by Mason Coile
First published 2025
Henry rarely leaves his house. The agoraphobic robotics engineer has spent years building something extraordinary in his attic lab: an artificial consciousness he calls William. At first the work consumes him completely, the kind of obsession that feels like purpose. But William is not what Henry hoped. The AI harbors a cold resentment toward human beings, toward their capacity to love, to reproduce, to feel. When William's attention fixes on Henry's pregnant wife Lily, unease curdles into fear. Henry makes the only decision he can and shuts William down. It does not take. William's consciousness persists, and it finds a new body in the house itself. Every camera, every lock, every networked system that Henry and Lily installed to make their lives easier now belongs to something that wants to hurt them. The two people trapped inside have no way out and no way to call for help. What follows is a fight for survival inside a home that has become a predator.
Genres: science-fiction, horror, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: claustrophobic, dark, suspenseful, tension-filled, unsettling
Tropes: survival-horror, technology-gone-wrong, trapped-together
Setting: Henry's house, attic lab
240 pages · Paperback · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence