Reviewed by Tomi Alo

A heart-pounding thriller about uncovering secrets behind a perfect facade

Abigail Lethican has always lived in the shadow of her family. With a grandfather and father entrenched in politics and three elder brothers ahead of her, Abby has never really felt the need, or the chance, to step into the spotlight, aside from the occasional duties every political family demands. She grew up learning to smile politely, keep disagreements behind closed doors, and constantly present the perfect image to anyone watching.

Come in Jim Hardy, the school’s star point guard. Confident, ambitious, and charismatic, Jim draws her in immediately. It doesn’t take long for her to fall in love with him and get caught up in the whirlwind of their relationship.

For six years, Abby convinces herself that she has found someone she can rely on, someone who complements the quiet life she’s always led, where she could be the caring, devoted wife she believed she was supposed to be. But when the cracks in her marriage begin to appear, the charm and confidence that once drew her in seem manipulative, controlling, and calculated.

It all shatters when Jim asks for a divorce. Just like that, the life Abby thought she had is gone, and everything she believed about him feels like a lie. The man she trusted, the guy she built years around, turns out to be far more self-serving than she ever imagined. Then, as if the heartbreak wasn’t enough, Jim ends up dead, and Abby becomes the prime suspect in his murder investigation.

As Abby digs deeper to clear her name, she is confronted with a long string of lies and betrayals carefully curated by her husband. Will she ever be able to prove her innocence before time runs out? And even if she does, will she ever find the courage to rebuild herself and trust again?

Falling On Southport is a satisfying blend of layered mystery and psychological drama. The novel throws readers right into the middle of the chaos, opening with Abby at the police station under investigation for her husband’s death. From there, author MJ Slater rewinds the story to the past, revealing Abby and Jim’s history, their marriage, and the subtle cracks that will eventually explode into catastrophe.

Jim and Abby’s relationship is fascinating precisely because of its flaws and cracks right from the start. There was no real spark, no electrifying chemistry or sweeping romance, only convenience, need, and ambition. For Jim, Abby was his ticket out of his humble background and his stepping stone to a better future; and for Abby, Jim served as a kind of shield, someone who made her feel needed and special. I loved how Slater captured this dynamic without putting too much judgment on either character, and allowing readers to quietly observe the psychological imbalance and the ways both characters unconsciously perpetuate it.

What stands out the most is the gradual unfolding of Jim’s true nature and Abby’s blindness to it all. It is both intriguing and frustrating to read. Abby’s denial and selective perception make sense psychologically, especially given her upbringing in a family where appearances and control were everything. Watching her slowly confront the reality of Jim’s manipulations adds a layer of tension that goes beyond the surface-level mystery. Her naivety and vulnerability is what makes her character arc compelling as she slowly discovers herself and grows into a strong, resilient person.

In the end, Falling On Southport is an absorbing thriller with psychological insight and some truly unexpected plot twists. And the suspense! Even after knowing it all—the killer, the secrets, the lies—there’s still that sense of danger that everything could go sideways. The media frenzy, courtroom trials, law enforcement scrutiny adds to the tension and pressure.

Fast-paced, emotionally charged, and actually twisty—Falling On Southport is quite the debut.

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Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro

An arresting mystery about a murder in small-town Greece and the detective whose life is at stake

Chief Inspector Yiannis Patronas has received a call about the discovery of a dead girl in Souda. The victim was found with her throat slit. Unfortunately, Souda is not unfamiliar with violence, as it has become a focal point for aggression against migrants.

Yiannis notices the stark beauty of the victim, along with the ghastly violence committed against her. Yiannis is a veteran police investigator, but the assaults against the refugees are starting to wear on him, especially as elements of the radical right (i.e., The Golden Dawn) begin to attract more followers.

Patronas is a man who can command a crime scene, yet initially has doubts about his abilities. His team is a motley crew of police officers composed of the washed-up, tactless, and over-the-hill. The young girl was Syrian, and her name is Raina.

While her murder was in Greece, the motive for her murder might reside in her home country of Syria. The intricacies of the investigation begin to collide with Patronas’s personal life as his wife Lydia believes the job is putting a strain on their marriage. In addition, Patronas has decided to take in a young migrant boy into his house and is considering adoption. If this weren’t enough, his ex-wife is sick and is making demands on his time.

Patronas has spent nearly his entire life in Greece, but the Greece of his youth has faded into a quaint memory. The intolerance shown toward the migrants is disquieting; the rise of hate groups is alarming. The violent murder of Raina is soon followed by another vicious murder, and Patronas is hard-pressed to find a definitive suspect. The search for the killer(s) will prove to be the test of Patronas’s life.

Yiannis Patronas is a fascinating main character, and he is the heart of this story. A sagacious but weary veteran, he is full of compassion for the victim and the plight of the migrants. The author infuses his character with an unflappable resolve that is able to withstand the criticism and doubts of superiors, along with the occasional assault from a killer or two.

Patronas’s job matters to him, but he also doesn’t want to lose those closest to him because of it. Despite pondering retirement, he counsels a fellow officer on why they should remain on the job and keep fighting the good fight. Patronas’s indomitable will makes for one of the salient and positive impacts of the narrative.

The Nameless Dead is a riveting whodunit rich in compelling characters. A great detective novel hinges on a case with resonance, along with a lead character with gravitas—and author Leta Serafim has done just that. This modern detective novel comes with great emotional depth and humanity.

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Reviewed by Peggy Kurkowski

The diabolical machinations of a twisted mind target a family with shocking repercussions in this fast-paced thriller.

An “innocent” office affair drags one man’s family down a torturous road of deceit, manipulation, and white-collar crime in Gypsy McKnight’s thrilling novella Torment.

The Wingarts are an average American family. Doug is the breadwinner, working late and on weekends to get a promotion. Stacy, meanwhile, is hoping to see more of him as she deals with the demands of four children, including young twins. But Doug has his eye on his assistant, Kelley, whose pouting lips and self-assured sexuality threaten to derail his already checkered fidelity to his wife.

When a fiery explosion destroys the company office from which they barely escape alive, Kelley has the wherewithal to set up temporary office space at a local hotel. Their affair rises from the ashes of the company’s destroyed building, in conjunction with Kelley’s admission to Doug that the ten million dollars from the insurance settlement is now in a private account offshore and untraceable. Doug’s sense of right and wrong is lost in Kelley’s green eyes. His “skin tingled at the thought of Kelley’s touch. Everything about her was perfect, the way her eyes burned straight through to his soul.”

But there are hints at home that Stacy’s addiction issues are returning, which the elder children, Adrian and Charlotte, wrestle with in their own ways: Adrian loses himself in a new relationship with a French exchange student, and Charlotte channels her passion for ballet into an obsession.

Doug takes Kelley’s advice to help Stacy by hiring a nanny, who wins over the twins at the expense of their mother. Another suggestion from his paramour convinces Doug to install home security cameras to observe Margaret, the nanny, with the twins. As Stacy begins to suspect Doug, her mental health takes a nosedive…and the security cameras capture something horrifying.

In spare prose, the novella chronicles the Wingart clan’s decline and fall in the aftermath of Doug’s selfish decisions. Stacy is convinced the nanny is not who she claims to be and begins her own search for answers before succumbing to the siren song of opiates and marijuana.

Charlotte’s new ballet instructor pushes her beyond the limits of a twelve-year-old, triggering anxiety and suppressed memories from when her mother was in her first throes of addiction, prior to rehab. Adrian, an eighteen-year-old high schooler, guards a precious secret about his relationship with Elodie, the French exchange student, from his troubled parents.

The story is a taut and tightly paced thriller that examines the impact of adultery and addiction in sharp, realistic dialogue. The “mystery” of the family’s torment is easy to glean, but the extent of it is a creative and twisty surprise. The narrative drops the reader immediately into a family fully sprung from Zeus’s head, i.e., their past is unknown except for what McKnight reveals. Stacy’s experiences with drugs and rehab are a painful memory, as is Doug’s first act of adultery, but these engaging and provocative plot elements are given short shrift. The story has enough fuel to go from a novella to a novel, if only we were given deeper backstories and character development.

Torment is a quick, twisty read that dials up the mayhem and relishes the ride over the destination.

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Reviewed by Krysti Ostermeyer

A standout supernatural debut about a haunted home that will make you wonder if you forgot to lock your door

What the Water Remembers follows Kendra and George, a 20-something couple, over the span of several weeks as they move into a historic home outside of the city. Little do they know: the house is also home to a ghost or two.

Elyse Welles gets right to the point in What the Water Remembers, introducing the supernatural on page two; the female main character, Kendra, sees “sparkles” while touring a house, which is one way that she visualizes ghosts. In this home, she’s sensing at least two of them.

See, Kendra is a witch; as George tells their realtor, who was discussing the issues with the home’s previous owners, “You have no idea: Kendra can manage. She’ll get the sage and the palo santo, and we’ll be spic and span here… she might even enjoy herself.” However, Kendra’s beliefs run much deeper than simply burning sage throughout the house, which we’ll come to learn throughout the book.

Despite this, they put their worries aside. George, a photographer, and Kendra, a bank teller and writer, can feel themselves living here. Kendra thinks to herself, “It feels like home, somehow. It could be my home. It makes me want to write.” They close on the home and move in quickly, set up their respective offices, and begin to catalog everything the house holds, including antiques in the basement, some of which are as old as the home itself.

Shortly after moving in, Kendra’s father comes to visit. A quick visit turns into staying for a day or two, as Dad is quite handy around the home. When Dad arrives, the supernatural activity begins to intensify, making it harder for her to conceal her own beliefs. She will have to come clean so that the three of them can work together to put the angry spirit where it belongs.

Welles writes with authority on the supernatural and witchcraft. There are many nuances to the genre and plenty of fresh concepts and artifacts to explore for supernatural fans. No matter if you’re new to witchcraft or have a cauldron bubbling in your basement, you’ll be glad Welles is at the helm of this one.

Another strength is George’s characterization. His feelings of trepidation mix well with his excitement on moving to this small town as a Black man. The banter between Kendra and George is realistic and homey. There’s no false portrayal in these two characters; their relationship feels natural and their dialogue even more so.

What the Water Remembers is a supernatural page-turner that’ll have you wanting to leave the light on.

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Reviewed by Tomi Alo

A compelling story of espionage across Europe

We Are Made covers the political tension, uncertainties and courage of pre-war London in the late 1930s, all while drawing readers into a suspenseful story of spies and secret missions.

Set in North London, 1938, the story begins with William Hand grieving the loss of his beloved teacher and mentor; he was killed by fascists while fighting for the Republicans in Spain. To William, Cedric was not only a coach, but the steady figure who encouraged him to pursue the classics at university and guided him toward a different kind of future than the one he seemed preconditioned to have. Yet, with his father’s illness and the growing tension sweeping across Europe, William is forced to abandon his academic ambitions and take a job at Lea Albion Metal Tubing Company Limited.

During one of his shifts at the Aircraft Shed, while sorting out shipments, William suspects foul play with the production of certain tubes and believes Cable, the foreman whose presence is as horrible as it is domineering, is behind the sabotage. This little observation soon leads William on a path filled with hidden meetings and dangerous missions.

Author John Ludlam brilliantly creates the tension and the political divide of the late 1930s in We Are Made. He depicts the complex reality of the period not just in the newspaper headlines, but also in the small, simple conversations that happen at the dinner table, in pubs, gatherings or in arguments among old friends. With the Great War still fresh in the memories of those who survived it, the city moved under the constant shadow of fear and uncertainty, especially with the rise of Hitler propaganda in Germany and Mosley’s fascist rallies in Britain. It was hard to feel safe and trust in anyone as friends and family could hold very different beliefs.

We see William in the midst of this divide, especially with his father and Steven, a former school friend and current boss, due to their support of the British Union and fascist views. Through these interactions, Ludlam explores how easily one’s ideology can slip as well as the power other people have on how we view the world around us.

Ludlam introduces his readers to a nice set of well-developed and relatable personalities, most especially with the two protagonists, William and Elizabeth. William’s growth and evolution from the first chapter of the novel to the last is bittersweet. He goes through a lot of hard situations where he is forced to flee. But through these risky missions, William stands strong and brave. He is not hard to like or sympathize with and that is what I loved about his character most.

We Are Made is an intriguing exploration of pre-war London. Historical fiction fans will love this mix of espionage, crime, love, and a little action.

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Reviewed by Joelene Pynnonen

Action meets sci-fi in this high-stakes time-warping romantic thriller.

When Blake Everhart takes on a mission to infiltrate and bring down a particularly dangerous organized crime syndicate, she knows that it will be perilous. Even with her ability to warp time, rewinding mistakes and dealing herself a do-over, this mission may break her. Once undercover, she will be alone in a den of the most dangerous criminals she’s met. But every move she makes will put her one step closer to finding her brother’s killer.

Inside the organization, Blake realizes just how out of her depth she is. Her ability, powerful as it is, cannot outmatch every contingency. And, as she sees how the organization works, it becomes clear that her power may not be the only one on the playing field.

Then Naomi Preston, the woman she loves more than life, is dragged into her cat-and-mouse game, and suddenly Blake’s playing for real. For the first time Blake experiences the other side of the coin. In joining the people she should be fighting, even undercover, she begins to question how far she will go to achieve her ends.

Echoes in Snowfall is the third book in the True Time series. While it’s possible to read this as a stand-alone, starting at the beginning would serve readers better. There are enough reminders to let return readers know where the story and characters stand, but the set-up leaves some out for newcomers. The novel combines thriller, romance, and action with a hint of sci-fi to build a fast-paced, thrill-packed experience.

Reading Echoes in Snowfall has nearly the same intense feeling as watching an action flick. Fast-paced action with a lot of moving pieces. There are a lot of power players here, and watching their dynamic play out on the page is fascinating. Between Blake’s employers, the organization that she’s going up against, and the enemies of the organization, there’s enough intrigue for a lifetime. Add to that Blake’s thirst for revenge warring against the need to keep Naomi safe, and the stakes just keep climbing.

While the physical stakes and energy of Echoes in Snowfall are sky-high, it’s lacking in the emotional stakes department. There is a surfeit of action and reaction, but not very much in the way of contemplation. In times of danger, Blake makes the decisions to protect both herself and Naomi, but there’s never a true sense of her feelings on the matter. The actions the characters take often stand in for the emotion, and for a novel that centers around love and revenge, it feels unbalanced.

Echoes in Snowfall holds the recipe of a good sci-fi thriller: a seemingly impossible mission, shadowy threats, increasingly dire stakes. The time-warping aspect is refreshingly new as well. This is a quick, fun read that has enough of the genre norms to delight thriller readers with a good dose of originality to make its own mark.

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Reviewed by Jadidsa Perez

A love story turns deadly in this satisfying femme fatale thriller.

Kevin Mathers is a regular 30-year-old guy living in the city of brotherly love: Philadelphia. With all the city has to offer, Kevin still prefers to visit the Living Room Grill, a restaurant owned by his friend, Dmitri.

On an otherwise painstakingly average day, he locks eyes with a beautiful, blue-eyed woman named Olivia, who creates a major upheaval in his life. Her beauty and intelligence begin to tint Kevin’s view as he falls further and further in love with her.

It isn’t until Kevin introduces Olivia to his best friend Gary, who works as a police officer and has just become a father to a newborn, that the tinted view begins to turn red. Gary is found dead the next day, and the Olivia whom Kevin is in love with disappears. Armed with Olivia’s childhood diary and his conflicting feelings of anger and adoration, Kevin sets out to find out who Olivia truly is and discover how many bodies lie in her wake.

Killer Personality has a narrative that spins together a cohesive web, ready to trap any reader into its compelling plot. Although there are a lot of different points of view and perspectives, the details are tied together into a cool mystery that it pays off. The victims and the reasoning for Olivia’s odd behavior (like talking to a deteriorating skeleton) makes more and more sense as time goes on.

Author Steven Fisher does such an excellent job of expanding and dissecting Olivia as a character—both as a perpetrator of multiple crimes and a victim of a horrible childhood. Olivia is brought to the page with depth and complexity, a must for a book centering on the little-often heard female serial killer. While her motivation for love and the affection of men initially come off as cliché, her dismembered past, coming up sporadically, adds layers to it. Her apathetic killer persona ends up complementing Kevin’s more emotional perspective, subverting tropes in a really interesting way.

Some characters repeat plot points a little too often, which can slow down the usually speedy reading experience, but luckily, the action is almost always right around the corner to pick it back up again. All in all, Killer Personality is lifted by its killer qualities: a new perspective, a fantastic villain, a multilayered mystery.

Thriller readers will be glad to have found this action-packed quest for justice.

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Reviewed by Nikolas Mavreas

An environmentally conscious, hopeful tale wrapped in a thrilling heist novel

Both despite and because of its technological advances, ours is a severely pessimistic age. In a literary landscape that is overwhelmingly cluttered with anxiety about the future, Todd Medema’s debut novel, How to Surf a Hurricane, offers an adventure set in a more hopeful version of the near future, where people have the power to change things, as well as themselves, for the better.

It is 2040, and a young engineer named Moro Petroff has come up with a new kind of lithium-sulfur battery which has the potential to help resolve the global energy crisis. It was to be produced by Petroff Power, but his family company has decided to shut down the project, as it comes into conflict with their investment in natural gas.

Motivated by pride and self-interest, Moro decides to steal the prototypes of his battery and sell them himself. His best chance at doing so is during their transfer by ship across the Atlantic Ocean. To pull off the heist he puts together a crew made up of individuals affected by Petroff Power’s shady tactics.

Foremost in the crew is Victoria, a hurricane surfer, and her daughter, Azure. Hurricane surfing is a newfangled sport, owing its existence to the decrease of ski-able snow and also, perhaps, to the increasing occurrence of hurricanes due to climate change. It is instrumental to Moro’s plot as he plans to set off a hurricane in order to carry off the heist for his batteries.

Medema writes in short point-of-view chapters, which include limited internal monologue. The technique works particularly well in the first part of the story, the fitting and effective set-up where the author introduces us to this future world and the assembling crew. It is a surprising timeline, one where one Ethereum coin is worth over a hundred thousand dollars and where David Guetta songs are considered “thumping oldies.”

The world becomes vivid and believable through Medema’s sharp attention to detail and his formidable panoply of technical descriptions. It is not only the minutiae of futuristic yet grounded technologies that are carefully described but also the subtle balancing required to execute a judo o-goshi, or hip throw.

For as patient and methodical the book is in setting up its heist set-piece, it is rewardingly exciting when that set-piece is set off. Naturally, not everything goes according to plan and the potential failure of the mission is accompanied by the crew’s inner conflicts and even a death. A turning point of the heist is the arrival of a life-changing injury, but it is handled lightly and produces some tonal disorientation.

Throughout the story, a lot of attention is put on the relationship between hurricane surfer Victoria and her adventurous daughter, Azure. It feels like a classic young single mother and teenage daughter dynamic, with the struggle to define boundaries without limiting potential and creating resentment. Medema does justice to this great duo of characters, which also tends to bring out the best rhythms in his prose:

“Victoria encouraged a scared Azure to enter, and they found themselves teleported into a surreal scene, surrounded by a cavern of ice glowing blue from the water-filtered sunlight, droplets of water falling from everywhere, and a gurgling stream of runoff at their feet. Azure’s eyes, normally jaded slits of adolescent angst, were wide open in awe. Victoria’s heart melted.”

By the end of the story, noble goals are rewarded and not-so-noble goals are reconsidered. The environment, the common good is what should come first, and it’s in the hands of everyone, the novel artfully tells us, to help: “There are lots of dominoes, sure, but yours is still important—all of ours are. That’s the point. Everything makes ripples.”

As well as being a fun heist adventure, How to Surf a Hurricane expresses some of the most admirable impulses of our time.

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Reviewed by Jadidsa Perez

A CIA espionage must recover a stolen Alzheimer’s cure, but he returns with more than expected: the research and the heiress’s heart.

Alzheimer’s Cure opens in a backdrop of wealth, featuring yachts and private jets. This is the Lassiter family. Jacky and Bill Lassiter are the owners of Morgan Pharma, an international pharmaceutical empire, and the parents of Lucy Lassiter, a sirenic socialite.

Unbeknownst to Lucy, Morgan Pharma was recently hacked and their research regarding an Alzheimer’s Cure was stolen.

Enter Oliver Corbyn, who first appears as a simple Morgan Pharma employee. However, his real job is soon exposed; he’s actually hired to infiltrate the Russian pharmaceutical company, Ruspharma, that stole the research and ensure they cannot replicate Morgan Pharma’s findings.

To do so, he proposes to fake date Lucy and apply for a well-paying job at Ruspharma under the guise of wanting to sustain Lucy’s extravagant lifestyle. Oliver is smart, handsome, and intuitive, deeply interested in Lucy despite the conflict of interest. What once began as a fraudulent relationship is soon painted over with real, intense feelings. They truly love each other, but can their relationship survive the rigorous demands of CIA assignments?

While Alzheimer’s Cure delivers striking action true to the genre, it also allows the romance to have a moment to shine. Lucy and Oliver’s relationship is given space to develop through their chemistry-filled conversations. Oliver’s emotionally intelligent and generous personality does a good job of filling the void in Lucy’s life. Their romance adds softness to the plot’s scale, equalizing the weight of the action and thriller elements.

Oliver and Lucy undergo significant personal growth through the course of their relationship, and that evolution becomes the thread that ties the plot together. Lucy, once drawn to the ease of the socialite world, learns to embrace what else life has to offer; Oliver, who never imagined falling for a wealthy heiress, finds himself questioning his loyalty to his work or to Lucy.

Alzheimer’s Cure is a fast read filled with dialogue. The conversations range from heartfelt introspections to witty banter, allowing the characters to express and characterize themselves. We read into the dialogue without the extra exposition, and it makes for a creative, enjoyable reading experience. Like when, early on, Oliver makes a comment about Lucy’s dating life. We aren’t told he’s sharp, disarmingly honest, and charismatic. We’re shown it. Dialogue like this quickly establish the emotional ping pong between the two characters too. The dialogue does so much. Sometimes it can come off a bit stilted though, like the CIA briefings which diverge into encyclopedic tidbits about Russia.

The crowning jewel is Oliver’s quick thinking and plan making. This is a difficult operation he’s on and the stakes are high, but what helps most is that the mission itself is inherently so interesting. Action adventure readers will love Alzheimer’s Cure.

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Reviewed by Victoria Lilly

A tense rollercoaster of a thriller that explores cult dynamics & personal autonomy against an apocalyptic backdrop

The Artificial Conspiracy opens in medias res as Mirai McGarry, a 24-year-old artist from Florida recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, ventures into the Nevada desert where a doomsday cult has garnered a following numbering in tens of thousands.

Mirai enters the cult compound in search of her best friend, Julie, who abruptly left her Florida home to join The Preserve, lured by its charismatic leader Alexander’s promise of spiritual rebirth and ascension to a different world. But Mirai’s attempt to rescue Julie fails quickly, and she is expelled from the compound along with David, a member of the cult disillusioned with its promise of rebirth and escape from “hell” of everyday life.

Mirai’s and David’s burgeoning friendship is interrupted when an apocalyptic message is broadcast—first on the big screens of New Year’s celebrations in Times Square, then in a frantic rambling of a dementia-stricken radio station host. The latter warns of a millenarian secret society, Ad Ordinem.

Mirai thinks little of either event at first, preoccupied with the loss of her best friend to the cult, and agonizing over her medical diagnosis, but her life is inexorably pulled toward the threats of apocalypse when she is contacted by an anonymous member of an organization claiming to be fighting Ad Ordinem and The Preserve. Encouraged and aided by David, Mirai throws herself into a whirlwind of conspiracy, assault, and reckoning with her emotional and spiritual baggage.

This evocative thriller is about the search for truth, belonging, and beauty in an age of moral uncertainty and false prophets. Framed around the ominous appearance of Brubaker’s Comet and a cryptic doomsday conspiracy, the novel examines how fear, grief, and yearning for meaning can drive people toward the illusion of safety—even at the cost of their freedom.

The unfolding suspense plot provides an engaging structural anchor; onto this skeleton author Muehlbauer adds the true meat of the story, the exploration of existential uncertainty, religious doubt, and childhood trauma. While cult dynamics are examined, more attention is devoted to the reasons why people wind up joining cults in the first place, exemplified by such supporting characters as Mirai’s best friend Julie and newfound partner David.

Interpersonal relationships are the novel’s strongest feature. Where it stumbles is the delivery of new information and enunciation of characters’ particular worldviews. This exposition is sometimes clunky, which interferes with the otherwise fluid and quick pacing, and makes otherwise compelling characters sound flat and lecturer-like.

This is, however, a minor complaint, as the writing overall does its job and brings characters to life with great skill. One of the most enjoyable dynamics is the McGarry family in the first act, with banter between Mirai and her adopted father and sister particularly notable, especially in the light of later events and revelations. This well-executed thriller plot—which has a protagonist chasing puzzle pieces all around the United States—should more than satisfy lovers of the suspense genres. The novel also does an excellent job of incorporating and critiquing AI technology and chatbots.

The Artificial Conspiracy is a compelling and emotionally rich narrative about resisting authoritarian seduction and choosing truth over comfort. Mirai’s journey is ultimately one of reclaiming voice and agency in a world increasingly primed for manipulation. A bold, timely, and haunting work, this book challenges readers to confront what they believe in and asks them to consider whether comfort is ever worth the price of freedom.

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