A new lie detector that works by means of voice analysis hits the market as a consumer product in 2014. Tell a lie out loud, even an innocent "white lie," and the LieDeck goes "beep." The infallible device puts an end to most crime, but in a world where people tell dozens or hundreds of lies every day, chaos erupts. All aspects of human society and of the human psyche are thoroughly shaken by this device, and when people start speaking their private thoughts out loud, they discover that they routinely lie to themselves, which changes everything The inventor of the new lie detector had calculated that our inability to deceive would force us to leave our barbaric past behind and emerge into a new and greatly superior consciousness. But his optimistic agenda is quickly overtaken by events as millions of marriages go down the toilet, businesses implode, politicians self-destruct, religions are abandoned, suicide rates soar, conspiracies are unearthed, democracies are replaced by military dictatorships and civilization itself begins to crumble. Can humanity find a way of living with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?