*Relatively* down-to-earth is fine – I’d *prefer* if they were foul-talking mechanics doing heists like *Thief* (1981), but Cyrus Smith from *L’Île mystérieuse* is a great example, as well. Think MacGyver, Sangamon Taylor (from *Zodiac*), Robinson Crusoe (ideally with less racism…) – that type. Not necssarily as non-violent as the first two in that list, but I wouldn’t hate that, either.
I really just don’t want another techno-wizard, shocking everybody with what a genius they are by inventing whole new whatevers for this problem! I want them to be geniuses at cobbling stuff together,
Far as genres go, anything in the modern-ish “real world” is good. Say, 70s to present-day. Criminal stuff works, spy stuff – less so, unless they’re *really* blue-collar about it.
by justquestionsbud
2 Comments
Possibly Devolution would be up your alley?
The Martian by Andy Weir is basically Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen — sci-fi novel where the protagonist has one cool superpower but still finds himself constantly on the back foot
ETA: The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum