Sound isn't just a vibration. In the underground, it is the ultimate weapon.
Mabli Ozerov is a brilliant audio forensic analyst, spending her days scrubbing the static of tragedies to find the truth hidden in black-box recordings. But one sound haunts her: a weaponized acoustic file of the car crash that killed her parents and shattered her brother Ephron's mind.
To save her brother, Mabli must descend into the Cartesian Cartel-a ruthless, subterranean black market where the ultra-rich consume the digitized trauma of others as a high-end acoustic narcotic. At the center of this empire sits Pravat Hallow, the "Architect." Deaf, omnipotent, and utterly depraved, Pravat orchestrates his agonizing masterpieces through illegal cranial bone-conductors.
Armed with nothing but her unmatched acoustic genius and a fragile alliance with a rogue cartel editor, Mabli goes undercover to infiltrate Pravat's airtight sanctuary. Her mission: engineer a phase-canceling virus that will permanently deafen the cartel and destroy the Architect's empire.
But Pravat is always listening. He doesn't just want Mabli dead-he wants the daughter of his most agonizing masterpiece to sit in the conductor's seat and press play.
Ruin Hearts is a pulse-pounding, sensory techno-thriller about grief, revenge, and the deafening price of silence. Will Mabli engineer the perfect collapse, or will she become the final note in the Architect's deadly symphony?