Eidos Montreal has released a Deus Ex: Human Revolution prequel novella written by James Swallow, one of the writers on the game and its somewhat less-well-received follow-up, The Fall. Entitled Deus Ex: Fallen Angel, it tells the tale of Faridah Malik in her days before joining Sarif Industries as its chief pilot.
Malik was the VTOL jockey who hustled Adam Jensen all over the planet as he went about Sarif business, and who—spoiler alert, so stop reading here if you haven't played the game but have every intention of doing so over the holidays and don't want to ruin any surprises, because I'm about to do just that, and I'm not kidding around here—may or may not have met an unpleasant end at the hands of Belltower soldiers.
The story is set in Hengsha prior to the events of Human Revolution and, based on some quick poking about (I haven't read it yet), will fill in at least some of the blanks alluded to in the game. During their first trip to the city, Malik requests Jensen's aid in investigating what she believes is the murder of her friend, Evelyn Carmichael; Carmichael features prominently in the novella, although given the time frame I'd guess it has nothing to do with that particular mission.
Even if you're not a die-hard, must-have-it-all fan of Deus Ex, Fallen Angel is free, so why not? A little bit of holiday reading never hurt anyone. Grab it here.
