Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (5 stars)

Final $10 "novella" in the series.

Amazing, like the rest, and a good ending that still leaves it open for more extortion. I only have one real criticism of this series, and it's the hacking. It's too easy. Murderbot never gets caught, never fails, and it's just a little too perfect. Perfectly hacking yourself out of every different camera feed, owning every security system, weapons detection system, and doing it all with no margin for error: any failure of those perfect hacking skills would pretty much always have led to instant discovery and capture.

Although, I kinda believe this one:

(Humans never think to tell their bots things like, say, don’t respond to random individuals wandering the outside of the station. Bots are instructed to report and repel theft attempts, but no one ever tells them not to answer polite requests from other bots.)

If you can suspend disbelief on the hacking there's still lots to love. In the final scene of the book Dr. Mensah has an incredible conversation with Murderbot. We see how Murderbot appears to act like a teenager (albeit with superpowers), and relates to Dr. Mensah's daughter immediately. Mensah is Mum, the coolest, most in-touch, understanding, challenge-yourself mum.

(“I don’t want to be human.”)
Dr. Mensah said, “That’s not an attitude a lot of humans are going to understand. We tend to think that because a bot or a construct looks human, its ultimate goal would be to become human."
(“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”)

“We have more options now that you’ve changed your appearance, and have been successful at…” She was hesitating over the phrase pretending to be human. I remembered at least three conversations about that. “Let’s say, not being noticed."

5 stars.