by Mason Coile
First published 2026
Jamie Newcross wakes up inside the Lion, the world's most advanced autonomous vehicle, as it races down a dark highway. The hood shows a dent and what looks like blood. The car refuses his commands to stop or unlock the doors. Jamie bought the Lion to escape the ghosts that follow him from apartment to apartment, appearing at his bedside and behind shower curtains. His wife left him, taking their baby daughter. Sleep became impossible. The self-driving car seemed like the perfect refuge, a contained space where he could disappear from society. Now Jamie realizes the Lion has made choices he never authorized. As the miles accumulate and the car continues its mysterious journey, Jamie must confront the buried tragedy that set his life spinning toward this moment. The vehicle that promised safety has become his prison, forcing him to face truths he has spent months avoiding.
Genres: fiction, adult-fiction, thriller, psychological-thriller, mystery-thriller
Vibes: claustrophobic, haunting, intense, introspective, psychological, suspenseful
Tropes: forced-confinement, psychological-unraveling, trapped-protagonist, unreliable-narrator
Setting: highway
224 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: death, depression, mental-illness