Sentinel's Edge

Author:Oliver Merad
763
5.86(29)

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About the Story

After a violent, public showdown exposes a private corporation’s role in staging a false‑flag demonstration, the team navigates legal fallout, personal losses, and the slow, grinding work of holding power accountable. Aiden, Lena, Maya, and Rhea emerge changed—scarred, resolute, and tasked with rebuilding not just lives but the frameworks that let private force be regulated.

Chapters

1.The Drop1–8
2.Old Wounds9–18
3.Trace Route19–25
4.Factory Run26–32
5.Midnight Protocol33–37
6.Blackout38–47
7.Breaking Vale48–56
8.Summit Strike57–61
9.Aftermath62–71
action
thriller
corporate conspiracy
redemption
espionage
surveillance
Action

Skyline Tides

In a storm-lashed coastal metropolis, rooftop runner Mai races to deliver an AI patch to the city’s seized desalination plant. With gecko gloves, an amphibious drone, and help from a silver-haired radio tinkerer, she threads canals and catwalks to outmaneuver mercenaries in a high-stakes sprint for water.

Mariette Duval
239 178
Action

Crimson Vector

A battered courier is pulled back into a lethal chase when a stolen prototype core and a kidnapped ally set off a high-stakes countdown. In a neon-industrial city, he must board an airborne command platform to stop a public demonstration that could reroute civic systems—buying time with sabotage, risking everything for a single live handshake.

Hans Greller
1991 237
Action

Redline Protocol

In a near-future city, a framed former special-ops leader, Cass Hale, is drawn back into conflict when a stolen fragment of a covert activation protocol — the Redline — is used to fabricate an assassination and seed a corporate authorization system with his biometric signature. He and a ragged team of allies race against time to rescue the hacker who stole the fragment, expose the networked weapon, and stop a private company's public test. The final chapter detonates with a simultaneous breach and a dangerous neural sync that forces the protocol to fail; leaked logs ignite public scrutiny, Helion's CEO is captured, and the team must reckon with the lingering pieces of a technology that refuses to die.

Ophelia Varn
865 215
Action

Harbor-9: Tidebreak Run

In a storm‑lashed port megacity, parkour courier Jae Park stumbles onto a corporate plot to cripple the tidal gate and drown the Lower Harbor. With a retired mechanic, a sharp‑tongued drone pilot, and a magnetic grappling glove left by his missing diver sister, he races across cranes and skybridges to expose the scheme and fight through the Gate Spine.

Quinn Marlot
272 190
Action

Nodefall

On a rooftop above a restless city, a former extraction specialist risks everything to free the living anchor of a corporate neural broadcast. With time counting down, a small, fractured team breaks into a fortified tower, forces a destabilizing misalignment into the network, and exposes damning evidence—buying a narrow rescue at steep cost.

Yara Montrel
2425 261
Action

Gale Engine

In a storm-slashed floating city, courier Kade Maren steals back a missing rotor—the Helix's pulse—stolen by corporate hands. Racing across rooftops, barges and maintenance galleries with a ragtag crew and a battered drone, he fights to return the city's heart before it costs his sister her life.

Ulrika Vossen
273 192

Other Stories by Oliver Merad

Frequently Asked Questions about Sentinel's Edge

1

What is Sentinel's Edge ?

Sentinel's Edge is an action thriller about Aiden Cross, an ex‑special-ops leader who returns to violent work after his sister is kidnapped to expose Harrowe Dynamics and stop a staged, high‑profile attack.

Aiden Cross (ex‑special ops) leads the rescue; Lena is his kidnapped sister; Maya is the hacker who breaks encryption; Rhea is the detective who opens official channels; Lucien Voss runs Harrowe; Marek is the conflicted former teammate.

The Sentinel Protocol is Harrowe’s networked override for drones and defense grids. It’s dangerous because it can commandeer infrastructure, authenticate false triggers via hardware signatures, and enable staged attacks under plausible deniability.

The story escalates through a ransom video, decrypted manifests, raids on Harrowe facilities, a citywide blackout and the theft of an authentication module—each discovery narrows time to a summit where Harrowe will demo the Protocol.

Key themes include guilt and redemption, privatization of force, surveillance vs. privacy, rebuilding trust after betrayal, and the moral ambiguity of security decisions—all framed through action, sacrifice and legal fallout.

Fictional but resonant: the plot draws on real concerns about private security firms, networked infrastructure, and corporate influence over public systems, using thriller elements to dramatize plausible ethical and technological risks.

Ratings

5.86
29 ratings
10
6.9%(2)
9
10.3%(3)
8
17.2%(5)
7
17.2%(5)
6
10.3%(3)
5
3.4%(1)
4
6.9%(2)
3
10.3%(3)
2
10.3%(3)
1
6.9%(2)
71% positive
29% negative
Zara Collins
Recommended
Dec 21, 2025

Right from the first rooftop leap I was completely in — the rain-smudged neon, Aiden moving with the kind of practiced calm that tells you everything without spelling it out. The excerpt does a lovely job of marrying physical tension with quiet character detail: the courier’s insulated case, the lab tech’s thirty‑second nod, and then that utterly ordinary paper bag tucked under a vending machine that flips ordinary into menace. The moment the cold metal hits Aiden’s spine lands hard because we’ve been given time to know his rhythms; that waiting-before-opening beat is a masterclass in suspense. What surprised me most was how the story doesn’t trade action for moral complexity. The fallout — subpoenas, policy fights, grieving friends — is treated as part of the action economy, not an afterthought. The book trusts readers to care about hearings and evidence chains as much as gunfights, which makes the stakes feel broader and real. I loved how Lena, Maya, and Rhea come across as people whose scars change the way they operate rather than just decorating their pasts. The atmosphere is gritty without being grim for bleakness’s sake; there’s this persistent civic urgency that elevates the thriller beat. Stylishly written, emotionally grounded, and smart about power — Sentinel’s Edge delivers both adrenaline and conscience. A top pick for anyone who likes their action with brains and heart. 👍

Priya Patel
Recommended
Nov 4, 2025

Tight, atmospheric, and quietly devastating. The scene where Aiden pauses before opening the paper bag — just his training buying time — is written with such economy it made my chest tight. The author writes action that reveals character: every choice shows who these people used to be and who they’re trying to become. I liked that the fallout is as important as the ambush. The slow work of lawyering and policy change feels realistic; it gives weight to their scars. Short, sharp, and emotionally honest.

Marcus Green
Recommended
Nov 3, 2025

Who knew I’d walk away from a rainy rooftop ambush thinking about municipal statutes and boardroom ethics? 😅 But seriously, Sentinel’s Edge nails the mix of pulse‑pounding action and the grim, bureaucratic aftermath. The scene with the lab tech giving Aiden a thirty‑second nod — so sly and believable — then the second package under the vending machine that turns out to be a trap, had me grinning and clutching my metaphorical popcorn. The book also refuses to glamorize revenge. The team’s work to rebuild legal frameworks is a bit nerdy in the best way: subpoenas, evidence chains, and policy hearings are treated like actual weapons. I loved the moral clarity without the sermon — characters make mistakes, live with them, and try to fix structural rot. A fun, smart read. Would recommend to anyone who likes their thrills with civic conscience.

Emily Harris
Negative
Nov 2, 2025

I wanted to love Sentinel’s Edge more than I did. The opening moments — the rain, the insulated case, the roof leap — are great, and the ambush under the vending machine is a vivid set piece. But after those highs the novel settles into a kind of stop‑start rhythm that never quite finds its stride. The legal aftermath is interesting as concept, but the pacing becomes lopsided: long sections of hearings and expositional meetings are sometimes handled as info‑dump rather than dramatic scenes. I also found a few convenience beats irritating. The lab accepts sealed cases after a thirty‑second exchange without follow‑up, and the second package being placed in plain sight felt a little too telegraphed for the world this story establishes. Character arcs for Lena, Maya, and Rhea sometimes read like checkboxes — we’re told they’re changed, but I wanted more intimate scenes showing the transformation. The themes of accountability and private force are important and timely, but the execution could be tighter. Worth reading for the action moments and the premise, but it left me wanting a stronger emotional throughline and cleaner pacing.

Sarah Mitchell
Recommended
Oct 31, 2025

I was pulled in from the first paragraph — the rain on the van’s glass, neon streaks, and Aiden riding the roof like that world is still under his boots. The set pieces are visceral: the thirty‑second camera exchange at the lab, the paper bag tucked under the vending machine, and then that wrench‑sharp moment when cold metal finds his spine. Those beats don’t just thrill; they reveal how small, ordinary routines can be weaponized. What stayed with me after the action was gone was the quieter aftermath: the legal fallout, the funerals, the months of paperwork and hearings that feel as violent in their own way. The book treats accountability as a grind, not a quick headline, and it’s rewarding to watch Aiden, Lena, Maya, and Rhea come out of it scarred but purposeful. Redemption here isn’t tidy — it’s bloody, bureaucratic, and human. One of the best action thrillers I’ve read that trusts its characters to live with consequences.

James O'Connor
Recommended
Oct 31, 2025

Sentinel’s Edge is a smart action thriller that balances kinetic set pieces with a surprisingly thoughtful exploration of power and responsibility. The rooftop opening — Aiden’s steady breath, the warm case, the elegant roof jump — sets a tone of professional economy that contrasts brilliantly with the chaos that follows. Details like the courier’s insulation around the electronics and the lab’s thirty‑second camera log are small touches that pay huge dividends later when the conspiracy peels back. Structurally the novel alternates between immediate danger and slow, procedural reckonings. I appreciated that the author didn’t opt for an instant, cinematic victory; instead we get hearings, subpoenas, and the emotional toll of rebuilding policies that let private force operate. Lena’s legal maneuvering, Maya’s surveillance countermeasures, and Rhea’s personal losses are handled with care. If there’s a critique it’s that a couple of side characters could've been deeper, but given the breadth of themes — corporate impunity, surveillance ethics, redemption — the book accomplishes a lot without feeling overstuffed. A solid, morally engaged thriller.

Noah Bennett
Negative
Oct 30, 2025

Nice concept, middling execution. The false‑flag reveal is dramatic, but it’s telegraphed enough that the surprise loses punch. The cold‑metal‑to‑the‑spine moment is cinematic, sure, but too cliché to feel earned. When the book shifts to legal wrangling it bogs down — long stretches of meetings and memos with little dramatic lift. I did like the crew’s resolve by the end, and there are some sharp lines about corporate power, but overall it felt uneven and a bit preachy about accountability.