The Echo of St. Jude's: A Cotswolds Techno-Thriller

By Greta Derot

In the heart of the Cotswolds, the ghosts are no longer a mystery. They are a subscription.

Detective Inspector Silas Thorne is a man out of time. Haunted by a failed raid in London and a persistent, digital ringing in his ears, he seeks refuge in the picturesque village of St. Jude's Folly. But the silence of the countryside is a lie.

The village is managed by Verity, an all-seeing AI that monitors every heartbeat and "optimises" every soul. When Lady Elara-the last resident to resist the machine-is found dead in a locked library, her face frozen in a scream, the system calls it a "statistical anomaly." Silas calls it murder.

To find the truth, Silas must navigate a world of "Retinal Ghosting" and Li-Fi projections, where the Prometheus Group uses the villagers' deepest traumas to build a perfect, digital cage. Armed with only a notebook and an analogue heart, Silas must short-circuit the future before the village-and his own mind-is erased forever.

A chilling blend of British Noir and Techno-Horror, The Echo of St. Jude's asks: What is the price of a world without pain?

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GKZYM2YV
• ISBN13: 9798246470855
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 126 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"