Aberrant

Wattys 2021 shortlist. Shipwrecked on a criminal-infested mining colony, military telepath Reid Kaplan needs answers about the attack on his ship and the unusual alien activity on the planet he's stranded on. Unfortunately, some of those answers might lie in a mind as unique as it is dangerously flawed.
Customs inspector Jinsin Koel is used to having guns pointed at her head - but not ones attached to weapon-heavy cyborg insects who consider her lower on the food chain. The Xykeree, past enemies of humanity, should never have been allowed to dock at her home port. And they're just the start of her problems. Throw in a hereditary neurological illness and a secret society of soldiers genetically tailored for psionic combat and she has herself a whole new level of trouble ... the kind that could destroy her personal foundations and imperil billions of lives.

Complete novel (word count approx. 115,600; no cliffhanger ending)
Action adventure, space opera
Reader advisory: strong language, violence/horror, sexual content
UK spelling