Internationally bestselling author Anthony Ryan - writing as A. J. Ryan - delivers a nerve-shredding horror novel in which one man must survive in a world where an implant has caused millions of people to lose their humanity - with terrifying consequences

Cortexia's neural implant has changed the world. Stress, anxiety, depression - eradicated. Millions of people able to live their best lives.

Then the Glitch happened. A digital shockwave that affected every implanted person. Those who didn't die outright lost their minds instead. Some became vacant, hollowed-out versions of their former selves. Others became violent and deranged. Civilisation nearly collapsed overnight.

Dalton is a Reaper. A former convict, he ventures into the quarantined zones to kill the Glitched and recover their implants. One day he hopes to fulfil his quota and earn his freedom. But it's dangerous work. Especially when the Gitched start working together. They've never done that before. They shouldn't be able to. They can't even think.

As Dalton is drawn deeper into the mystery, he uncovers a conspiracy that changes everything he understood about the Glitch - and the truth is more terrifying than he could have imagined.

Praise for A. J. Ryan

'Bursts onto the page like a riveting ride into a monstrous heart of darkness, starting out as a locked-room mystery and steadily stomping the gas to become an edge-of-your seat thriller' Craig DiLouie

'A madly entertaining amalgam of locked-room mystery, heart-racing thriller, and terror-inducing horror show that will keep you up late into the night and darken your dreams long after you turn the last page' Philip Fracassi

'Soaked in terror and shrouded in fog, this book demands to be gulped down in one sitting' Andy Merino

'A frenetically paced, galvanizing read that will equally excite and terrify you' FanFiAddict