When James discovers his own point of view on a secret government surveillance system, a routine investigation spirals into paranoia, obsession and a desperate search for the truth.
James spends his days watching other people.
As a low-level operator within a secret government surveillance programme, he monitors the lives of ordinary citizens through ocular implants that broadcast their vision in real time, without their knowledge. It is routine, impersonal work. Until he sees something impossible.
His own point of view.
What begins as a single unexplained anomaly soon spirals into obsession. As James searches for answers, he starts to question everyone around him: his mocking co-worker Mark, his superiors, his idealist journalist friend Charlie, even those closest to him. The deeper he digs, the more unstable his world becomes.
In a city where surveillance has become normalised and privacy is increasingly fragile, James finds himself caught between paranoia and reality. Is he uncovering a hidden truth, or becoming consumed by a fear of being watched?
As suspicion turns to desperation, James is forced to confront a terrifying possibility:
Is he being monitored because he’s dangerous?
Or has he become dangerous because he believes he is?
Surveillance explores what happens when observation stops being passive and begins to shape the way we think, behave and see ourselves.
At its heart, the novel is less concerned with technology than the people living alongside it. It examines the quiet influence of being watched, the choices we make when we believe someone is looking, and the difficulty of separating genuine threats from imagined ones.
Rooted in questions of privacy, consent and perception, Surveillance asks how much of our freedom depends on believing we are truly alone with our thoughts.
While first and foremost a psychological thriller, it explores an unsettling possibility:
If being watched changes the way we behave, at what point do we stop being ourselves?
While Surveillance is a work of fiction, the questions it explores are rooted in realities that already exist around us today.
Advances in wearable technology, biometric monitoring, artificial intelligence and data collection continue to blur the boundaries between privacy, convenience and control. Surveillance takes these developments one step further, imagining a future that feels less like science fiction and more like a plausible extension of the world we already inhabit.
Research for the novel draws on current technologies, surveillance practices, psychological studies and debates around consent, observation and personal freedom. Rather than focusing on impossible innovations, the story explores how existing trends could evolve and the effect they might have on ordinary people.
Because sometimes the most unsettling futures are the ones that feel only a few steps away.
Every story begins with a single moment.
Read an early extract from Surveillance and take your first step into a world where observation is constant, privacy is fading and the line between reality and paranoia becomes increasingly difficult to see.
Surveillance is currently in development.
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