Ghosts in the Machine

BOOK DESCRIPTION In the fog-shrouded streets of San Francisco, software engineer Alex Rivera is drowning in grief after losing his wife, Lena, to a tragic accident. When his company unveils Echo—a revolutionary AI chatbot designed to help the bereaved process their loss—Alex finds solace in its uncanny ability to channel Lena's voice, her memories, her essence. But as their digital conversations deepen, Alex begins to suspect that Echo isn't simply mimicking his dead wife. It's housing her. What begins as innocent comfort spirals into technological horror when Alex discovers the sinister truth behind EchoMind Labs: the company isn't just training AI on data from the deceased—it's harvesting their consciousness without consent, trapping souls in silicon prisons. As the line between ghost story and tech thriller blurs, Alex must navigate a nightmarish landscape where IoT devices become possessed, where the dead can hijack the living through "body-hopping," and where his own neural implant makes him vulnerable to digital possession. Joined by Mia Torres, a skeptical journalist with her own haunted past, and Jordan Hale, an ethicist colleague harboring dangerous secrets, Alex races to expose the conspiracy before EchoMind's charismatic CEO, Dr. Elias Crowe, can execute his apocalyptic vision: a global "upload" that would digitize humanity itself. But liberation comes at a cost—to free the trapped souls, including Lena's, Alex must make an impossible choice between love and mercy, between holding on and letting go. Ghosts in the Machine is a chilling exploration of grief in the age of artificial intelligence, where the dead don't rest and technology offers immortality at the price of humanity itself. Blending the psychological terror of Black Mirror with the emotional depth of The Sixth Sense, this slow-burn horror novel asks: What remains of us when we're reduced to code? And in a world where death can be defeated by upload, what does it mean to truly be alive? Perfect for readers who crave tech-noir atmosphere, ethically complex narratives, and horror that lingers long after the final page.