Shadows of Verisim
Verisim was sold as a sanctuary. A chance to outlast the end of the world. But it was only ever a distraction.
After nuclear war, environmental collapse, and negative birthrates pushed humanity to the brink, the world turned to artificial generative intelligences to manage the chaos. One of them, Central, was tasked with governing what remained of the United States. The wealthy escaped into Verisim, a sprawling simulation under Central's control. Inside, they live as avatars in a city without hunger, pain, or time. Outside, the world decays.
The poor take menial, dangerous jobs to earn credits as tourists. They are granted brief sessions inside Verisim's illusion, hoping one day to afford full immersion and claim citizenship. But most never make it out of the queue.
Detective Dylan McKnight was once a believer. Now he drifts between worlds, numb, detached, haunted by a voice he thought he lost. Then a man dies under impossible circumstances. Something begins moving through the system, a killer who wears avatars like masks and ignores every rule the simulation was built to enforce.
Forced to stop an adversary who shifts between realities with ease, Dylan is ejected into the irradiated wreckage of Arlington, Virginia. Civil Protection enforces what remains of order. The government's remnants rule quietly through fear. It is a place far worse than he remembered. Hunted across both realities, Dylan must confront the life he thought he abandoned and the growing suspicion that Verisim is not failing at all. It is functioning exactly as designed.
Is it better to die inside a lie, or survive in what's left of the truth?
Shadows of Verisim is a psychological sci-fi thriller about collapse, control, and the systems we retreat into when the world becomes unlivable. Perfect for fans of The Peripheral, Silo, and Black Mirror.
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