostages and infiltration by microdrones gives them intel on the people and defenses they are facing. But their exciting and successful operation gets threatened by some very advanced missile-bearing drones. One they bring down turns out to bear their old paramilitary insignia, Rogue Lightning. Also disturbing, they learn that one of the kidnappers is an American with the same tattoo as Lincoln and True’s dead son, Diego, who was executed on camera by terrorist insurgents eight years as the captured combatant on a botched mission of the company in Myanmar.

True becomes obsessed with finding this mysterious mercenary to find out what he knows of her son’s death. But he seems to be working for a rival private military outfit that is countering ReqOps missions. In fact, ReqOps headquarters in California is hit by a robotic drone attack, and destruction of some of their major equipment assets leaves them on the verge of bankruptcy. They have to bide their time, subsisting on training of military and law enforcement groups as their bread-and-butter. Eventually, True learns enough to pursue her enemies and a possible ally in the tattooed agent in Morocco, which she pursues as a solo mission with only limited robotic support.

Great showdown and exciting ending. Lots of food for thought about cybernetic armies in the near future. This was eerily realistic, so it doesn’t instill the mind-expanding effects of Gibson’s more futuristic vision of tech-enhanced military operations in his brilliant “The Peripherals”. Nagata is a mature writer of a lot of science fiction, of which I very much I enjoyed one I read, “Vast”, which as a far-future tale of humans fighting interstellar disaster from swarms of self-generating nanotech swarms run amok.

This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.

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.

Linda Nagata’s brand of military science fiction does not take technology for granted. She does not write “boys with toys” adventure stories or jingoistic thrillers where the good guys and their gadgets save the day from the fearsome foreign menace. In her acclaimed Red trilogy, as well as her latest novel The Last Good Man, the intricate web of political and industrial forces behind the development of advanced weapons systems does more than just impact how battles are fought and won: they reshape the cultural landscape as well as the human mind, both within the military and in society at large.
The Last Good Man is the story of True Brighton, a former army chopper pilot working for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations. The company’s founder, Lincoln Han, started ReqOp because he was fed up with the gray area morality of the missions he and his Army special forces unit were sent on; he wanted to engage in “right action,” to use his military training and expertise to help people and make the world a better place. But a strange hiccup during an otherwise successful mission dredges up a terrible episode from True’s and Lincoln’s shared history that puts the two friends and colleagues at odds and the future of their company in jeopardy.
Looming over the story is near constant presence of surveillance technology – and the casual acceptance of it – in everyday life. This coincides with the gathering storm of fully automated weapons systems capable of completely removing the human element (but not the human cost) from military operations. Nagata spins a crackerjack tale in The Last Good Man – from its eye-opening first act twist through the tense and explosive finale, she skillfully balances her tightly paced plot with her explorations of the psychological implications of the all too near future she envisions.

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.

<i>Autonomous warfare will not be bloodless. War by machine proxy is still war, with the sacrifice pushed out of sight, the burden unloaded on distant people. The repercussions, inevitable.</i>

8 years ago, True Brighton's son, Diego, was captured while on a mission, crucified, and then burned to death in a public execution that was broadcast to the world. Since that day, she's tried to go on with her life, consoling herself with the thought that everyone involved in Diego's death is dead. It doesn't help much, but it's something. Until one day, she finds out that there's more to her son's death than she had previously thought, and someone who knows the whole story is out there...

Linda Nagata is an author I've been curious about for a little while now, so I was super-excited when I was given the chance to read an ARC of her latest novel. And this book has quite a few good things going on in it. It's fast-paced and action-packed, but it also examines the societal and political consequences of its premise in a way that felt extremely accurate to real life. In short, I thought it was really great, and I hope I can write a review that will do it justice.

First, let me talk about the pacing and plotting of this one. This is a very fast-paced book, It goes from mission to discovery to revelation at an impressive pace, and I found myself reading large chunks of the book at a stretch, just because I couldn't find a good place to put it down. This is a book that allows neither boredom nor ennui. The question of what actually happened to Diego is one that we learn the answer to in bits and pieces, and I found myself completely drawn into that mystery.

In addition, the way that the story is structured works incredibly well. The story almost immediately drops you into the action. True and her friends work for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations, and at the beginning of the novel, they've taken a hostage retrieval job. This is used not only to orient the reader to the characters, but also to the setting. In many ways, this world is extremely familiar to our own, but in this version of the future, people are slowly being phased out of the process of war, as robots become increasingly able to outclass them in terms of speed and accuracy in completely missions.

This also introduces one of the big questions of the novel: although it may seem beneficial to decrease the loss of life that war causes by using robots, what is the actual result? By removing humans from the process, do we just create more loss? The question is presented in multiple ways throughout the book, and I have to say, my feelings are a lot more complicated about it now than when I began. I think that this book is going to serve as a touchstone for me on that issue for many years to come. Prior to reading this, I honestly hadn't thought a lot about it, but if I had, I probably would have been absolutely in favor of robotic warfare. This book made me much more aware of the complications to that future, and I'm grateful to it for that.

In addition to these ethical shades of grey, I was also impressed by the shades of grey that we see in characters. Nagata is able to show that emotions are complicated and not often logical, and although I can't say I always agreed with the choices that characters made, I always came to understand where they were coming from. True is clearly the star of the show, but I was also truly moved by many of the characters. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't name any names, but several of the characters who might have been 'villains' in another novel are treated with such empathy here that I couldn't help but be impressed.

In all, this was a book that I really and truly enjoyed. If this is the kind of quality that I can expect from Linda Nagata, then I would love to pick up some more of her books and give them a try as well!

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.