Hannu RayaniemiCountry: FinlandJean le Flambeur is a criminal in the post-human world, a mind hacker, a trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but the fame of his achievements spread throughout the world. However, Jean made one mistake, and the beginning of the novel finds him in a huge virtual prison of the Archons - Dilemma Prison - where he is doomed to play endless variations of a game-theoretic situation against countless copies of himself, which should correct his character, instilling a love of mutual assistance. The endless series of virtual deaths and failures is interrupted by the appearance of Mieli and her thinking ship Perhonen. By kidnapping Jean, they give him a chance to regain his freedom and his former power. In exchange for completing a heist he has yet to complete.

Quantum Thief is a brilliant piece of hard science fiction set in the vast solar system of the distant future. A heist novel populated by strange post-human creatures, but filled with very human motives of betrayal, revenge and jealousy.