The Bastard Legion: Book 1, Paperback/Gavin G. Smith

'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer 'An exceptional talent' Peter F Hamilton Four hundred years in the future, the most dangerous criminals are kept in suspended animation aboard prison ships and ``rehabilitated`` in a shared virtual reality environment. But Miska Corbin, a thief and hacker with a background in black ops, has stolen one of these ships, the Hangman's Daughter , and made it her own. Controlled by explosive collars and trained in virtual reality by the electronic ghost of a dead marine sergeant, the thieves, gangsters, murderers, and worse are transformed into Miska's own private indentured army: the Bastard Legion. Are the mercenaries just for fun and profit, or does Miska have a hidden purpose connected to her covert past?