Proof of Life: A Thriller

By: Hicks, Scott P.

A girl calls 911 from inside a trunk.
Then the call vanishes, and the dispatcher's own phone number is carved into the evidence.

Mara Keene has spent her career listening for the difference between panic and performance. Every breath, every pause, every sound in the background can mean life or death. So when a terrified girl whispers that she has been locked in a trunk, Mara does what she was trained to do: she keeps the caller talking, tracks the clues, and fights to keep the search alive.

But the girl is gone before police can reach her.

Then a body is found.

Then the evidence points to Mara.

A voice on the line tells her the call never existed. Internal Affairs takes her phone. Her badge is pulled. Her own son's school becomes a target. And somewhere in the city, someone is using forged voices, stolen emergency calls, and a machine-built trail of proof to decide who gets believed, who gets blamed, and who disappears next.

With help from a defense attorney who has already exposed one fake confession, a detective who refuses to let procedure become a blindfold, and an audio analyst who can hear a lie inside a single breath, Mara starts following the pattern beneath the noise.

The deeper they dig, the worse it gets.

Someone has turned public safety into a weapon.

And the next call may sound exactly like someone Mara loves.

Proof of Life is a tense, modern thriller about artificial voices, corrupted evidence, and the terrifying moment when hearing someone speak is no longer enough to prove they are real.

Perfect for readers who want:

A high-stakes 911 dispatch thrillerA chilling deepfake and voice-cloning mysteryA smart female lead under pressurePolice, legal, and forensic audio investigationA race to protect a child before a forged voice reaches him firstA grounded tech thriller with emotional stakesA tense conspiracy involving public safety systemsA story where every sound matters

Mara knows the rule every dispatcher lives by: stay calm, keep listening, and trust the evidence.

But when the evidence can be manufactured, calm is not enough.

Now she has to build a new kind of proof before the next voice on the line destroys another life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FM3Y4R9C
• ISBN13: 9798297537231
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"