Jack Vice: Better Broken

By Bryan McGuckin

Jack Vice is a private investigator with a problem.
He feels too much. He reacts too fast. And in his line of work, anger gets people hurt.

When a cutting-edge mental health implant promises emotional control and sharper judgment, Jack takes the deal. The results are immediate. Cases close faster. Violence drops. Life becomes quieter, cleaner, more efficient.

For the first time, Jack feels fixed.

But the calmer Jack becomes, the more disturbed the world around him grows. Friends turn into variables. Grief becomes noise. Right and wrong collapse into probabilities. When one "statistically impossible" miscalculation leaves real blood on the floor, Jack is forced to confront the cost of a life optimized for correctness instead of care.

As criminals close in and a powerful tech company tightens its grip, Jack must decide whether the implant made him better-or simply made him easier to control. Because some mistakes can't be debugged, and some truths can't be reduced to data.

Better Broken is a gritty, darkly funny noir thriller about technology, morality, and the danger of fixing what was never meant to be optimized. Perfect for readers who enjoy hardboiled detectives, near-future science fiction, and morally complex antiheroes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GCT8QYPN
• ISBN13: 9798261870319
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 118 Pages
• Weight: 0.37 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"