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John Simon #2
The Sideman
Terrorists are threatening Kansas City…
...and Detectives John Simon and Lucas George must stop them.
Only Lucas is the first android graduate of the KCPD Academy…
...and some other cops don’t trust him.
Worse, bodies are piling up, including fellow cops and friends…
Simon’s daughter’s friend’s father might know their identity…
...if only Simon can get him to talk before it’s too late.
The grittiness and suspense of Bosch meets the buddy cop action and humor of Lethal Weapon…
…a series one reader called “so good you’ll miss your bus stop but never complain.”
Get your next pageturning read now.
From the Hugo-nominated editor of Andy Weir’s The Martian, national bestselling author Bryan Thomas Schmidt.
“John Simon is every bit as compelling a character as those who inspired him, and in some aspects Schmidt even does them one better. The dialogue is snappy and the descriptions engrossing as he paints a picture of ‘tomorrow’s’ Kansas City. I for one enjoyed the hell out of it!”–Dayton Ward, New York Times bestselling author of 24: Trial by Fire, and Star Trek: In The Name of Honor.
“Lightning in a bottle. Action-packed. Stuffed to overflowing with big ideas. And the coolest damned robot since a certain Goldenrod took centre stage 42 years ago.” – Steven Savile, International bestselling author of Glass Town, Silver, and One Man’s War.
“Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s new book Simon Says is the perfect example of staying true to your genre and ‘dancing with the one that brung you’ while stretching out and adding something fresh and exciting to the typical fare.” — Hank Garner, Author Stories
“I couldn’t put it down–it was like one long action scene that never stopped. Gritty all the way through. With moments of affection, empathy, family dynamics and a relentless pursuit of accurate police procedures, it doesn’t let up!”—Paul Knox, Author of Behind Open Eyes.
...and Detectives John Simon and Lucas George must stop them.
Only Lucas is the first android graduate of the KCPD Academy…
...and some other cops don’t trust him.
Worse, bodies are piling up, including fellow cops and friends…
Simon’s daughter’s friend’s father might know their identity…
...if only Simon can get him to talk before it’s too late.
The grittiness and suspense of Bosch meets the buddy cop action and humor of Lethal Weapon…
…a series one reader called “so good you’ll miss your bus stop but never complain.”
Get your next pageturning read now.
From the Hugo-nominated editor of Andy Weir’s The Martian, national bestselling author Bryan Thomas Schmidt.
“John Simon is every bit as compelling a character as those who inspired him, and in some aspects Schmidt even does them one better. The dialogue is snappy and the descriptions engrossing as he paints a picture of ‘tomorrow’s’ Kansas City. I for one enjoyed the hell out of it!”–Dayton Ward, New York Times bestselling author of 24: Trial by Fire, and Star Trek: In The Name of Honor.
“Lightning in a bottle. Action-packed. Stuffed to overflowing with big ideas. And the coolest damned robot since a certain Goldenrod took centre stage 42 years ago.” – Steven Savile, International bestselling author of Glass Town, Silver, and One Man’s War.
“Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s new book Simon Says is the perfect example of staying true to your genre and ‘dancing with the one that brung you’ while stretching out and adding something fresh and exciting to the typical fare.” — Hank Garner, Author Stories
“I couldn’t put it down–it was like one long action scene that never stopped. Gritty all the way through. With moments of affection, empathy, family dynamics and a relentless pursuit of accurate police procedures, it doesn’t let up!”—Paul Knox, Author of Behind Open Eyes.
492 pages, Hardcover
Published February 10, 2020
About the author
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
46 books151 followersBryan Thomas Schmidt is a national bestselling author and Hugo nominated editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His fourth novel, Simon Says is a page-turning near future thriller. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. His children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Books For Kids and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Land Of Legends appeared from Delabarre Publishing in 2012. His short stories have appeared in Tales of The Talisman, Straight Outta Tombstone, The X-Files: Secret Agendas, Predator: If It Bleeds, Decision Points and many more.
He edited the anthologies Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day, Shattered Shields with coeditor Jennifer Brozek (Baen, 2014), Mission: Tomorrow (Baen, 2015), Galactic Games (Baen, 2016), Decision Points (WordFire, 2016), Little Green Men--Attack! with Robin Wayne Bailey (Baen, 2017), Monster Hunter Files with Larry Correia (Baen, 2017), Joe Ledger: Unstoppable with Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin, 2017), Predator: If It Bleeds and Infinite Stars And Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers both for Titan Books, 2017 and 2019.
As editor, he has edited books for Grail Quest Books, Wordfire Press, Delabarre Publishing and authors including Andy Weir's The Martian which hit number 6 on the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014, Alan Dean Foster, Mike Resnick, Frank Herbert, Todd McCaffrey, Tracy Hickman, Angie Fox, Leon C. Metz , Ellen C. Maze, David Mark Brown, and more.
He’s also the author of the bestselling nonfiction book How To Write A Novel: The Fundamentals of Fiction.
Bryan can be found online at Facebook, on Twitter as @BryanThomasS and @sffwrtcht and via his website.
He edited the anthologies Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day, Shattered Shields with coeditor Jennifer Brozek (Baen, 2014), Mission: Tomorrow (Baen, 2015), Galactic Games (Baen, 2016), Decision Points (WordFire, 2016), Little Green Men--Attack! with Robin Wayne Bailey (Baen, 2017), Monster Hunter Files with Larry Correia (Baen, 2017), Joe Ledger: Unstoppable with Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Griffin, 2017), Predator: If It Bleeds and Infinite Stars And Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers both for Titan Books, 2017 and 2019.
As editor, he has edited books for Grail Quest Books, Wordfire Press, Delabarre Publishing and authors including Andy Weir's The Martian which hit number 6 on the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2014, Alan Dean Foster, Mike Resnick, Frank Herbert, Todd McCaffrey, Tracy Hickman, Angie Fox, Leon C. Metz , Ellen C. Maze, David Mark Brown, and more.
He’s also the author of the bestselling nonfiction book How To Write A Novel: The Fundamentals of Fiction.
Bryan can be found online at Facebook, on Twitter as @BryanThomasS and @sffwrtcht and via his website.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 28, 2020
I love this series
I requested an ARC of this book because I enjoyed the first book in the series, Simon Says, so much. I was not disappointed. How could I not love the android policeman Lucas George who tries to fit in with humans by wisecracking lines from buddy cop movies and series? And his human police partner John Simon is believable, gritty, and real.
In this book Lucas George has graduated the police academy, and is now working with a training officer. Trainee Officer George gets into some serious hot water when he uses his perfect android targeting skills to make an impossible shot; anyone else — any human — would’ve been putting the public at risk. Officer George is put on leave, until internal affairs decides what’s to do with him. Meanwhile a terrorist attack risk starts to shadow the city and both John Simon and his partner, unofficially of course, become more and more deeply involved in stopping the threat before thousands, if not tens of thousands of people are blown to smithereens.
The author ups the stakes here and the sequel is even better than the first book in the series. Chase scenes, edge of your seat adventure, and a slightly futuristic tone all combined to make this book unforgettable. I can’t wait for book three in the series.
I requested an ARC of this book because I enjoyed the first book in the series, Simon Says, so much. I was not disappointed. How could I not love the android policeman Lucas George who tries to fit in with humans by wisecracking lines from buddy cop movies and series? And his human police partner John Simon is believable, gritty, and real.
In this book Lucas George has graduated the police academy, and is now working with a training officer. Trainee Officer George gets into some serious hot water when he uses his perfect android targeting skills to make an impossible shot; anyone else — any human — would’ve been putting the public at risk. Officer George is put on leave, until internal affairs decides what’s to do with him. Meanwhile a terrorist attack risk starts to shadow the city and both John Simon and his partner, unofficially of course, become more and more deeply involved in stopping the threat before thousands, if not tens of thousands of people are blown to smithereens.
The author ups the stakes here and the sequel is even better than the first book in the series. Chase scenes, edge of your seat adventure, and a slightly futuristic tone all combined to make this book unforgettable. I can’t wait for book three in the series.
January 25, 2020
No "sophomore slump" for the second book in the John Simon Thrillers series from Bryan Thomas Schmidt. If anything, this second book is even more tightly plotted and faster paced than the first ("Simon Says") without sacrificing intimate moments and character development. Schmidt does an excellent job of portraying how advances in technology spur social change as well, with android Lucas George poised to be the first non-human cop in KCPD while still being held to human proficiency standards.
The sub-plot involving Simon's ex-wife's bi-polar illness is sensitively handled and not approached as a "done in one." This is a sub-plot that will continue to have effects through future books, I'm sure, as bi-polar diagnoses and care do in real life.
The stakes also seemed higher this book than the last, and I wonder if the stakes are going to continue escalating throughout the series or (as I hope) the author will alternate what is clearly meant to be the series' arc with books that are about "regular" cases.
Schmidt also clearly did his research again on Kansas City and its various business and recreational attractions as well as police procedures. Every location and chase scene feels completely authentic.
The sub-plot involving Simon's ex-wife's bi-polar illness is sensitively handled and not approached as a "done in one." This is a sub-plot that will continue to have effects through future books, I'm sure, as bi-polar diagnoses and care do in real life.
The stakes also seemed higher this book than the last, and I wonder if the stakes are going to continue escalating throughout the series or (as I hope) the author will alternate what is clearly meant to be the series' arc with books that are about "regular" cases.
Schmidt also clearly did his research again on Kansas City and its various business and recreational attractions as well as police procedures. Every location and chase scene feels completely authentic.
February 23, 2020
Just finished The Sideman, Book 2 in the John Simon Series and I liked it even more than Book 1 (Simon Says).
Master Detective John Simon and the android Lucas George are back and this time they are tracking down terrorists planning an attack on Kansas City. Bryan Thomas Schmidt takes his near future sci-fi thriller/police procedural series to the next level, weaving personal character stories through an intense action filled plot. If you like Bosch series and the Lethal Weapon movies you will love this series and book.
Master Detective John Simon and the android Lucas George are back and this time they are tracking down terrorists planning an attack on Kansas City. Bryan Thomas Schmidt takes his near future sci-fi thriller/police procedural series to the next level, weaving personal character stories through an intense action filled plot. If you like Bosch series and the Lethal Weapon movies you will love this series and book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews