I do not understand why more people aren’t talking about CBS’s crime drama, Scorpion. Funny, smart and quick, it’s one of the best serial crime shows on TV right now. Which is not something I say lightly. Scorpion combines thrilling action with whip-smart characters and a cast that’s both charming and fun. It’s like an ensemble version of Sherlock.
The show stars Elyes Gabel as Walter O’Brien, a hacking genius with an IQ of 197. He’s based on the real life Walter O’Brien, who claims to have hacked into NASA servers when he was only 13 years old. On the show, Walter and his buddies get recruited to help out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Together they form Scorpion, a high-tech team that solves crimes using their collective (and quirky!) genius. Throw in Katharine McPhee as a waitress with a genius son of her own – and a crush on Walter – and you’ve got a winning combination. Don’t believe me? Check out the season 1 trailer yourself:
Season 2 takes the focus slightly away from Walter and allows his teammates to shine as well, which is awesome. I can’t get enough of the brilliant psychiatrist Toby Curtis and his love for fellow teammate and mechanical engineer, Happy Quinn. They rival Walter and McPhee’s Paige for sheer adorableness. The end of season 2 left a lot of things up and the air, but if these couples don’t figure it out in season 3, I might riot. Unfortunately, I still have months to go before I’ll find out what becomes of Walter and the gang. While we all wait it out, here are four Scorpion-themed books that I’ll be adding to my to-be-read-pile ASAP:
Hard Love, Meredith Wild (Forever Publishing, 2015)
Wild’s Hacker series is insanely popular, and I totally get why. Book one, Hardwired, introduces us to startup founder Erica, who falls hard for billionaire and secret former hacker, Blake. In Hard Love, the fifth and final book in the series, Erica and Blake are finally married and happy. But then his past comes back to haunt them, threatening everything they’ve built together. This series is perfect for fans – like me! – who are obsessed with Scorpion’s more romantic storylines.
Almost Mortal, Christopher Leibig (Koehler Books, May 1, 2016)
If Scorpion teaches you anything, it’s that genius comes in many forms. In Leibig’s legal thriller, it comes in the form of Sam Young, a criminal defense attorney who also has some secret psychic abilities. He might be in over his head when he takes the case of a young, beautiful nun named Camille, who needs his help finding a serial killer. Now his powers are increasing, the mysteries are building, and Camille might be hiding some dark secrets. If you like thrillers that combine smarts with paranormal elements, then Almost Mortal is the book for you.
Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker, Kevin Mitnick (Back Bay Books, 2012)
Maybe one of the most famous hacking books around, Ghost in the Wires is a nonfiction account of Kevin Mitnick’s cyber-terrorist activities. Mitnick spent years hacking into the world’s biggest companies and always staying one step ahead of the FBI. This books details how he did it, and how his cat-and-mouse games with authorities changed the way we think of cyber security today. The Scorpion team would definitely be proud. Not of the rule breaking, but definitely of the skills.
Shadowed, Karen E. Olson (Severn House Publishers, June 15, 2016)
This is the second novel in Olson’s Nicole Jones Mystery series, focused on an expert female hacker named Nicole. Only she doesn’t go by Nicole Jones anymore; for the sake of anonymity and a quiet life, Nicole has changed her named to Susan McQueen and ‘retired’ to a remote island in Canada. But her past isn’t that easy to shake, and one day she realizes she has a ‘shadow,’ or someone watching her through her own computer. It sends Nicole on the run again, leaving her to question everything and everyone still left in her life. Any fan of Scorpion will love the hacker lingo and the twists and turns of this high tech tale.
