When it comes to the data you receive on a daily basis, how much do you question the content? How quickly are you likely to accept it at face value? How likely are you to open your emails without questioning their source, and whether they are from a trustworthy or untrustworthy source? How do you know if the news that is fed to you digitally and in print - be that via magazines, newspapers or social media, for example - is reliable?

It is part of the human condition that many of us are prone to accepting much of the above without submitting it to any really meaningful scrutiny. Is it because we are too gullible or lazy? Is it because we are overly reliant on others to keep us safe, abdicating our own responsibilities in such matters?

All of these questions came to mind when I read Stephen Steele's action-packed thriller, 'The Cannastar Factor'. While it is not another book to join the fast-growing ranks of cyber security literature and TV series, its main theme does deal with issues that elicit similar dilemmas.

Here's the set-up: doctor and former drug addict Alex Farmer and botanist Cyd Seeley are thrown together when a mutual friend is murdered. Maury has died under mysterious circumstances after developing what is an inexpensive, organically grown cure for viral diseases and the duo drive to the morgue to deliver his body.

The miracle plant is called Cannastar, and it cures everything from coronavirus and cancer to HIV and herpes. Cannastar costs next to nothing to grow, returns the hopelessly ill to good health and threatens to bankrupt the pharmaceutical industry. Big Pharma will resort to anything - even murder - to keep Cannastar off the market.

Farmer and Seeley are determined to find a way to fulfil their friend's legacy and bring Cannastar to a desperate public. Their perilous journey takes them from the Rocky Mountain wilderness, to the political corruption of Washington D.C., to the jungles of Mexico, and to the deserts of the Southwest where they fight to grow their Cannastar.

On one level, The Cannastar Factor (publishers are Speaking Volumes) is an adventure thriller that unfolds with a run of engaging twists and turns, and uplifting relationships. On another, it examines how two people are prepared to risk everything, in order to stand up against forces that others do not have the will or courage to confront.

The upside of a novel is that we, as readers, can happily travel along for the ride. Should the protagonists succeed in their quest against the forces of evil, we can bathe in their reflected glory. Should they fail, we can simply fade away into the background, with impunity. In the real world - with cyber security very much included - there are no such options. We cannot be passive bystanders. Like the two main characters in the novel, we have to join the fight against the oppressors, no matter what the odds. Standing up and being counted collectively is the only hope of a positive outcome.